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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

More Fireworks in GOP Civil War; Sanders Versus Clinton; Deadly Tornadoes Rip Across Plains; Steph Curry's Historic Return. Aired 5- 5:30a ET

Aired May 10, 2016 - 05:00   ET

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

[05:00:00] JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to EARLY START. I'm John Berman.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Christine Romans. It is Tuesday, May 10th. It is 5:00 a.m. on the nose in the East.

Breaking overnight: at least two people are dead after tornadoes tear across Oklahoma, destroying homes, flattening neighborhoods. We are gathering the latest information. You see the pictures outside Oklahoma City. We will bring you more information in just a moment.

BERMAN: First, though, just hours from now, voters head to the polls in West Virginia and Nebraska. This morning, the presumptive nominee, Donald Trump, he's likely getting ready for his meeting on Capitol Hill set for this Thursday.

Donald Trump supporter, Ben Carson, he's working a little bit of as an advance man right now. He wants a preliminary meeting with Paul Ryan before Trump sits down with the House speaker.

Now, it does seem Trump and Ryan are trying to be more conciliatory these days. After Ryan said he is not ready to support Trump and then Trump suggesting he is open to the suggestion of dumping Ryan as chairman of the upcoming Republican convention.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I've always liked him. He called me not so long ago, I don't know, a number of weeks ago, but he called me and he was very supportive, was very nice. I thought everything was fine and then, I got blindsided. So, we'll see. I mean, look, I'll see what happens.

REP. PAUL RYAN (R-WI), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: If he is the nominee, I'll do whatever he wants with respect to the convention. The point is, we just need to get to know each other and my goal is to help put together a unified party that sticks to our principles.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Trump is still getting a chilly reception from lawmakers returning to Capitol Hill for the first time since there has been a presumptive Republican nominee.

CNN's Sara Murray has the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Good morning, John and Christine.

Well, West Virginia and Nebraska have their Republican primaries today. But it's a whole lot less exciting on the Republican side as Donald Trump is the only candidate left in the race. Now, as he settles in to becoming the presumptive Republican nominee, he is still giving some members of the Republican Party heartburn, economists and experts sort of raised their eyebrows as Donald Trump has taken a number of different positions on debt lately, at one point suggesting that maybe the U.S. wouldn't make debt payments in full if you were president. He flipped up on the minimum wage and said there's plenty of room to negotiate when it comes to his tax proposals.

INTERVIEWER: Do you want taxes to go up or down?

TRUMP: They will go up a little bit and they may go up, you know --

INTERVIEWER: But they are going down in your plan.

TRUMP: No, no, in my plan, they're going down. But by the time, it's negotiated, they'll go up.

If I increase for the wealthy, that means they are still going to be paying less than they pay now. I'm not talking about increasing from this point. I'm talking about increasing from my tax proposal.

MURRAY: Now, all of this could make it tougher for Donald Trump to reach unity within the Republican Party. And as of now, the next chapter of that will come later this week. He's schedule to meet with Paul Ryan on Thursday in Washington, D.C. Who knows? Maybe the debt and the federal budget will be at the top of this list. We know that has been high on Paul Ryan's priority.

Back to you guys.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: Sara Murray, thank you.

OK, let's break down this brewing battle among Republicans and also this sort of shifting economic world view of Donald Trump. Who better to help us make sense of it, if we can, is CNN political analyst and "Bloomberg View" columnist, Josh Rogin.

Good morning, Josh.

JOSH ROGIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Good morning.

ROMANS: You know, I covered the bond market. My first job in business was covering the bond market and how the U.S. finances its debt, how, you know, the United States government spends more money than it earns. And so, that difference is financing a very respected and established system. Donald Trump weighing in on that and causing some consternation among -- both economic experts and bond market participant.

I want you to listen to what he said about debt yesterday and very recently. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I've borrowed knowing that you can pay back with discounts. I've done very well with that. Now, we're in a different situation with the country. But I would borrow knowing if the economy crashed, you could make a deal. If the economy was good, it was good. So, therefore, you can't lose.

I said if we can buy back government debt at a discount. In other words, if interest rates go up and we buy bonds back at a discount, if we are liquid enough as a country, we should do that. In other words, we can buy back debt at a discount.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: "The Wall Street Journal" this morning saying, you know, the government now running large annual deficits, such a buy back would require new debt to pay the old debt, because the new debt will be issued a higher interest. It is not clear that buy back would make anybody any money.

