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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Donald Trump Begins Personal Attacks Against Hillary Clinton; FBI Interviews Clinton Aides About E-mails; Wildfire Raging Out of Control in Alberta, Canada; North Korea Convenes Historic Meeting; Aired 4:30-5a ET
Aired May 06, 2016 - 04:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:30:38] MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Republican resistance to Donald Trump. Speaker Paul Ryan refusing to back the presumptive presidential nominee. How he says Trump can earn his endorsement.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: And Hillary Clinton's inner circle interviewed by the FBI. What we're learning this morning about her e- mail use while serving as secretary of state.
Welcome back to EARLY START this morning. I'm Christine Romans.
MARQUEZ: And I'm Miguel Marquez. Happy Friday to you.
ROMANS: Nice to see you.
MARQUEZ: It is 30 minutes past the hour. Good to be here.
Breaking overnight. The chairman of the Republican Party says the meeting is now set between Donald Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryan.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REINCE PRIEBUS, CHAIRMAN, REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE: Both Donald Trump and Paul Ryan are meeting next week to talk about these things. I think it's going to work out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MARQUEZ: Republicans shaken Thursday after Ryan, the party's highest ranking elected official, told CNN that right now he cannot support Donald Trump for president.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: So, Mr. Speaker, you have said throughout this process that you will support the Republican presidential nominee. Now you have a presumptive nominee. Donald Trump. Will you support him?
REP. PAUL RYAN (R), HOUSE SPEAKER: Well, to be perfectly candid with you, Jake, I'm just not ready to do that at this point. I'm not there right now. And I hope to, though, and I want to, but I think what is required is that we unify this party. And I think the bulk of the burden on unifying the party will have to come from our presumptive nominee.
TAPPER: So you're saying you can't -- you can't support or endorse him right now?
RYAN: Yes, I am basically saying that. Look, I'm -- that's -- you know, I thought about this two days ago. I thought actually this thing was going to go to June 7th at the very least. Probably to a convention. And so this is all pretty new for us. But at this point, I think that he needs to do more to unify this party. To bring all wings of the Republican Party together.
I think conservatives want to know, does he share our values and our principles., unlimited government, the proper role of the executive, adherence to the Constitution. There are lots of questions that conservatives I think are going to want answers to, myself included.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MARQUEZ: Now Trump responding with this stinging statement. "I am not ready to support Speaker Ryan's agenda. Perhaps in the future we can work together and come to an agreement about what is best for the American people. They have been treated so badly for so long that it is about time for politicians to put them first."
Trump on the campaign trail in West Virginia late last night. He did not talk about his standoff with Paul Ryan and the Republican elite. But he did take aim at Hillary Clinton in very personal terms.
CNN's Sara Murray was there. She has the latest.
SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Good morning, Miguel and Christine. Donald Trump arrived in West Virginia ready to test out some of his attack lines for the general election and he started off with a doozy, appearing to make an allusion to the Monica Lewinsky- Bill Clinton scandal.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Let me tell you something. The Clinton administration of which Hillary was definitely a part -- she was a part of almost everything, almost, I say, not everything. Almost. Terrible, terrible. I didn't think the people of West Virginia thought like that. That's terrible. You should be ashamed of yourselves. Terrible, terrible people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MURRAY: Now it's clear Trump is ready to ramp up his attacks against Clinton, but first he still has some work to do to unite the Republican Party. House Speaker Paul Ryan is the latest conservative voice to come out and say he's not quite ready to support Donald Trump.
Now the Trump campaign was sort of shrugging that aside last night. Trump did not talk about it on the stump but his campaign manager told CNN it was hardly a slap in the face. Back to you, guys.
MARQUEZ: Thank you, Sara Murray.
For more bad news for Donald Trump overnight. Reports say Illinois Republican Governor Bruce Rauner will not endorse the party's presumptive nominee and he will skip the convention. But with governors Trump's -- other governors taking Trump's side. One-time rival for the nomination Rick Perry, the former governor of Texas, says he will support Trump, as does Indiana Governor Mike Pence who just last week was standing by Ted Cruz before Cruz dropped out.
ROMANS: First on CNN, the FBI probe into Hillary Clinton's e-mails one step closer to completion this morning now that federal investigators have interviewed several of Clinton's closest aides. Some more than once.
[04:35:06] Officials tell CNN that so far nothing has turned up that would lead to federal charges.
Here's the latest now from justice reporter Evan Perez.
EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Christine and Miguel. The FBI has now reached into Hillary Clinton's inner circle as part of the investigation of her private e-mail server. In recent weeks several of her aides, including Huma Abedin, one of Clinton's closest and longest-serving advisers, have sat down for questions at an FBI building just a few blocks from where I'm sitting.
