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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Donald Trump Focusing on General Election; Clinton Takes Aim At Trump; Attorney: Prince Sought Help for Opioid Addiction. Aired 4:30- 5a ET
Aired May 05, 2016 - 04:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[04:30:57] JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Donald Trump now the only Republican left in the race for president. He begins his vice presidential search and he speaks with CNN about what's next.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Also speaking with CNN, Hillary Clinton, one-on-one, about taking on Donald Trump, and why Bernie Sanders campaign doesn't bother her.
Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.
BERMAN: I'm John Berman. Nice to see you. Thirty-one minutes past the hour this morning.
Donald Trump this morning has cleared the field and he is the presumptive Republican nominee. Even so, he will be on the campaign trail in West Virginia today. West Virginia votes next Tuesday, along with Nebraska. Trump officially the last man standing after Ohio Governor John Kasich dropped out. Less than 24 hours after Ted Cruz did the same.
Trump tells CNN that he now has his eyes firmly fixed on November.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Do you think the general election campaign already started, you versus Hillary Clinton? That for all practical purposes, Bernie Sanders is out?
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, I think what has happened is there's been a little flip, and I'm even surprised by it. I thought that I'd be going longer and she'd be going shorter. She can't put it away. That's like a football. They can't get the ball over the line. I put it away. She can't put it away.
So, I thought that I'd be out there and she'd be campaigning against me. I didn't realize, so yes, I'll be campaigning against her while she is campaigning --
BLITZER: So, the general election campaign from your perspective starts today? TRUMP: It essentially started. I mean, yes, started today.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: Trump also tells Blitzer he is now starting to look at potential running mates. CNN's Jim Acosta has more on that.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: John and Christine, with Cruz and now John Kasich out of the race, Trump campaign sources say the presumptive GOP nominee will start to focus on building a 50- state general election campaign with a much bigger staff that will begin to join forces with the RNC. And advisers to Trump say names are already beginning to surface as early favorites in the search for a running mate. Trump has said repeatedly he wants a politician as his vice president to help balance out the GOP ticket.
TRUMP: I would want somebody that would help me from a legislative standpoint, getting things passed through Senate, through Congress. And to me, that's why I think probably in terms of vice president, I'm going to go the political route. I don't need the business route. I've got that covered.
BLITZER: You think some of your former Republican presidential rivals would be on that list?
TRUMP: Could be. Could be. I mean, I have a lot of respect --
BLITZER: Even people who have said nasty things about you?
TRUMP: Well, I feel differently about that. When somebody says nasty, I don't -- I never like them quite the same.
ACOSTA: And a Trump source tells CNN, Ohio Senator Rob Portman, New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez, and South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley are the early favorites inside the campaign, as they'd be on anybody's shortlist.
Trump's daughter Ivanka is expected to offer her input on the process, which is said to be in its early stages. But all three of those potential running mates now tell CNN they are not interested. Portman through a spokesman said he won't be Trump's vice president. And Haley offered a statement to CNN that says, quote, "While I am flattered to be mentioned and proud of what that says about the great things going on in South Carolina, my plate full and I am not interested in serving as vice president."
Other names will undoubtedly come up, and Trump told CNN's Wolf Blitzer that he would like to vet John Kasich -- John and Christine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: All right. Jim Acosta, thanks for that, Jim.
Clearly, uniting Republicans is going to take a lot of work. Many party leaders are either dodging reporters questions or simply saying outright they will not back Donald Trump. Both Presidents Bush, father and son, making clear they will not participate at all in the campaign, which seems to mean no endorsement or anything close. But others reluctantly or not, are climbing on the Trump bandwagon.
Late last night, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell put out this statement, "I have committed to supporting the nominee chosen by Republican voters and Donald Trump, the presumptive nominee, is now on the verge of clinching that nomination. He now has the opportunity and the obligation to unite our party around our goals."
BERMAN: On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders on the campaign trail, Clinton in California. So, the Republican fight now settled, she is trying to turn her attention to the general election and Donald Trump.
[04:35:04] But Bernie Sanders is making that complicated, vowing to stay in the race to the convention. A move that Clinton says she has no quarrel with.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I know there are still contests ahead and I respect Senator Sanders in whatever choices he makes and I really -- I have a lot of empathy about this, Anderson. You know, I ran to the very end in 2008.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: You've been there. You know what it feels like.
CLINTON: And I won 9 of the last 12 contests. People forget that. I won Indiana. I won West Virginia. I won a lot of states. But I could not close the gap in pledged delegates.