A lot of smart people are trying to make sense of what Donald Trump thinks about how the American economy works. Does he think it's like a hotel company or casino and that he can just walk in there and renegotiate his deals?

ROGIN: Well, you're pointing out the first problem with Donald Trump statements on the economy, which is that he doesn't distinguish what it is like to run the company and run the largest national economy in the world.

[05:05:00] The second problem, of course, with what he's saying is that his positions seem to fluctuating overtime.

The third problem, which I think is actually the most important problem, is that he doesn't seem to grasp the sheer impact that his statements can have on the economy itself. When you are the presumptive GOP nominee, your statements can move the markets. If you are the president, that applies tenfold. So, he -- while he's sort of pontificating about his -- the possibilities of things he might do, he seems to be either ignorant or uncaring about the way that his statements are having their third and second degree effects. And that shows that he hasn't really developed his plans to the point where they are ready for primetime, and he hasn't taken up the role of presumptive nominee in the way most people want them to.

BERMAN: Josh, that is an important point. You know, the fact is, Donald Trump says things. He just says things. And there's a great -- ROMANS: Are they policies or are they musings?

(CROSSTALK)

BERMAN: A great example of that is the issue of printing money and default. Listen to what he said yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: People said I want to go and buy debt and default on debt. These people are crazy. This is the United States government. First of all, you never have to default because you print the money, I hate to tell you, OK?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: So, here's the thing, he's not technically wrong. The United States can print more money. It has incredibly detrimental economic effects. But he's probably right. The U.S. would not default and that would happen.

Now, he's not proposing that the U.S. print more money, but because as you say, Josh, he's the presumptive nominee and says it, it has an impact.

ROGIN: Right. I mean, this whole idea of printing money to pay the debt is not a new idea. Remember, a few years ago, there's this idea of a $1 trillion coin, and we could just print $1 trillion coin and that would solve the nation's economic problems in one fell swoop.

Of course, there are horrendous second and third degree affects like hyperinflation that the Donald seems to be overlooking here. But, you know, the big point is this unpredictability is not just part of Trump's economic campaign. When I look at what he says about national security, what he's going to do about ISIS, what he's going to do about relationships with allies around the world, overall, there is just a huge amount of risk in inherent in him becoming president because nobody can make calculations of what would happen next.

And when you are president of the United States, your decisions have far reaching effects that has sheer inability to stick to one story, to one set of policies, as it clearly outline what would happen if you were actually elected president of the United States, introduces huge unpredictability not only into the markets but it's a think tanks, governments, people all around the world and, you know, that is pretty scary actually.

ROMANS: We have seen him sort of try to clarify his position on taxing or cuts for everyone, in particularly for the rich. That's been a story line the last couple days. We have seen him shift on the minimum wage. Last fall, he says the minimum wage, we didn't need to raise the wage and wages were too high.

Now, he is saying the states should raise it. He is going to bring companies back to America and so they're going to pay high wages just voluntarily apparently. But this idea of the debt, I mean, it's so important for people to understand that this is the bedrock of the American economy and the four letter debt is not necessarily a dirty word. It's how the American economy is financed.

Our word is our bond. That's why the world puts their money and trust in the U.S. government. You know, is Donald Trump shaking that confidence, do you think? Or do you think people are just thinking that he hasn't thought deeply about this?

ROGIN: Well, I think, you know, you watch the markets more than I do. But I think to be tend watching, people are sort of factoring in the assumption that he will change his mind a few more times. If he were to become president, his vacillating statements and his unclear policies were to have huge effects on the economy has worked, because it's so based on expectations.

I would go one step further here. I don't think that the Donald statements on the debt are in line with what his supporters have been championing. Let's remember here that the movement that brought Donald to the power and brought him to this nomination is based on this sort of idea that's been drilled into parts of the Republican Party that national debt is a huge crisis.

This is not a universally accepted view, but it's a popular politically. And if you believe the nation is drowning in debt and the first priority is to slash the budget and therefore slash government spending, therefore reduce the size of government as a way to get at the debt, which is some of most of the Tea Party, a lot of the Republicans in Congress have been saying over and over for years and years, then the Donald has just said something to contradicts that. Whether or not his supporters will put that together first of all and then actually factor that in, in terms of their support for him remains to be seen.