This is an important stage of this probe because it signals that the investigation could soon be completed. Now one major step still left is for the FBI to interview Secretary Clinton and that is expected to happen in the next couple of weeks. But so far, U.S. officials tell us that investigators haven't found evidence showing that Clinton willfully violated the law.
Now it's clear investigators believe that the private server Clinton set up was not a proper way to store sensitive government information, but it doesn't meet the threshold for bringing charges, these officials tell us.
It's important to add that this is still an ongoing investigation and once the FBI has done its work they'll turn over their findings to the Justice Department, and Attorney General Loretta Lynch will have final say on whether to bring charges in this case -- Christine, Miguel.
MARQUEZ: Thank you, Evan.
Hillary Clinton blasting Trump at a campaign rally late last night in California. In front of a largely Hispanic audience, Clinton accused Trump of doubling down on his promise to deport millions of immigrants and build a wall along the border with Mexico.
Clinton still locked in a primary battle with Bernie Sanders. She is nudging her rival to quit the race, bringing up her own losing campaign against President Obama in 2008. But Sanders telling NPR he will not be dropping out anytime soon.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I knew he had won because it matters how many delegates you have. Whether it is 60 or 300. Right? So I withdrew. I endorsed him.
I knew this. That whatever differences we might have had in the campaign, they were nothing compared to the differences between us and the Republicans. Now if that was true in '08, that is true on steroids today.
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We're going to stay in until the last vote is counted. And that will be in the primary in Washington, D.C.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: June 14th?
SANDERS: That's right. We are in this race until the very last vote is cast.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MARQUEZ: Now both Clinton and Trump on the campaign trail. Tonight Clinton in Oakland, Trump in Oregon, Sanders has no event scheduled.
ROMANS: President Obama shortening prison sentences for dozens of drug offenders. The president commuting sentences for 58 inmates all but one convicted of drug-related crimes. Many of those involving crack. In all, the president has commuted sentences now for 306 prisoners. Many of them would already be free under current sentencing guidelines.
MARQUEZ: North Carolina lawmakers defiant in the face of a deadline for its transgender bathroom law. The Justice Department gave the governor until Monday to get rid of it law or get sued for discrimination. The law bans people from using bathrooms that don't match the gender on their birth certificate. Lawmakers say they will not meet the deadline. Governor Pat McCrory says he will but isn't saying how.
And the Food and Drug Administration has finalized new rules for regulating the electronic cigarette, that industry. Starting in three months, e-cigarette sales will be prohibited to anyone under 18 in person or online. Manufacturers and importers of e-cigarettes and related products will now have to submit them to the FDA for approval.
ROMANS: Time for an EARLY START on your money. The April jobs report due out this morning with jobs central to voters. Some context for you. There are a near record high 5.4 million job openings right now in the U.S. Around eight million people are looking for work so why can't those positions be filled? Because companies says they can't find skilled workers. LinkedIn analyzed the most popular skills mentioned in job posting. The top five in the U.S. are all in the STEM field. What does STEM stand for? Science, technology --
MARQUEZ: Technology, engineering and math.
ROMANS: Yes.
MARQUEZ: I'm very good right. Thank you very much.
ROMANS: Cloud computing is number one. Followed by data mining and mobile development, then network security and software integration. Now the mismatch of available jobs and workers skills won't fix itself and it will take a national strategy -- better education, more job training programs plus experts say workers need to take action to add skills, retraining themselves throughout their careers so a really different contract today between a worker and the labor market than there was when we started in the job market.
MARQUEZ: It's the gig economy when you're basically a freelancer all on your own.
ROMANS: Totally. Totally.
MARQUEZ: And the recession of 2008 just forced all of that so fast forward.
ROMANS: That's absolutely right. And that's what that anxiety is on the campaign trail.
MARQUEZ: It's an interesting time.
ROMANS: Yes. It really is.
MARQUEZ: And we live in interesting times. Happening now, thousands of people being evacuated by air as a monster wildfire approaches.
[04:40:01] Details coming right up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: A devastating wildfire has now burned over 300 square miles of Alberta, Canada. Hot dry conditions this weekend could make a widening crisis even worse. A state of emergency is in place for Fort McMurray or what's left of Fort McMurray with more than 85,000 people evacuated, hundreds of structures destroyed. Reception centers for a growing number of evacuees is now being set up at Edmonton.
And that's where we find CNN's Dan Simon.
DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christine and Miguel, we are in the town of Conklin. This is one of the areas that has taken in evacuees. People who, right now, are in an indefinite holding pattern because the fire seems to be showing no signs of abating.
The weather on the fire line remains terrible. We're talking about windy, dry conditions, so firefighters are going to have their hands full for quite some time.
