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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Trump Starts Search For Running Mate; Clinton "Respects" Sanders Staying In Race; Trump's Challenge: Unifying Republicans; Attorney: Prince Sought Help For Opioid Addiction; Justice Dept. Delivers Ultimatum To N.C.; First Look At Deadly Battle With ISIS. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired May 05, 2016 - 05:30   ET

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

[05:30:00] CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Donald Trump officially the only Republican left in the race for president, beginning his V.P. search now and speaking with CNN about what comes next.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Hillary Clinton one-on-one with CNN about taking on Donald Trump and why the fact that Bernie Sanders is still in this race doesn't bother her.

Welcome back to EARLY START, everyone. I'm John Berman.

ROMANS: Nice to see you this Thursday morning. I'm Christine Romans. It's 30 minutes past the hour. This morning Donald Trump has cleared the field. He is the presumptive Republican nominee. Even so, he's on the campaign trail in West Virginia, which votes next Tuesday, along with Nebraska.

Trump now officially the last man standing after Ohio Gov. John Kasich dropped out less than 24 hours after Ted Cruz did the same. Trump tells CNN he now has his eyes firmly fixed on November.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Do you think the general election campaign has 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 team that 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's campaigning.

BLITZER: So, the general election, from your perspective, starts today?

TRUMP: Essentially, it's started. I mean, yes, it started today.

(END VIDEO CLIP) ROMANS: Trump also tells Wolf he's 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 Ted 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.

Advisors 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: Do you think some of your former Republican presidential rivals will be on that vetting list?

TRUMP: It could be, could be. I mean, I have a lot of respect --

BLITZER: Even people who have said nasty things about you?

TRUMP: Well, you know, I feel differently about that. When somebody says nasty, I never like them quite the same.

ACOSTA: And a Trump source tells CNN Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez, and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Hailey are the early favorites inside the campaign, as they'd be on anybody's short list. 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 Hailey offered a statement to CNN that says "While I am flattered to be mentioned and proud of what that says about the great things going on in South Carolina, my plate is 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.

BERMAN: All right, Jim Acosta, thanks so much. On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, they're both on the campaign trail today. Hillary Clinton's in California. Though the Republican fight now settled, what she's trying to do is turn her full attention to the general election and Donald Trump, but Bernie Sanders is making that complicated.

He vows to stay in the race all the way to the convention. He just did win Indiana, after all. It's a movement Hillary Clinton says she has no quarrel with.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I know there are still some contests ahead and I respect Sen. 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 nine out of the last 12 contests. People forget that. I won Indiana, I won West Virginia. I won a lot of states but I couldn't close the gap in pledged delegates and the gap between me and Sen. Sanders is far wider than it was between me and Sen. 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, 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's 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 back going up. I think when he says women should be punished for having abortions that is just beyond anything that I can imagine -- I think most women can imagine.

[05:35:00] COOPER: He did walk that back.

CLINTON: Well, he's a loose cannon.

ZELENY: So, as she uses the words loose cannon 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 now, Sanders is truly the third wheel here but he says he's staying in through at least California and the convention -- John and Christine. ROMANS: All right, Jeff Zeleny, thank you. Let's put some more perspective on this race for president. Wall Street Journal White House correspondent Colleen McCain Nelson rejoins us this morning. And Colleen, I guess for Republicans now they have three -- they have a fork in the road, really, here.

They have to decide whether they're just going to sit this thing out and say look, I don't support my nominee, or they're going to have to support him, or they're going to have to find some third way. You know, we heard from Mitch McConnell. He gave a statement last where he talked about how he was going to rally behind his -- let me read exactly what he said.

"He's 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."

So, he supports him but is almost kind of telling him hey, you've got work to do, buddy.

COLLEEN MCCAIN NELSON, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: Right, that's exactly right, and you see a lot of Republicans coming out and now saying they're going to support Donald Trump.

