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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Deadly Tornadoes Hit Oklahoma; Primary Day In West Virginia & Nebraska; Trump Defends Economic Positions; Alberta Wildfire "Zero Percent" Contained; Legal Battle Over Transgender Rights; Train Station Knife Attack Near Munich. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired May 10, 2016 - 05:30   ET

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

[05:31:00] CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Happening today, voters head to the polls this morning in West Virginia and Nebraska. Now, Republicans already have their presumptive nominee and many party leaders aren't happy about it. Can Donald Trump end the civil war in the GOP?

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Close race in West Virginia between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders but Clinton, decidedly, the underdog there. So, if she doesn't win, what does that do in her hunt for the nomination?

ROMANS: Deadly tornadoes ripping across the Plains, homes and buildings obliterated. More severe weather heading toward the region this morning, folks.

Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.

BERMAN: I'm John Berman. Thirty-one minutes past the hour right now and breaking overnight, at least two people are dead after tornadoes tore across Oklahoma destroying homes and entire neighborhoods. (Video playing) You can see these pictures here right now. This is near Oklahoma City late yesterday.

There were warnings spreading out across that state. People being warned to take cover. Again, two deaths. We're going to have an update a little bit from now. We've been collecting information all night and we'll check back in there in just a few minutes.

ROMANS: But first, in just hours voters for both parties head to the polls in West Virginia. In Nebraska -- Republicans only in Nebraska. They will cast ballots in that state's now-uncontested primary. This morning, Donald Trump is likely getting ready for his big meetings on Capitol Hill set for Thursday.

Trump supporter, Ben Carson, has gone from surgeon to advance man. He has requested a preliminary meeting with Paul Ryan before Trump sits down with the House Speaker. Both Trump and Ryan now seem to be trying out a more conciliatory tone.

This, after Ryan first stated he is not ready to support Trump, and then Trump suggested he's open to the notion 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 and very nice and 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: He's 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)

ROMANS: Trump is still getting a chilly reception from lawmakers returning to Capitol Hill for the first time since there's been a presumptive Republican nominee. Let's get to CNN's Sara Murray for that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL 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 into becoming a presumptive Republican nominee he's 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 repayments in full if he were president. He's flip-flopped on the minimum wage and said there's plenty of room to negotiate when it comes to his tax proposals.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, ANCHOR, ABC NEWS: You want to taxes on the wealthy to go up or down?

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

STEPHANOPOULOS: But they're 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 to the wealthy that means they're 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 potentially make it even tougher for Donald Trump to reach unity within the Republican Party and, as we know, the next chapter of that will come later this week. He's scheduled 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 that is high on Paul Ryan's priority. Back to you guys.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[05:35:00] BERMAN: All right, Sara Murray, thanks so much. Let us discuss this more. We're joined now by CNN political analyst and Bloomberg View columnist, Josh Rogin. Josh, great to have you with us.

Donald Trump's policies -- economic policies, economic proposals, economic musings very much in the spotlight right now because of things he said about the debt the last few days and what he would do about it. Listen to some of the things he said, I think, to CNBC, first.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I've borrowed, knowing that you can pay back with discounts and I've done very well with that. Now, we're in a different situation with the country, but I would borrow knowing that if the economy crashed you could make a deal. And 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 can 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)

BERMAN: Now, this is difficult for many of us, including me, to understand, but basically what he's suggesting, most economists and analysts will tell you, is radical, bordering on simply not how this system works, Josh.

JOSH ROGIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Right. He's charting out brand new paths in fiscal and monetary policy for the United States that are not only unknown, but so increase the risks and uncertainties of the U.S. economy so much that it's impossible to predict how they would affect the markets -- the international agreements that we have with countries all over the world.

So -- and, it's also hard to flush out because there doesn't seem to be a lot of it there. Now, this overall sort of confusion about Donald's policies on the economy is one of the key things that's going to be a problem as he heads into his meetings this week --

ROMANS: Right.

ROGIN: -- with Republicans on the hill. Remember, Paul Ryan is the guy in the party who's supposed to be the budget guy, the economy guy, the policy guy. He has years and years of plans on how to handle the debt, the economy, the budget, and none of those comport with anything that "The Donald" has been saying.

This is one of the main reasons that establishment Republicans are so tied up in knots about the prospect of working with Donald Trump for the next six months. This will be at the top of the agenda on Thursday when Paul Ryan and Donald Trump do their gripping brand (ph) and try to come to some sort of place where they can present some sort of unified front, but nobody really understands how it's going to work.