[04:45:01] In terms of the numbers, they remain staggering. Canada has never seen anything like this before. Eighty-eight thousand people evacuated, 1600 homes and businesses destroyed, and 200,000 acres charred.
In terms of how this fire started, right now we don't know that, of course, but there's a lot of curiosity. But the operating theory is that it was in a forested area and that it was caused by a lightning strike, but authorities still have to investigate.
In terms of where people are now, a lot of people have gone to shelters, they've gone to high school gymnasiums, things of that nature. The Red Cross is here. They're providing food and water to these folks.
But so much agony because this fire continues to rage and nobody knows when they'll be able to go home, and people are still waiting to find out if they'll have a home to go back to -- Christine and Miguel.
MARQUEZ: Thank you, Dan Simon.
The late Penn State football coach Joe Paterno knew about sex abuse allegations against assistant coach Jerry Sandusky as far back as 1976. That according to the university's insurance company. That claim emerged from a dispute between school and its insurer over who should pay $60 million in settlements with 26 men who claimed Sandusky abused them while they were children. Paterno's family calls the insurance company's claim an unsubstantiated smear.
ROMANS: The medical examiner's office in Minneapolis is furious about some media reports claiming the powerful pain killer Percocet was found in Prince's bloodstream after his death. They say the chief medical examiner is the only person who has seen the preliminary test results and she has not shared them with anyone.
MARQUEZ: And another victory in court for the Sandy Hook families. The superior court judge in Connecticut ruling they can gain access to internal documents and depose employees at the gun manufacture Remington. The families claimed in a lawsuit that Remington's marketing strategy deliberately targeted young men like Sandy Hook shooter Adam Lanza. The gun maker has filed a motion to stop the discovery phase and is asking the judge to throw out the case.
ROMANS: Breaking overnight, And a terrifying ordeal for passengers and crew members on a Pittsburgh bound flight from the Dominican Republic. Last night passengers finally returned home to Pittsburgh after severe turbulence forced the pilot to make an emergency landing in Ft. Lauderdale. Four flight attendants and three passengers on the Allegiant air flight hospitalized. For anyone on that plane, it sure felt like a near-death experience.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm telling you, I thought it was over. I thought we were all going down. The plane just dropped. It was like it nosedived and just dropped out from underneath of us.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was like in the movies. Like when you see in the movies when it crashed and everyone just slides up. It was like. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It just dropped. And everybody flew in the air
that wasn't in a seatbelt. So, I mean, people, the flight attendant in the front of the plane, I saw her go up and hit the top of the plane.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Two attendants in the back really got -- their faces were smashed. One got a really cut nose, a big forehead. And the other one got -- had blood coming down her face.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Two nurses were among the 137 passengers on board. They were able to start treating the injured flight attendants while the pilot was landing in Florida.
You know what, I always wear my seatbelt because I have been through turbulent situations before.
MARQUEZ: I do.
ROMANS: And it really is scary.
MARQUEZ: You just -- you'd go pressed.
ROMANS: You see the laptops fly up and it's just really dangerous.
MARQUEZ: It's frightening. Frightening.
Now severe weather threat ahead for the weekend. Meteorologist Derek Van Dam has more.
DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: There are just so many wonderful things happening this weekend, Miguel and Christine, from the Kentucky Derby tomorrow through to Sunday for Mother's Day. I've got you covered in this forecast.
(WEATHER REPORT)
VAN DAM: Back to you.
ROMANS: All right, exciting. Thanks so much for that.
Also exciting -- more exciting than the Kentucky Derby.
MARQUEZ: We know how excited you get for this. Yes.
ROMANS: The Kentucky Derby of jobs due this morning in just a few hours. We're going to tell you why a bad reading could spark a rally in the stock market when we get an EARLY START on your money.
MARQUEZ: It never makes any sense.
[04:50:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) MARQUEZ: A once in a generation political gathering happening now in the capital of North Korea, Pyongyang. The secretive communist nation convening the first party Congress in 36 years. And the carefully staged event, expected to cement leader Kim Jong-un's grip on power. It comes as the North is facing stepped-up sanctions over its nuclear program.
Now with the latest, live, CNN's international correspondent Will Ripley in Pyongyang.
Will, do you have any sense of why now? Why this conference? Why does Kim Jong-un hope to achieve there?
WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Miguel, we know that Kim Jong-un is under a considerable amount of pressure given the fact that he has moved forward aggressively with this nation's nuclear program including that reported H-bomb test in January and rumors of another possible fifth nuclear test for North Korea at anytime.
[04:55:03] As a result of those activities along with missile launches and satellite launch in February, he is facing the toughest sanctions that the United Nations has ever imposed on this country. And even though the economy does show some signs of growth here in Pyongyang, many aid groups, the United Nations and defectors say it is a very different situation in most of the country and the economic conditions likely will not improve as long as this country continues down the nuclear path.