Obviously, Reince Priebus, head of the Republican Party, said it's time to unite around Donald Trump. He's our nominee, but not everyone is falling in line. And, as you know, they have -- Republicans are facing a range of choices and you do see some Republicans coming out and saying I'm just going to stay out of this.

You see both former President Bush's saying they're not going to have anything to say about this race. They're not going to be involved. But then you see other Republicans going even further and saying not only are they not going to support Donald Trump but they're going to support Hillary Clinton, which is a pretty remarkable thing to hear from Republicans on day one, essentially, of Donald Trump's general election campaign.

And yesterday, Hillary Clinton's campaign was very quick to put out a list of Republicans who've already said that they're going to support her, and it was a pretty long list. And so, obviously, the Hillary Clinton team is working very hard to launch Republicans for Hillary right out of the gate.

BERMAN: It's interesting. Overnight there was another development, which is a sitting Republican senator, Ben Sasse from Nebraska, who is suddenly a hero of the conservative movement around the country right now. He says he's not for Trump, he's not for Hillary. He wants some kind of a third party option. Let me read you what he said.

He said, "I believe that most Americans can still be for limited government again -- if they were given a winsome candidate who wanted Washington to focus on a small number of really important, urgent things -- in a way that tried to bring people together instead of driving us apart. I think there is room -- an appetite -- for such a candidate. #WeCanDoBetter, #GiveUsMoreChoices," he says.

In the same letter he kind of indicates he's not going to be that candidate, but it's interesting to see a Republican senator actively, aggressively pushing for a third party candidate.

NELSON: That's right, it's highly unusual, and he has been kind of on the leading edge of this. If you look back to February, he came out then and said if the choice boils down to Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton, I'm going to be for a third candidate. So, he signaled this early on and he's now following through with it.

But, as you know, he laid out pretty specific criteria for this third party candidate that he's looking for, saying that he wants someone who's not a career politician. He thinks it should be someone who is willing to only serve one term.

But the unanswered question, of course, is who is that candidate? Who fits the bill and is willing to do it, and how do you launch a campaign at this late date from kind of a standing start?

ROMANS: Colleen, there was a moment yesterday when Wolf was interviewing Donald Trump, where he was really pressing him on the minimum wage. I want to listen to this and get your thoughts on the other side.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Hillary Clinton says she's ready to go to $12. Bernie Sanders --

TRUMP: She's only -- she's only doing that.

BLITZER: Give me a number --

TRUMP: She is being --

BLITZER: If you were president, what would you recommend?

TRUMP: I'm looking at it but I don't like --

BLITZER: But you're open to raising the minimum wage?

TRUMP: I'm open to doing something with it because I don't like that. But what I really do like is bring our jobs back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: I'm open to doing something about it. You know, in one of the Republican debates he said wages were too high. Are we seeing a general election candidate who's now, after sort of testing his policies for the past months, is going to start changing things?

NELSON: Right, it didn't take long and this was clearly a reversal. He had been asked this question multiple times during the primary season. He, as you noted, at one point said wages were too high. At another point he said he was unwilling to change the minimum wage. That it just needed to stay where it was.

And so, this was a very different answer on day one of his general election campaign and I'll think you'll probably see more of that from Donald Trump. He already has diverged from the conservative orthodoxy on a number of issues and so he certainly could tack to the center, or even beyond, on some other issues, which is a dilemma for Hillary Clinton because it's hard to know how to run against a candidate like this.

[05:40:00] It's not exactly your standard left-right battle. And so, Hillary Clinton is not quite sure where Donald Trump is going to be on any given issue. And the question for voters is do they care that he's changed his position on these issues and how are Republican voters going to respond to a candidate who is not lining up with Republican positions?

BERMAN: Now I'm looking. This is what Trump supporters say. They say that he may be losing some of these Republicans who say they're #NeverTrump, but as many as he loses he'll pick up Democrats who won't traditionally back a Republican candidate like Donald Trump. It will be very, very interesting to see how this plays out. Colleen McCain Nelson, thanks so much for joining us. Great to have you with us.