And the gap between me and Senator Sanders is far wider than it was between me and Senator Obama.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: Senior Washington correspondent Jeff Zeleny has more on Hillary Clinton's two-front battle.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: John and Christine, Hillary Clinton is campaigning today in California today, a reminder that her primary fight with Bernie Sanders is still on. The California primary on June 7th, will be one of the last contests in this long Democratic fight.
But the campaign is suddenly making a hard turn to the general election. She is sharpening her battle plan for Donald Trump and intentionally choosing two words to describe him. She said those two words again and again when she sat down yesterday with Anderson Cooper. CLINTON: And I don't think we can take a risk on a loose cannon like
Donald Trump running our country. You know, Donald Trump has said it's OK for other countries to get nuclear weapons. I think that's just downright dangerous. He has said wages are too high. I think we need to have a raise for the American people, raise the minimum wage, get wages going up.
I think when he says women should be punished for having abortions, that is beyond anything that I can imagine. I think most women can imagine.
COOPER: He did walk that back.
CLINTON: Well, he's a loose cannon.
ZELENY: So, as she uses the words "loose canyon" and "risky", he is calling her "crooked Hillary". Now, she starts with considerable advantages here, leading Trump by 13 points in a new CNN/ORC poll. With all the Republicans except Trump out of the race, Sanders is truly the third there, but he says he's staying in through at least California and the convention -- John and Christine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BERMAN: Our thanks to Jeff for that.
A federal judge has approved a plan for top aides to Hillary Clinton to give deposition in the Freedom of Information lawsuit over her personal email server. The judge left open the possibility that Clinton herself may have to testify later. A conservative watchdog groups wants proof the State Department did an adequate search of emails from the personal server Clinton used while she was secretary of state. Among those who will give depositions, Clinton's former chief of staff Cheryl Mills and current senior advisor, Huma Abedin.
ROMANS: Drivers are lining up to buy Tesla's electric cars, that's keeping it from making a profit. Tesla says it will pour $2 billion into production this year. That's more than double its original estimate of $750 million and they will deliver twice as many cars to consumers. But CEO Elon Musk says the company may fall short of turning a profit this year. It's a goal he's been striving for. The CEO also says he frequently sleeps in a conference room, near the production floor so he can keep a close eye on operations.
Musk says the most important part of his production plan is to hire top talent, though two vice presidents just left the company this week. Tesla received more than 325,000 orders for its new model 3 which starts at 35 grand. Customers had to put down $1,000 deposit for delivery next year.
And, you know, when they were showing this car, and taking those deposits, in every city where they were offering this, just the lines out the door. I love the idea that Elon Musk has a sleeping bag under his desk, and when it's a really long night, he just grabbed that sleeping bag and he rolls over in the conference room.
BERMAN: That has happened in my office a few times a week.
All right. New information about the final days of prince. What we're learning now about his battle with addiction. We have new information. That's next.
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[04:43:06] ROMANS: A new picture is emerging this morning of the final days and hours of Prince. He was scheduled to meet with representatives from a California doctor specializing in opioid addiction. But he died the day before that meeting was to take place. The singer's inner circle frantically trying to get help for a situation they described as a grave medical emergency.
We get more this morning from CNN's Stephanie Elam.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christine and John, Dr. Howard Kornfeld was unable to clear his schedule to travel to Minnesota from California on the 21st, but planned to arrive on the 22nd. That's according to William Mauzy, the Minneapolis lawyer representing the doctor. Instead, Kornfeld sent his son Andrew, a pre-med student who works with him on a red eye flight to meet with Prince Thursday morning at Paisley Park. His job was to explain to the musician how a treatment works.
Mauzy says this was an intervention being waged by Prince's team and the icon knew it was happening.
WILLIAM MAUZY, ATTORNEY: He set into motion a plan with what he felt was a life-saving mission. And that mission was to get Prince to a doctor in Minnesota on Thursday morning. He contacted a trusted colleague of his. That Minnesota doctor cleared his schedule for Thursday morning to provide privacy to Prince. Prince did not show up for that appointment on Thursday morning.
ELAM: The lawyer says Andrew, who arrived at Paisley Park around 9:30 a.m. Thursday with two of Prince's associates was the one who called 911 after Prince was discovered in an elevator. Prince was declared deceased about a half hour later.
In another development, a former lawyer for Duane Nelson, that's one of Prince's half siblings, claims to CNN that Duane told him that Prince used Percocet decades ago to calm down after his performances.
[04:45:00] Attorney William Patton says Duane told him he would sometimes ever procure the powerful painkiller for Prince.
Now, CNN cannot independently confirm the lawyer's account because Duane has already passed away. Duane did work for Prince at Paisley Park, but was fired and ended up suing his famous half brother -- Christine and John.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BERMAN: All right. Stephanie Elam, thanks so much.