So meanwhile, Kim Jong-un saying that he wants to grow the North Korea economy, but a lot of people wonder how he can do both. There has been some opposition within his party. We've reported in recent years about a series of purges. Members of the political elite who have been executed and removed. So this congress that has been called, the first one in 36 years, may be an opportunity for Kim to showcase his new leadership. People who were behind him and going to support him as he moves forward with this new strategy.
But the interesting thing here, Miguel, we haven't been allowed inside the congress. We had to stand across the street and take video of the building earlier today. And North Koreans haven't heard anything about it either. The 5:00 news just ended here in Pyongyang. Not a single mention of what is happening inside that building where 3,000 of the nation's political elite, members of the Workers' Party are meeting. We know they will unanimously support their supreme leader because that is the only option here. But whether there is an economic announcement or a nuclear announcement, we just don't know. We have to wait for the state media and the government to tell us -- Miguel.
MARQUEZ: Really interesting. Perhaps the government there not quite as confident as they would like to be.
Thank you very much, Will Ripley, in Pyongyang.
At least 28 people are dead after a pair of air strikes at a refugee camp in Syria. It happened just west of Aleppo. The White House says the victims were all innocent civilians trying to escape the violence. President Bashar al-Assad sent a telegram to Russia shortly after the attack. He said his army wants to obtain victory and crush the rebels. The U.S. now calling on Russia to address the statement it calls unacceptable.
ROMANS: All right. Let's get an EARLY START on your money. Stock markets falling around the world. Stock futures in the U.S. on hold ahead of the government's monthly jobs report three and a half hours from now. A weak jobs report could send stocks higher because investigators think that could keep the Federal Reserve from hiking interest rates next month. Oil is down. Stock markets in Europe and Asia are lower right now as well.
Facebook users spend almost an hour a day on the social network and Facebook wants you to stay even longer. Facebook says active users spend about 50 minutes a day using a combination of Facebook, Instagram or Messenger. Users are also watching almost three times more Facebook videos on their phones than they did a year ago. Partly because of that mobile advertising revenue jumped 75 percent year- over-year. That's a big move.
The 50-minute mark is up from 40 minutes in 2014. That's rate for a social media company. Usually those numbers go down as more people join. It's about the same amount of time that people spend reading, relax and exercising combined each day according to the Bureau of Labor statistics.
More time on Facebook than exercising. I don't know if that's a good ratio.
Shoppers in New York City will soon be paying to carry their groceries home if they don't bring their own bags. A new measure requires store to charge at least five cents for paper or plastic bags. This starts in October. The city says New Yorkers use -- look at this, Miguel. 9.4 billion bags each year. And guess what, most of those are not -- they don't get recycled. They end up in the rivers, they end up stuck in the trees in Central Park. It pays an estimated $12.5 million a year to transport 91,000 tons of paper and plastic bags to landfills. Takeout or delivery orders, food stamp purchases, produce and prescriptions, those are excluded from the requirement.
Now Some opponents say it places an unfair burden on the city's poorest residents. Supporters say it's a crucial step toward reducing excess waste.
You know, this is time of the year now when all the trees are vetted out. It's the only time of the year that you don't see the bags.
MARQUEZ: You can't see the bags.
ROMANS: Wrapped around the trees in Central Park.
MARQUEZ: Lovely thing. I'm a nerd. I carry -- I have my little bag. I carry it with me.
ROMANS: I recycle, too. I do. I mean, I do -- MARQUEZ: I don't know what to do with all these bags.
ROMANS: I know. I know.
MARQUEZ: EARLY START continues now.
The GOP resisting Donald Trump. The highest ranking elected Republican refusing to get behind the presumptive nominee. Speaker Paul Ryan telling CNN Trump has some work to do.
ROMANS: The FBI interviewing everyone in Hillary Clinton's inner circle about her e-mail use as secretary of state. What we're learning new this morning.
Good morning, everybody. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.
MARQUEZ: And I am Miguel Marquez. It is Friday. Happy Friday. May 6th. 5:00 a.m. here on the East Coast.
Breaking overnight, the chairman of the Republican Party says a meeting is now set between Donald Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryan.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REINCE PRIEBUS, CHAIRMAN, REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE: Both Donald Trump and Paul Ryan are meeting next week to talk about these things. I think it's going to work out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MARQUEZ: Republicans shaken Thursday after Ryan, the party's highest ranking elected official, told CNN that right now he cannot support Trump for president.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: So, Mr. Speaker, you have said throughout this process that you will support the Republican presidential nominee. Now you have a presumptive nominee. Donald Trump. Will you support him?