ROMANS: So nice to see you this morning.

NELSON: Thank you.

ROMANS: All right, we have new information about the final days of Prince. What we're learning about his battle with addiction. New details, next.

[05:41:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:45:00] 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 who specializes in opioid addiction, but he died the day before that meeting was to take place.

The singer's inner circle was 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 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 to deal 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 unconscious in an elevator. Prince was declared deceased about one-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 the singer used Percocet decades ago to come down after his performances. Attorney William Padden (sic) says Duane told him he would sometimes even 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.

ROMANS: All right, Stephanie, thank you for that. The Justice Department is giving the state of North Carolina until Monday to remedy a controversial new transgender bathroom law that the Justice Department calls a violation of the Civil Rights Act.

The law also neutralizes local anti-discrimination ordinances, like the one passed by the city of Charlotte. Now, critics claim it opens the door to discrimination against the LGBT community. If the ruling stands, North Carolina could lose hundreds of millions of dollars in federal education funding.

California is now the second state in the nation to raise the legal smoking age to 21. Governor Jerry Brown signed the measure into law Wednesday. California will also begin regulating electronic cigarettes under the same rules as tobacco. But the governor vetoed a bill that would have allowed local governments to impose taxes on tobacco products.

Drivers are lining up to buy Tesla's electric cars and that's keeping the company from turning a profit. Tesla says it will pour $2 billion into production this year, struggling to keep up with the huge demand. That's more than double its original estimate of $750 million.

It will deliver twice as many cars to customers, but CEO Elon Musk says the company may fall short of turning a profit this year, the goal he's been striving for. He also told investors -- get this -- he sleeps in the conference room, frequently, near the production floor so he can keep an eye on operations. He's got a sleeping bag underneath his desk.

Musk says the most important part of his production plan is to hire top talent. Two vice presidents of production and manufacturing left the company this week. Tesla received more than 325,000 pre-orders for its new Model 3, which starts at $35,000. Customers had to put down a $1,000 deposit for delivery next year.

All right, new information and dramatic new video on that ISIS attack that killed a U.S. Navy SEAL in Iraq. We've got that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:53:00] ROMANS: This morning, brand new footage from right in the middle of an intense firefight against ISIS militants in Iraq. It's our first look at the gun battle that killed a U.S. Navy SEAL who was trying to save his outnumbered colleagues from an attack. CNN's Jomana Karadsheh is live for us in Amman, Jordan with the video, and tell us what this new video shows, Jomana.

JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Christine, this video that was filmed on a cell phone by Kurdish Peshmerga forces and obtained exclusively by Britain's "Guardian" newspaper, really gives us a glimpse into how intense that battle was.

(Video playing) Really dramatic scenes there where you can hear and see U.S. Special Operations Forces fighting back this major complex coordinated attack that was launched by ISIS on Tuesday. We're also hearing from the U.S. Military spokesman in Baghdad, Col. Steve Warren, giving more details about how this attack unfolded.

He says at 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday, ISIS, with about 125 militants using multiple suicide truck bombs, bulldozers, and their infantry, attacked the Kurdish front lines north of the city of Mosul.

Now, there was a U.S. advise and assist team in the town of Telaskof. This is about two miles back from this front line that was attacked, but with this large force ISIS managed to punch through the Kurdish defense lines and they made it into the town, and that is where the firefight broke out.

[05:55:00] Now, the only U.S. casualty of this attack, as we know, is Navy SEAL Charles Keating IV. He was a part of the Navy SEAL Quick Reaction Force that arrived on the scene to provide assistance and he was killed by direct ISIS fire.

Now, no Americans were wounded in this attack. There were several Peshmerga causalities -- no specific numbers. And the U.S. Medevac helicopters on the scene also were hit by ISIS small-arms fire. The U.S. responded with drones and fighter jets dropping more than 30 bombs.