The Justice Department is giving the state of North Carolina until Monday to remedy a controversial new transgender bathroom law that it calls a violation of the Civil Rights Act. The law neutralizes anti- discrimination ordinances like the city of charlotte. If the ruling stands, North Carolina could lose hundreds of millions of dollars in federal education funding.
ROMANS: California is the second state in the nation to raise the legal smoking age to 21. Governor Jerry Brown signed the measure into law on Wednesday. California will also begin regulating monitor electronic cigarettes under the same rules as tobacco products. The governor vetoed a bill that would have allowed local governments to impose taxes on tobacco products.
BERMAN: An emotional visit to Flint, Michigan, for President Obama. He spoke to hundreds of residents at a local high school where the tap water is still contaminated, where the tap water is undrinkable. He told the people of Flint he has their back and he did his best to show them progress has been made.
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BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There you go. You know, generally I have not been doing students here, but, you know? And this used a filter. The water around is table, you know, was Flint water that was filtered. It just confirms what we know scientifically which is that if you are using a filter, if you're installing it, then Flint water at this point is drinkable.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: During his visit, the president announced a $10 million allocation from Health and Human Services for new Medicare services in Flint, as well as lead contamination testing and treatment.
ROMANS: Attorneys for Bill Cosby are trying to delay a May 24 hearing in a criminal assault case against him in Pennsylvania. They just file an emergency stay asking the state's superior court to keep the case from moving forward. Cosby's team argues a former district attorney promised their client immunity from prosecution in exchange for his testimony in a civil suit against him in 2005.
BERMAN: Johnny Manziel faces a Texas judge this morning. The former Cleveland Brown's quarterback was booked yesterday on a misdemeanor charge stemming from the domestic violence complaint by his ex- girlfriend. The charge carries a sentence of up to one year in jail and a $4,000 fine. Manziel has pleaded not guilty.
ROMANS: All right. In Canada, firefighters having a tough time gaining ground against this wildfire. More than 80,000 people evacuated the entire town of Fort McMurray. A state of emergency is now enforced. Authorities say 1,600 structures in Alberta's oil sand region have been destroyed. Winds are pushing the flames toward a local airport. Firefighters are trying to get a handle on the blaze by air and ground. So far, unbelievably, no injuries have been reported.
BERMAN: Chilly temperatures ahead for the Northeast. Let's bring in meteorologist Derek Van Dam.
DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, John and Christine.
That's right. Temperatures are running 10 to 15 degrees where they should be this time of year for New York City and some of the surrounding areas. But I'm showing this map first and foremost because there is some light at the end of the tunnel.
Look at the warmth starting to build across the central U.S. and how that's slowly shifting to the east. We'll say good-bye to the cool weather as we head into the second half of the weekend. Here is our four-day forecast for some of the major cities over the east.
Look at Atlanta heating up to the upper 80s by Sunday. Lower 70s for the nation's capital, middle 60s for the Big Apple. Even Chicago is starting to warm up quite nicely as well. Unfortunately, there is a bit of rain. So, that could impact your outdoor activities today and into the day on Friday, you can see a slow-moving area of low pressure that continues to rotate across the Carolinas. That will send showery weather from Boston into New York, Philadelphia, as well as Washington, D.C.
So much needed rainfall out west, especially for central California. Other wise, the central parts of the U.S. looking sunny and dry. Here's Boston's seven-day forecast, you warm up as well. Back to you.
ROMANS: All right. Thanks so much for that, Derek.
It has been a rough start to the month for the stock market. I'm going to tell you why all that volatility is back when we get an early start at your money, next.
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[04:53:33] BERMAN: This morning, new footage from the intense firefight against ISIS militants in Iraq. This is our first look at the gun battle that killed a U.S. Navy SEAL who's trying to save his outnumbered colleagues from the attack.
CNN's Jomana Karadsheh is live in Amman, Jordan, with that video.
Good morning, Jomana.
JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John. That video, a cell phone video shot by Kurdish Peshmerga forces and obtained exclusively by Britain's "Guardian" newspaper really gives us a glimpse into that intense battle that took place on Tuesday.
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KARADSHEH: Dramatic scenes where you see U.S. special operations forces fighting back this major complex attack by ISIS militants. We are also getting more information about the attack and what U.S. forces were doing there in a briefing by the U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad, Colonel Steve Warren, who says that at 7:30 a.m. local on Tuesday, about 125 ISIS militants using bulldozers and truck bombs and infantry attacked the Kurdish frontlines north of the city of Mosul.
Now, a U.S. advise and assist team was in the town of Tal-Skuf. This is about 2 miles back from that Kurdish frontline, but with the intensity of the attack and assault by ISIS, they managed to punch through the Kurdish frontlines and they made it into the town, and that's where a firefight ensued.