BERMAN: All right. Josh Rogin, great to have you here with us. I don't think we had you on since you were taken off the markets. So, congratulations --

ROGIN: Thank you.

BERMAN: -- of becoming a married man.

[05:10:01] We'll talk to you again in a little bit.

ROMANS: Oh, he was? Congratulations.

BERMAN: All right. A big moment coming up on CNN later today. Jake Tapper is going to speak with Marco Rubio. The first time we have seen him since he dropped out of the race.

What does he think about Marco Rubio? Will he fall in line behind Donald Trump? He says he doesn't want to be his running mate, he says that for certain. But what more is there? It's coming up later on "THE LEAD" at 4:00 p.m.

ROMANS: Did you put my name on the card, whatever gift you got for Josh Rogin? BERMAN: Yes, they got a --

ROMANS: For both of us? All right. Thanks.

Donald Trump's evolving comments on his economic policies, and specifically America's debt, they're getting a lot of attention as we told you this morning. Here is what experts and sources in the bond market are calling Trump, reckless, dangerous, clueless, chaotic.

American debt, of course, is the gold standard investment, coveted around the world. When the U.S. borrows money, its word is its bond. Now, last month, Trump proposed he could wipe out all $19 trillion of debt in eight years. One right-leaning economist calls that widely implausible at best, especially if you're giving tax cuts all over the place.

Last week, Trump told CNBC the country could borrow more money now and negotiate payment terms later if the economy crashed. This may work with struggling business. It doesn't -- that's not how it works with the government. One analyst says Trump, quote, "doesn't have a coherent idea of what he is talking about." Others warned it would amount to a default on debt and call into question the full faith and credit of the U.S. government.

Donald Trump late yesterday is saying, no, no, U.S. debt is sacred. He is not calling for default.

Then yesterday, on "NEW DAY", he clarified his stance and saying the country would not default because it could just print more money and buy back the debt a discounted rate. Expert says that is disastrous, rapid inflation and interest rates.

Another minor point, the president doesn't hold those powers, the printing money powers. It's Federal Reserve that sets monetary policy. The Fed appoints -- the president appoints, rather, the Fed chief. But it's getting a lot of attention this morning.

BERMAN: All right. There's some deadly tornadoes hitting the Plains, leaving just devastation behind. There is more severe weather headed that way. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:16:09] BERMAN: At least two people dead this morning after a tornado outbreak tore across the Great Plains. This twister carving through Elmore City in Oklahoma. Just devastating pictures. One city where forecasters declared a tornado warning meaning a tornado had been spotted.

You can just see neighborhoods just ripped to shreds.

ROMANS: So, is there more severe weather ahead today? Just a devastating day across the plains yesterday. Let's get straight to meteorologist Pedram Javaheri.

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: John and Christine, yes, this is a multi-day event. So, certainly, the threat for severe weather is there, not only today but also tomorrow.

And you take a look at some of these images coming out of Lincoln, Nebraska. I have never seen anything like this when it comes to a golf course, and the hail that it's left behind. Incredible when we have baseball sized hail come down in Lincoln. Of course, this is one of almost 100 reports of severe hail on Monday afternoon, 21 reports tornadoes. You saw some of the them getting to incredible strength there when it comes to just the rotation and the wedge shape of these tornadoes on the surface.

But here is the severe weather threat. Central Texas over the frontal boundary here, this afternoon, another area of concerned right across northern Tennessee, and it's Kentucky that we're watching carefully. The main threats here are going to be for wind and hail. Don't see mot much in the way of severe weather causing tornadoes by this afternoon, certainly could see a few isolated but nothing widespread.

The concern does pick up on Wednesday for more in the way of tornadoes. That is in places like Oklahoma City, Joplin, Kansas City and St. Louis in line for the highest threat. On a scale of one to five, that would be a two for the concern and notice again, this afternoon, 2:00 to 4:00 p.m., we see some of these storms fire up across the Tennessee Valley, guys.

BERMAN: All right. Pedram, thanks so much.

Firefighters in Alberta is still struggling to contain a devastating wildfire that has already destroyed 2,400 buildings and homes. Four hundred thousand acres of have burned. More than 90,000 people evacuated.