ROMANS: I mean, you make a really good point. Paul Ryan has spent his career thinking about budgets, thinking about fiscal policy, about austerity, about how the American economy works and how it should work, and making changes along those lines.

And we have seen Donald Trump's policies on minimum wage, on tax cuts for everyone but most specifically for the rich, sort of shifting. And maybe his policies aren't shifting but he's tried to clarify how his musings on television are shifting and that's what's been so hard to get your hands around here.

ROGIN: Right.

ROMANS: You know, Donald Trump is talking about the American government and the American economy as if he was talking about a casino and that, I think, a lot of people who understand how the economy works, is completely off base.

ROGIN: Right. The charitable way to look at it is to say that Donald Trump is adjusting his positions in preparation for a general election. He'll have to appeal to a broader base. The less charitable way to look at it is that he's out of his depth and he doesn't know what he's talking about it, and he's making all these pronouncements sort of off the cuff and that's a huge problem.

Now, this is not just confined to the economy. Now, Paul Ryan is a man who's been talking publicly and privately for months about the fact that Donald Trump's policies, whether it's banning Muslims or immigration, or what have you, just have nothing to do with what the Republican Party in Washington has been working on for so many years.

And that, in Paul Ryan's view, spells doom for the party. It's impossible to think of how they square that circle, but that's exactly what they're trying to do this week. The scuttlebutt inside the Republican Party is that some people think that there's a chance that "The Donald" can make a deal. Can meet with the Republicans and come to some agreement about a platform on the economy, on trade, and all these things that they disagree with.

Paul Ryan has never been one of those people. He's been one of the people who thinks that Donald's rise is really doomed for the Republican Party as we know it. That's the reality despite whatever it is that they say when they meet on Thursday.

BERMAN: You know -- so, Donald Trump talking about bond rates, also talking about Bill Clinton and his infidelities, and Hillary Clinton, calling her an enabler. These attacks have been going on for days. Yesterday, Hillary Clinton was asked how she intended to respond. I want to play that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm answering him on what I think voters care about. I'm answering him on the differences between our records, our experience, what we want to do for our country, how important it is to try to unify the country. And I have been very clear that a lot of his rhetoric is not only reckless, it's dangerous.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: So, Hillary Clinton says she's not going to engage exactly on this.

ROGIN: Right.

BERMAN: Wants to keep it on the issues, though her advisers promise to be aggressive on that. Look, Hillary Clinton's been dealing with Bill Clinton and that issue for many, many years and it never seems to have hurt her politically. Is it your sense, Josh, that will continue to be the case or as with so many things, is a Donald Trump version of that something different?

[05:40:00] ROGIN: Right. I think, first of all, Hillary Clinton's current stance that she will just avoid engaging on these issues is untenable, as all of the other opponents of Donald Trump have found. Eventually you get dragged into the mud and eventually she's going to have to engage on this.

Now, that's not necessarily to say that this is a win for "The Donald". I think if we look at the polls it's clear that Donald Trump's attacks on Hillary for allegedly playing the woman card have not helped him with women. His disapproval with women in polls have only gone up, you know.

And secondly, it's sort of unusual for a campaign to go this negative this early before the general election has even started. What does he do next? I mean, what does it look like when "The Donald" goes negative on Hillary if this is how he starts out?

So, she will try to take the high road as long as possible because that's the smart thing to do, but as long as possible is not that long at all. But in the end she's making the calculation that voters will be more turned off by the attacks than they will buy into them. We'll have to wait and see.

ROMANS: All right, Josh Rogin, nice to see you this morning.

ROGIN: Likewise.

ROMANS: Thanks for getting up early for us.

BERMAN: All right, a really big interview coming up later today on CNN. Marco Rubio, who really hasn't talked very much in public about this race since he left the race -- he's going to be on "THE LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER".

What does he now think about Donald Trump? One thing we do know, he's already told Jake he doesn't intend to be Donald Trump's nominee. Not interested at all in being the V.P.

ROMANS: All right, our other big story this morning, tornadoes tearing across the Plains. At least two dead now. Homes and buildings destroyed. More severe weather is expected to hit that region, next.

[05:42:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:46:00] ROMANS: At least two people are dead this morning after a tornado outbreak tore across the Great Plains. (Video playing) Check out this chilling video. You can see this twister. This is just so frightening. It's carving its way through Elmore City, Oklahoma.