[04:55:10] A quick reaction force of U.S. Navy SEALs arrived at the scene. And we're hearing this is how Navy SEAL Charlie Keating IV was killed by direct ISIS fire. He was part of the quick reaction force.
The U.S. military says there were no other casualties in this attack, although the medevac choppers arrived on the scene also were hit by small arms fire by ISIS. The U.S. responded using drones and fighter jets, dropping more than 30 bombs on ISIS positions, killing dozens of ISIS fighters.
And, John, this is being described by the U.S. military as the largest most intense assault they have seen carried out by ISIS in months since December of last year.
BERMAN: This is all in preparing Iraqi forces along with U.S. support to retake Mosul.
All right. Jomana Karadsheh, thanks so much.
ROMANS: Russia is warning NATO not to more ahead with troop build up in Poland and the Baltic region. NATO says the plan is designed to deter Russian aggression in the region. Officials in Moscow are insisting they will retaliate by creating new military divisions to be stationed along Russia's borders with Ukraine, Belarus, Georgia, Finland, Azerbaijan and the Baltic States. The Russians accused NATO of trying to, quote, "challenge" Russian authority in the region.
BERMAN: North Korea's propaganda machine is running at full steam. The ruling Workers Party is holding Congress in 36 years. The state media is calling on all citizens to honor and serve the great son of the 21 century Kim Jong-un. The North Korean leader is essentially attending his own coronation as supreme leader. The government newspaper is praising Kim for crushing evil challenges and unifying the country.
ROMANS: All right. Let's get an early start on your money this Thursday. Dow futures pointing higher. Oil jumping 3 percent. That's helping the gains here. Stock markets in Europe are rising and shares in Asia finishing slightly lower overnight.
Volatility is back on Wall Street. The Dow with triple digit moves four of the past five days. May off to a rough start really. And the recent rally from February lows seems to have stalled here.
Now, the good news, stocks and oil seem to be slowly breaking away from its each other. Plus, a terrible corporate earnings season is winding down. But now, a big focus will be on the U.S. economy. The government releases April jobs report on Friday. That will give the market direction and could also create talking points, will create talking points for the presidential candidates on the campaign trail. There was a private sector survey yesterday which is a little bit weak.
Apple is America's favorite stock. Despite a rough past few weeks, average investors are not selling. Informal survey of Apple shareholders by CNN Money shows about 80 percent are holding on to the stock or buying more. One reason, look at the run up over the past 15 years, a huge run up since the early 2000s, when the stock was below $2 a share. There was also a big buying spree after Steve Jobs died in 2011.
The recent drop in the share price follows its worst quarterly earnings in 13 years. Legendary investor Carl Icahn dumps his 46 million shares over fears that Apple won't be able to navigate markets in China. The stock is a good value compared with other S&P 500 companies. It pays out a 2.4 percent dividend, which is better that most tech stocks. So, Apple had quite a move, but mom and pop investors still holding on.
BERMAN: Because they like their iPhones.
All right. EARLY START continues right now.
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BERMAN: The last man standing. Donald Trump is the only Republican left in this race. He speaks to CNN about the general election fight in front of him.
ROMANS: Hillary Clinton taking aim at Donald Trump, also speaking with CNN about the presumptive Republican nominee and the Democratic Party challenger she can't shake off.
Good morning, everybody. Nice to see you. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.
BERMAN: I'm John Berman. Great to see you. It's Thursday, May 5th. It is 5:00 a.m. in the East.
This morning, Donald Trump has cleared the field. He is the presumptive Republican nominee. Even so, he will be on the campaign trail in West Virginia which votes next Tuesday, along with Nebraska. Trump is now officially the last man standing after Ohio Governor John Kasich dropped out less than 24 hours after Ted Cruz did the same.
Trump tells CNN he has his eyes fixed firmly on November.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Do you think the general election campaign already started, you versus Hillary Clinton? That for all practical purposes, Bernie Sanders is out? TRUMP: Well, I think what has happened is there's been a little flip,
and I'm even surprised by it. I thought that I'd be going longer and she'd be going shorter. She can't put it away. That's like a football. They can't get the ball over the line. I put it away. She can't put it away.
So, I thought that I'd be out there and she'd be campaigning against me. I didn't realize, so yes, I'll be campaigning against her while she is campaigning --
BLITZER: So, the general election campaign from your perspective starts today?
TRUMP: It essentially started. I mean, yes, started today.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: Trump also tells Wolf Blitzer he is now starting to look at potential running mates.
CNN's Jim Acosta has more on that.