Daytime temperatures are cooling and the humidity is up, giving firefighters a fighting chance. It is little comfort for thousands of evacuees. They're not being told when they can return or whether they still have homes. Authorities say 10 percent of the town of Fort McMurray is gone, burned to the ground. As of last night, the wildfire is classified as zero percent contained.

ROMANS: Just devastating there.

All right. New dueling lawsuits between the federal government and North Carolina over the state's divisive new bathroom law. Attorney General Loretta Lynch says trying to force transgender citizens to use public restrooms, restrooms that correspond to the sex on their birth certificate, is the civil rights struggle of this era. She calls the measure state-sponsored discrimination.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John. Good morning, Christine.

You know, Monday was supposed to be the deadline when the state of North Carolina was to remedy the violations the U.S. government said it found in the so-called bathroom law. North Carolina didn't make any kind fix. Instead, they filed a lawsuit against the federal government.

They are specifically asking for clarification here. The U.S. government says that that law is a solution of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. North Carolina says that is a gross overreach of federal power here. They believe the transgenders are a kind of protected class. Thereby, their rights aren't being violated by this law. Well, that was how the state filed it suit.

Now, later in the day, we have the U.S. government come forward and file action against North Carolina. And they are basically seeking a preliminary and permanent injunction to prevent what they call further violations of federal law and to grant such additional relief, well, essentially, to give the Justice Department a blank check to do whatever it needs to do to bring North Carolina into following the federal law.

Two different opinions here, clearly going to be decided in a federal court. But how high will it go? Some suggested it may go all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court and that the implications go far beyond North Carolina -- John and Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right, Martin Savidge.

And interesting.

[05:20:00] The entire university system there says it will follow federal law for bathrooms, not state law. So, breaking with Governor Pat McCrory and siding with Loretta Lynch on this issue.

BERMAN: All right. Twenty minutes after the hour.

A programming note on CNN. A special "AC360" town hall tomorrow night, an opioid addiction. Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins Anderson Cooper for "Prescription Addiction: Made in America". That is Wednesday night, 9:00 p.m. Eastern, right here on CNN.

ROMANS: All right. MVP Steph Curry back on the court for the playoffs.

BERMAN: Was he ever.

ROMANS: But how did his tender knee hold up in game four against the Trailblazers?

Coy Wire knows. He's got this morning's bleacher report next.

BERMAN: Yes. Here's a preview: it held up OK.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:25:03] BERMAN: All right. He's back. Warriors guard and possible superhero Steph Curry is back from injury. He looks OK.

ROMANS: Coy Wire has more in this morning's bleacher report. Hey, Coy.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Christine and John.

Producer Nick and Ceasar and Tim and I were in the sports department talking this morning, he's so good, he looks like a Harlem Globetrotter playing against the Washington Generals.

Curry playing for the first time since spraining his knee in round one against the Houston Rockets. He was a little rusty, though, coming off the bench. His first three-pointer, he pulls up and no bueno. His first nine three-pointers, no bueno.

But Curry does what shooters do, keep on shooting until you find your groove. Curry knocks down the pull-up three in OT and then yells, "I'm back".

Curry is scoring 17 of 20 points in overtime. That's three more points than the Blazers had as a team. Paul Allen is, like, wait, what the what? Yes, that's what. Warriors win 132-125, taking a commanding 3-1 series lead.

Now, guys, the Invictus games, possibly the coolest sporting events ever invented. Competition for Wounded Warriors under way in Orlando, Florida. So many inspiring stories to bring to you, like retired Lance Corporal Sarah Rudder. She was injured while saving people on 9/11, at the Pentagon.

Yesterday, she won the games' first gold medal in women's power lifting. Then she followed that up with a gold in indoor rowing. Go, Sarah, go.

Here's an athlete to look out for in today's event, retired Staff Sergeant Daniel Crane. He lost his right hand while serving our country, but he's a living example that it's not what happens to you, it's how you go through it, keep moving forward. He uses his teeth while smoking targets with his archer's bow. I can't wait to watch him in action today.

To all the athletes, on behalf of Christine Romans, John Berman, and the entire CNN family - thank you for your service and we wish you the best of luck.

ROMANS: Awesome.

BERMAN: It's a wonderful competition to see. Inspiring on so many levels.

Coy Wire, thanks so much.

ROMANS: All right. In the GOP and politics this morning, turmoil among the Republicans.

Donald Trump on the defense of a frosty reception from Republican leaders. We've got that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)