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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Trump Blasts Rigged Delegate System; Democrats Battle for New York; Ecuador and Japan Rocked by Earthquakes; Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired April 18, 2016 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:17] CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, an intense battle for New York in the race for president. Where the candidates will be and why one is crying foul this morning.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: A frantic race to save survivors, a powerful earthquake. Two. One strikes in Ecuador, one in Japan. We are live in both nations with the very latest.

ROMANS: Breaking overnight. Brazil voting to impeach its president. Political upheaval impacting the markets.

Good morning. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.

BERMAN: The band is back together. I'm John Berman. It's Monday, April 18th, 4:00 a.m. in the East.

And just in time because just 24 hours from now the big dance in the Big Apple, the New York presidential primary. Hometown billionaire Donald Trump hopes to crush opponents Ted Cruz and John Kasich here. And the polls do show him well ahead. Trump campaigns across the state today, which no doubt means new attacks against his own party. Trump is furious over his new losses over the weekend in the race for the delegates, getting swamped by Ted Cruz at the Wyoming state convention. It is a system Trump says is rigged.

Let's get more now from CNN's Chris Frates.

CHRIS FRATES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, John and Christine. Donald Trump firing up his fellow New Yorkers ahead of the crucial primary here on Tuesday after what was not a great weekend for Donald Trump. He lost to Ted Cruz in Wyoming, losing all 14 of those delegates at a state convention there. Similar to what happened to him in Colorado where he lost to Ted Cruz about a week or so ago at the state convention there.

And Donald Trump saying these state conventions are rigged, saying that they're not primaries or caucuses where the voters go to vote and calling the big bosses out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We have a system that's rigged. We have a system that's crooked. We have a system that's got a lot of problems. And we have a system that doesn't allow the people to vote, in many cases, and if they do vote their vote isn't really representative of what it should be. We have this delegate system which is a sham. So in Colorado the people are going crazy out there because they never got a chance to vote.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRATES: Now the Republican National Committee firing back and saying that the candidates have known the rules for months. In fact, this is the same process that they used to nominate Abraham Lincoln back in 1860, so there really should be no surprises.

But Ted Cruz, using his victory in Wyoming to take a little poke at Donald Trump, tweeting on Sunday, quote, "Donald, over 1.3 million people just voted in Utah, North Dakota, Wisconsin, Colorado and Wyoming. You lost all five in a row by huge margins. #NoWhining."

So Ted Cruz, I think he had a little bit of a victory lap after his big win in Wyoming on Saturday, and he better enjoy it if you believe the polls because Donald Trump winning by double digits here in New York. A recent "Wall Street Journal" poll showing that he had 54 percent support. Ted Cruz, on the other hand, had just 16 percent, so it's a tough slog for him.

Donald Trump looking to take all 95 delegates here on Tuesday. If he can win by 50 percent statewide in each of the congressional districts, he could go a long way toward getting to that magic number of 1237. Of course, Ted Cruz and John Kasich trying to stop him -- John, Christine.

BERMAN: All right, Chris Frates, thanks so much.

John Kasich running second in most New York polls hits the trail hard today with town halls in Syracuse and Schenectady. Ted Cruz is beginning to look past tomorrow. He holds a rally in Maryland which votes next week.

ROMANS: All right. The Democratic candidates in intense battle today with one day to go before the New York primary. Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders both campaigning in New York City today. On Sunday, Clinton was on Staten Island taking shots at Sanders and arguing that she has a long history of fighting corporate interests starting with Hillarycare when her husband was president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I really tried hard. And I got my head handed to me by the drug companies and the insurance companies. You know I love it when all these other folks, including my opponent in the primary talks about taking on the interests and -- where were you? I mean, really. We were fighting tooth and nail trying to get universal health care coverage passed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Clinton leads Sanders in the latest polls by more than 10 points, even as Sanders drew a huge crowd over in Prospect Park in Brooklyn Sunday to hear him speak. His campaign claims more than 28,000. His biggest rally yet.

CNN's Brynn Gingras has more from Brooklyn.