It's just one of the cities where forecasters declared a tornado warning, meaning a tornado had been spotted, but destruction just simply devastating. You can see neighborhoods ripped to shreds, flattened buildings here. Is there more severe weather ahead today? That's the fear. Let's get to meteorologist Pedram Javaheri.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

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. (Video playing) And you take a look at some of these images coming out of Lincoln, Nebraska. I've never seen anything quite like this when it comes to a golf course and the hail divots left behind. Incredible. And we had baseball-sized hall come down in Lincoln.

Of course, this was one of almost 100 reports of severe hail on Monday afternoon. Twenty-one reports of tornados. You saw some of them getting up to incredible strength there when it comes to just the rotation and the wedge shape of these tornadoes on the surface.

But, here's the severe weather threat. Central Texas, over the frontal boundary right there, this afternoon. Another area of concern right across northern Tennessee, on into Kentucky that we're watching carefully. Notice the main threats here are going to be for wind and hail. I don't see much in the way of severe weather causing tornados by this afternoon. Certainly could see a few isolated, but nothing widespread.

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

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right Pedram, thank you for that. Firefighters in Alberta still struggling to contain a devastating wildfire that has already destroyed 2,400 buildings and homes. Four-hundred thousand acres have burned, more than 90,000 people evacuated.

Daytime temps are cooling and the humidity is up, giving firefighters a chance to get ahead of the blaze. Authorities say 10 percent of the town of Fort McMurray is gone, burned to the ground. As of last night the wildfire there is classified as zero percent contained. It's going to be a long, hot summer there.

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

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LORETTA LYNCH, ATTORNEY GENERAL: The legislature and the governor placed North Carolina in direct opposition to federal laws prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sex and gender identity. More to the point, they created state-sponsored discrimination against transgender individuals who simply seek to engage in the most private of functions in a place of safety and security. A right taken for granted by most of us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: North Carolina's public university system is splitting with its own state government in defying the bathroom measure. It has told the Justice Department it intends to do business in compliance with federal law.

Let's take a look at what's coming up on "NEW DAY". Alisyn Camerota joins us now. Hi there, Alisyn.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR, "NEW DAY": Good morning, Christine, great to see you. So, as you know, voters are heading to the polls today in West Virginia and Nebraska. Now, on the Republican side, is Donald Trump's feud with Paul Ryan cooling ahead of their meeting this week?

Also, we have learned there's going to be another big meeting between Trump and other Senate Republican leaders. So what might happen there? Meanwhile, Trump is attempting to clarify his positions on key economic issues. We will speak with former GOP candidate, Rick Perry, about why Perry has just endorsed Trump.

And, the Democratic race is not over. Can Bernie Sanders pull off an upset in West Virginia? Sanders' campaign manager joins us with his plan. We'll also have the latest on that violent weather you've been talking about in the nation's midsection. At least two people dead from tornadoes in Oklahoma, so what can that region expect today, when we see you in 10 minutes.

ROMANS: All right, thanks so much for that, Alisyn. So, stocks have been stalling the past few days. Oh, but we've got some big name companies on the move. Will the market break out of its funk? We're going to get an early start on your money next.

[05:50:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK]

[05:54:00] ROMANS: Kim Jong Un has a new title this morning. The North Korean leader named chairman of the Workers' Party in a rare congressional session. CNN's Will Ripley, one of only a handful of journalists granted access to the first political event of its kind in North Korea in nearly four decades. Will joins us live this morning from Pyongyang. Tell us about it, Will.

WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Christine, it has now wrapped up. It was a four-day workers' party congress, the first since 1980 and the first under supreme leader Kim Jong Un, who wasn't even born when the last congress took place.

And, over the weekend what we expected to happen unfolded. He received a brand new title of chairman, which was created just for him because he already had the highest title possible of first secretary. He also oversaw the election of new party leadership that is now firmly behind him. There was a unanimous vote. Not surprising here because all votes are unanimous.

[05:55:00] So now, it appears -- and when we actually went inside the workers' party congress it's the first time western media has ever been allowed inside a highly-secretive political gathering like this in North Korea.

It was very clear that this young man in his early thirties, who went through a period of perhaps some rocky times in the party -- there were rumors of purges. Member of his inner circle, some disappearing, some disappearing and then coming back after reeducation.