And according to the U.S. military, 58 ISIS militants were at least killed in the U.S. response and in this battle that is being described by military officials, Christine, as the most intense and the largest they have seen in months, since December of last year.

ROMANS: And Keating, a decorated Navy SEAL. He'd done tours in Afghanistan and Iraq. Certainly a shame there. Thank you so much for that, Jomana Karadsheh, for us this morning. Fifty-six minutes past the hour. Russia is warning NATO not to move ahead with a proposed troop buildup 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 three new military divisions to be stationed along Russia's border with Ukraine, Belarus, Georgia, Finland, Azerbaijan, and the Baltic states. The Russians accused of NATO of trying to "challenge" Russian authority in the region.

Let's get on EARLY START on your money this Thursday morning. Dow futures pointing higher. Oil is jumping three percent. Stock markets in Europe are rising and shares in Asia finished slightly lower overnight.

You know, volatility is back on Wall Street. The Dow has posted triple-digit moves four of the past five days. May, off to a rough start. The recent rally from February lows looks like it's stalling here. Now the good news is that stocks and oil seem to be slowing breaking away from each other, plus a terrible corporate earnings season is winding down.

Now, the focus will be the U.S. economy. The government releases its April jobs report on Friday. That could give the market some direction. There was a private sector number yesterday that was weak. That jobs report tomorrow probably will give us some talking points for the presidential candidates on the campaign trail. No question.

Apple is America's favorite stock despite a rough past few weeks. The average investors are not selling Apple. An informal survey of Apple shareholders by "CNN MONEY" shows that 80 percent are holding onto the stock or even buying more.

One reason, the run-up over the past 15 years -- a huge run-up since the early 2000's when the stock was below $2. There was also a buying spree after Steve Jobs died in 2011. The recent drop in its share price follows its worst quarterly earnings in 13 years. Legendary investor, Carl Icahn -- he dumped his 46 million shares over fears that Apple won't be able to navigate Chinese markets.

The stock is a good value compared with other S&P 500 companies. It pays out a dividend of 2.4 percent. That's better than most tech stocks. Apple still a fan favorite for investors.

Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton one-on-one with CNN about their strategies in the race for president. "NEW DAY" picks up that story now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I would be interested in vetting John. I like John.

GOV. JOHN KASICH (R), OHIO: I suspend my campaign.

TRUMP: Vice president or not, I think he'll be very, very helpful.

KASICH: We just got up every day and did the best we can.

TRUMP: I went for the knockout. Hillary doesn't have a clue.

CLINTON: He is a loose cannon and loose cannons tend to misfire.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We cannot sweep the major issues under the rug.

CLINTON: I've seen the presidency up close and I think I know what it takes.

SANDERS: There is a lot of nervousness that Donald Trump may become president. Ain't going to happen.

MAUZY: He set into motion a lifesaving mission to get Prince to a doctor.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Medical at Paisley Park. Person down, not breathing.

MAUZY: One of the staff members started screaming. He saw that Prince was unconscious.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo and Alisyn Camerota.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. Welcome to your NEW DAY. It's Thursday, May 5th, 6:00 in the east. Chris is on assignment and John Berman is here with me. Great to have you here in studio.

BERMAN: Good morning.

CAMEROTA: Up first, Donald Trump getting down to business. The presumptive Republican nominee knocking out the last of his rivals and now vetting a short list of potential running mates. Trump telling CNN that even he was surprised by how quickly he took the reins.

This morning, a Republican senator is calling for a third party candidate instead of Trump. So, can Trump unite this divided party?

BERMAN: So while that is happening, Hillary Clinton is just unloading on Donald Trump. She calls him a risky choice and says the country can't take a chance on a loose cannon. This, as Bernie Sanders vows that he's staying in the race until the last vote is cast. We're just six months shy now of Election Day in November and you can tell the general election fight is now well underway.

Let's begin our coverage with Phil Mattingly, live in Columbus, Ohio. Good morning, Phil.