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John and Christine, a political revolution of feel the Bern. This is what the crowd of 28,000 people in Prospect Park were yelling when Bernie Sanders took the stage. And while he was a little hoarse and looked a little tired, he certainly was revved-up to this crowd and really sticking to the talking points that he's focused on throughout his entire campaign especially here in New York and also at that Democratic debate on CNN.

[04:05:08] And those were how he really differentiates himself from Hillary Clinton, including foreign policy, trade policy, minimum wage, environmental issues and then of course the big one, the way he is fundraising his campaign and how that is very different from Hillary Clinton in the fact that he is not taking large campaign contributions. He's not really in bed with the 1 percent. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Here is a simple truth which everybody understands whether you are progressive or conservative. And that is you cannot have a super PAC raise many millions of dollars from Wall Street or special interests and then tell the American people with a straight face that you're going to stand up to the big money interests. Not true.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GINGRAS: And you can hear the applause from that remark from Sanders. It really resonated with the 28,000 supporters here in Prospect Park. And we had a chance to talk to some of them. One gentleman came all the way from Norway just to hear Sanders speak here in New York. So it kind of gives you an idea of how global his message is at this point.

And that's one thing Bernie mentioned when he wrapped up his speech. It is important to get out and vote because he usually does well when voter turnout is high. So we'll see what happens come Tuesday -- John and Christine.

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

Bernie Sanders will talk to CNN later this morning. He will be on "NEW DAY" at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time. Don't miss it.

BERMAN: All right. Breaking news. Defense Secretary Ash Carter just arrived in Baghdad. This was an unannounced stop on his tour of the Middle East and Asia Pacific. He is there to meet with U.S. troops and with Iraqi officials including Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi. Pentagon officials say he wants to show increased U.S. commitment in Iraq. One officials traveling with the secretary says the United States will bring in more resources and accept more risk in the coming days in that nation. Dramatic events unfolding overnight in Brazil after five hours of

scuffling, shouting, even singing. Lawmakers in that nation have voted to impeach President Dilma Rousseff. A two-thirds majority in favor of impeachment was reached in both Brazils lower house. The motion now goes to the Senate. And if it approved, Rousseff will have to step down for six months to defend herself in a trial. She is accused of hiding a huge budget deficit to win re-election in 2014.

I mean, this is a mess in one of the world's, you know, most important -- well, it used growing economies.

ROMANS: And right in America's backyard where, you know, American influence in Central America and Latin America has been something that has been a renewed focus. And you've just got this country, a democratically elected president, an economy that has just gone into the tank. Stock market there, it looks like it might bounce this morning actually.

All right. The Supreme Court hears oral arguments today challenging President Obama's executive actions on immigration. Those executive actions are protecting up to five million immigrants from deportation. The justices must decide whether the 26 states challenged the president's orders have suffered sufficiently to sue.

BERMAN: The Senate wrapping up work on a reauthorization bill for the FAA that sets up new security measures at airports. It also provides new consumer protections for air travelers and create updated regulations for drones. This is expected to pass the next couple of days.

And we now have what appears to be the first collision between a drone and a major commercial airliner. This happened Sunday to an inbound British Airways jet at Heathrow, in London. The plane was not damaged and landed safely. Still frightening.

ROMANS: Sure is.

All right, time for an EARLY START on your money this Monday morning. A global selloff under way because of plunging oil prices. Crude tanking more than 4 percent. OPEC members failed to reach a deal to freeze production. Dow futures are down. Stock markets in Europe are down. Shares in Asia finished with deep losses.

One stock market that will probably avoid this global selloff, Brazil. Its benchmark index set to jump after the impeachment vote against its president.

Back here in the U.S. it's tax day. You have until midnight to file, except if you live in Massachusetts or Maine residents there get an extra day because of the Patriots Day holiday.

BERMAN: Go Patriots.