It now seems as if the government is stable. Kim Jong Un firmly in control and ready to push forward with that agenda of growing the economy, but also very aggressively growing this country's nuclear arsenal.

And even though there hasn't been a North Korean nuclear test, as South Korea and the U.S. think tank 38 North were suspecting after looking at satellite imagery, there's still a possibility now that the congress is over, but international media are still in the country. Tomorrow or the next day could be a time for the North Korean government to try to make an impression. That's something that intelligence officials are watching very closely.

Meanwhile, celebrations here in the North Korean capital. We attended a huge parade in Pyongyang today. Hundreds of thousands of people, starting at 5:00 a.m., walked from home to Kim Il-sung Square and they did one of those coordinated mass demonstrations that North Korea is so famous for.

They practice for these things for weeks, if not months, to make sure that every move is perfect. And even though North Korean government officials will say that this is voluntary, people don't have to do this, they do this because they want to, still entire offices are coming together, school groups coming together. It is just a part of being a North Korean citizen.

When this country holds a major event everybody turns out and they show, in a very dramatic way, their support and devotion to the supreme leader. Those deemed not loyal don't live here in Pyongyang. They are sent to other parts of North Korea where reporters, like me, are not allowed to visit -- Christine.

ROMANS: That was a very important point, Will Ripley. Thank you for navigating those waters for us. Again, a very unique assignment you have because you are only granted access to what the supreme leader wants you to see. Thank you for that, Will.

All right, breaking overnight, a deadly knife attack at a train station near Munich, Germany. One man is dead, three other people injured. Authorities are investigating reports that the suspect shouted Allahu Akbar, God is Great, in Arabic. The motive is unknown. The suspect, a young man, is in custody.

Let's get an early start on your money this Tuesday morning. Stock market gains around the world this hour and Dow futures point to a solid gain here when the market opens in, oh, just about three and one-half hours. Oil prices also higher right now. Progress report for your 401(K) and the Dow and S&P 500 slightly higher for the year. The Nasdaq down about five percent.

All right, bullish on all-day breakfast at Mickey D's. The stock hit an all-time high yesterday, up more than 10 percent this year. Fifty- five percent higher since CEO, Steven Easterbrook, took over in January 2015. He revamped the company's menu with all-day breakfast, customizable burgers, and healthier options.

Now, he's expanding in Asia. McDonald's hopes to add more than 1,500 new McDonald's restaurants in China, Hong Kong, and Korea over the next five years. McDonald's currently has more than 2,800 locations in these three markets.

All right, 58 minutes past the hour. Division growing the Republican Party. Can Donald Trump unite the GOP? Does he even want to? "NEW DAY" picks up that story right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I thought everything was fine and then I got blindsided.

RYAN: He's the nominee. I'll do whatever he wants.

CLINTON: His rhetoric is not only reckless, it's dangerous.

TRUMP: She's playing the woman's card to the hilt.

CLINTON: I'm going to let him run his campaign however he chooses.

TRUMP: You watch the problems she'll have.

LYNCH: They created discrimination against transgender individuals.

GOV. PAT MCCRORY (R), NORTH CAROLINA: Fighting discrimination, which I support wholeheartedly.

LYNCH: We see you. We stand with you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Violence still rages in most of the country.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The fire has become intense.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: None of this seems to indicate a full Russian withdrawal from Syria.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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

CAMEROTA: Morning, everyone. Welcome to your new day. It is Tuesday, May 10th, 6:00 in the east. John Berman is here with us. Good morning to you.

BERMAN: Congratulations. I'm starting every conversation with that now. I think it's a good policy.

CAMEROTA: I like it.

BERMAN: Yes.

CAMEROTA: Thank you. Whatever you're congratulating us on, that's great. Up first, voters head to the polls this morning in West Virginia and Nebraska, but the primary fight is overshadowed by the turmoil in the Republican Party over their presumptive nominee.

House Speaker Paul Ryan now says if Trump doesn't want him to chair the convention, he won't. So how are these meetings between Trump and Ryan, and Trump and GOP senators going to go this week?

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Lots of fallout from the Trump interview that we had here on NEW DAY just yesterday. He gave us a new businessman's approach to dealing with debt and taxes. Raised a lot of eyebrows, so this morning we're going to tell you where Mr. Trump is now on these all-important issues and what experts are saying the implications could be.

On the Democrat side of the ball you've got Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders battling for a big win in West Virginia.