ROMANS: The IRS has already received about 70 percent of the tax returns expected to be filed this year. The average refund, 2,961 bucks. The normal time to process and issue a refund 21 days. If you need more time, you can still file an extension. But if you owe money, you have to pay that today. And if you get a big refund, a reminder, you've been giving the government an interest-free loan for the past year. Why are you lending them -- the government your money for free?

BERMAN: Everyone seems so happy when they get a refund but that's an important thing to be reminded there.

ROMANS: It means you have to adjust your withholding so that you're not giving the government money all year.

BERMAN: All right. We have breaking news in the search for survivors after two powerful earthquakes. One in Ecuador, one in Japan.

[04:10:05] We have live coverage. CNN in both nations. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: New this morning, two countries, 9,000 miles apart, struggling to recover from devastating earthquakes.

ROMANS: That's right. Right now there's a state of emergency in Ecuador where a 7.2 magnitude earthquake killed more than 270 people this weekend. Emergency officials admitting they can't even calculate how many people are missing.

In Japan, aftershocks are hampering rescue efforts there after powerful earthquakes two days apart rocked the southern part of the country. Dozens are dead, thousands are without power, without food and shelter.

We've got those breaking stories covered the only way CNN can. Let's start with Boris Sanchez. He is live for us in Ecuador this morning -- Boris.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John and Christine. Yes, 272 is where the death toll sits now. More than 2500 people hurt. But those numbers expected to rise significantly as we get a clearer scope of the damage here.

[04:15:08] The biggest problem facing Ecuador right now is the infrastructure. Several weeks of heavy rain have weakened roads. And this earthquake just decimated them. On the city of Guayaquil, on the coastal side of Ecuador, and this is the perfect examples right behind me, the camera cannot capture the scope of the damage. This is one of the busiest bridges in the city. And it essentially folded on itself killing a driver and injuring another person inside the car.

The president of Ecuador was actually at the Vatican over the weekend. And he had to cut that trip short to come home. They're now taking over this search and rescue and recovery effort. More than 10,000 soldiers are lining up to get ready to essentially dig out of rubble alongside 4,000 police officers. We're actually across the street from a police station right now where we've seen several officers arrive very early in the morning. It's roughly 3:00 a.m. here and they're just getting ready for another day of hard work ahead. This is actually only the second deadliest earthquake that Ecuador has

ever had. In 1987, almost 1,000 people died in an earthquake that was much weaker than this one. It was 7.1 compared to 7.8. The hope is that after all the rubble is picked up, after everything is back to order and we get a fully idea of the scope, of the extent of this damage that it won't reach those catastrophic levels -- John and Christine.

ROMANS: All right, Boris.

This is still a search underway for survivors right now. This is still a rescue mission.

All right. Turning now to Japan where two deadly earthquakes have killed more than 40 people. Well over 1,000 more injured.

CNN's Matt Rivers is there for us tracking the latest on the devastation and the rescue efforts there. He is live from Kumamoto, Japan. Good morning.

MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. And we just wanted to show you an example of that kind of devastation. We are right outside of one of the hardest hit villages here and take a look at this house behind me. Basically what happened is on Saturday, this earthquake struck the foundation of this house, it was extremely damaged, and it actually started sliding down this very steep slope that this house sits on. And it was so powerful that it ripped the asphalt here of this parking lot in two. I'm standing down right here at the earth that's about probably a meter wide here between these two things. So just an extreme amount of devastation here. A very powerful set of earthquakes.

BERMAN: Matt, are there still ongoing rescue operations in that region right now?

RIVERS: There are. We spent most of our morning in fact watching one of those rescue operations looking for two people trapped in a house that was actually affected by a landslide that was triggered by these earthquakes. That's something we've seen across this area in this village. Landslides coming down and really destroying houses. 11 people were trapped. As of this morning, some good news, though, two people were found a little bit earlier this afternoon.

So the hope is that more survivors might be found eventually. But the window here is closing very quickly as night begins to fall.

BERMAN: Well, that is good news. Matt Rivers in Kumamoto, Japan. Thank you so much.

Two earthquakes on opposite sides of the Pacific just hours apart. The question is being asked in so many places, are they somehow related?

Let's get to meteorologist Pedram Javaheri for some answers.

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: John and Christine, that's been a very popular question when it comes to how significant of course is it to have multiple large quakes within just a few hours - 48 hours to be precise apart in this case.

I want to show you globally speaking. When you talk about major quakes, that's 7.0 to 7.9, we get 15 on a global scale. Now keep that number in mind. I want to show where the vast majority of these quakes happened, about 450 active volcanoes around what is known as the Pacific Ring of Fire. 90 percent of the world's active quakes occur right along that region as well. The Western United States, Western, Central and South America, very prominent region for these tectonic plate boundaries.

But again that number 15 for how many 7.0 to 7.9 we see per year, so far through April 17th we've seen five major quakes take place. We had one in January in Alaska. That broaden the United States. We had one in Russia. One in Indonesia. As of last Thursday, of course, we had Japan and Ecuador join the mix as well. So previously, last Thursday, we were actually sitting just at three, below the statistical norm of how many we should have. Of course 15, again, is what you average on an annual basis.

The scientists from the USGS are saying essentially you get these large quakes, it is all a random chance. They are no way related. So it's essentially like flipping a coin. Sometimes you get several heads in a row, sometimes you get several tails in a row. But again it's all a random chance process. And that's exactly what happened across this region, guys.

ROMANS: So the answer to that question is no. They are not related.

BERMAN: They are not related. Our thanks to Pedram for that.

A UC Berkeley student kicked off a plane, he says, because he's Muslim. That story is coming up next.

[04:19:51]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: The U.S.-led coalition is ramping up its air campaign against the Islamic State's finances. According to the Pentagon, at least 15 airstrikes over the last six months targeting ISIS cache depots with more than 125 other attacks hitting the terror group's oil infrastructure. Military officials say ISIS had to cut pay to its fighters by up to 50 percent because a lot of their cash literally burned.

BERMAN: A Muslim college student is demanding an apology from Southwest Airlines after he was pulled off a flight in Los Angeles and, in his words, treated like an animal. Khairuldeen Makhzoomi says he phoned a relative before takeoff about a speech he had just heard by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon. Apparently he asked a question to the secretary-general. Nearby passengers alerted the flight attendant after hearing him speaking Arabic.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) [04:25:02] KHAIRULDEEN MAKHZOOMI, UC BERKELEY STUDENT: They degraded me as a human and they only -- I believe that they thought that I was a terrorist.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: The frequent flyer says he is not pursuing legal action despite being grilled by FBI officials. Southwest declined to comment on the action of its staff but says it, quote, "neither condone nor tolerate discrimination of any kind."

BERMAN: All right, 25 minutes past the hours. In just a matter of hours, more than 30,00 runners from 99 countries will take part in the Boston marathon and security will be intense. One million spectators expected to line the route. And they will be joined by thousands -- thousands of police officers along with members of the National Guard, the FBI. Three years ago a terrorist attack at the finish line killed three people and injured more than 250 others. Officials say this year there is no credible or specific threat against the event.

BERMAN: One of the world's greatest events.

All right. Medical marijuana will be legal in Pennsylvania under a law signed by the state's governor. The law authorizes up to 150 dispensaries that will fill doctor's prescriptions for marijuana and three specific diseases including cancer, HIV and Parkinson's. The law allows for cannabis in the form of pills, creams, and oils but not weed or smoking. This makes Pennsylvania the 24th state that will allow medical marijuana use.

ROMANS: Disney's live action version of -- "The Jungle Book," rather, is king at the box office. It roared to first place earning a larger than expected $103.6 million in the debut weekend. A huge weekend. It's the second highest April opening ever behind last year's "Furious 7." "Barber Shop: The Next Cut" opened in second place, $20 million. "The Boss" fell to third with just over $10 million.

So such a nice weekend. But I guess a lot of people went to the movies.

BERMAN: It's a good day to be inside apparently.

All right. Today the last day that candidates have to sway voters in New York. The race for president goes to the Big Apple. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)