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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Trump on the Attack; Clinton Returns to California to Fight Sanders; Fierce Fighting in Fallujah. Aired 4-4:30a ET
Aired June 01, 2016 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[04:00:12] DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think the political press is among the most dishonest people that I've ever met. You're a sleaze because you know the facts and you know the facts well. I've watched you on television. You're a real beauty.
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JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Donald Trump unplugged. New attacks on the media as we learn new information in the fraud case leveled against his university.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Hillary Clinton campaigning against Donald Trump, but unable to shake Bernie Sanders for now. A new endorsement heightening California as the battleground state in the Democratic presidential nomination.
Good morning. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.
BERMAN: I'm John Berman. Nice to see you. It is Wednesday, June 1st.
ROMANS: It is.
BERMAN: It feels like just yesterday, it was May. It's 4:00 a.m. in the East.
ROMANS: It never gets old, John.
BERMAN: This morning, Donald Trump says, it's all our fault. The presumptive nominee lashed out at reporters for asking basic questions for most of a 40-minute news conference in the lobby of Trump Tower. The event had officially been called to unveil a list of veterans groups that benefitted from a Trump fundraiser last January that received money based on that Trump last January. But instead, Trump devoted most of his time to attacking the journalists in that room.
CNN's Jim Acosta has more.
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JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: John and Christine, Donald Trump will be in California later today after a fiery news conference that was supposed to be about the millions of dollars he raised for veterans causes. Instead, Trump lashed out at the news media for asking questions about his fundraising efforts, which generated $5.6 million for charity organizations that assist veterans.
Trump said the scrutiny was another example of the media trying to derail his campaign. Here's what he had to say.
TRUMP: I will say that the press should be ashamed of themselves. On behalf of the vets, the press should be ashamed of themselves. They're calling me and they are furious because I sent people checks of a lot of money. We're going to give you the names right now, which is what you want.
And instead of being like, thank you very much, Mr. Trump, or, Trump did a good job, everyone says, who got it, who got it, who got it? And you make me look very bad.
I have never received such bad publicity for doing such a good job.
ACOSTA: The presumptive GOP nominee also took questions about Trump University, a real estate school he founded that is now embroiled in a legal battle, facing accusations of defrauding students.
Just days ago, Trump noted the Hispanic heritage of the judge handling the case. But when asked about that at his news conference, Trump did not answer the question -- John and Christine.
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ROMANS: All right. Jim Acosta for us this morning.
Potential big development overnight, excuse me. Magazine editor Bill Kristol confirmed the name of a white knight candidate he hopes will launch a bid for president. David French is a conservative writer, lawyer, and Iraq War veteran, awarded a Bronze Star. He may not be well known to many Americans, but Kristol has described him as impressive, with a real chance of winning.
Until a week ago, French had been calling for Mitt Romney to jump in. Overnight, Romney put out a tweet praising French. As to the man who Kristol, French and Mitt Romney all want to stop before French's came up, Donald Trump blasted Kristol has a dummy and his third-party effort as a spoiler campaign.
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TRUMP: These people are losers. He's trying to make you -- he's trying to drive you guys a little bit nuts. If they do an indie, assuming it's decent, which I don't think anybody with a reputation would do it because they'd look like fools. But what you're going to do is you lose thee election for the Republicans, and therefore you lose the Supreme Court.
(END VIDEO CLIP) BERMAN: All right. As for that other party involved in this race, the Democrats, Hillary Clinton is in New Jersey today. The other big state that has a primary next Tuesday. She'll be joined by the Garden State's own Jon Bon Jovi who will appear in Boston at a fundraiser.
Hillary Clinton is also adopting some of Donald Trump's own tactics to defeat him. Get the latest on that now from CNN's Brianna Keilar.
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BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John and Christine.
The Clinton campaign is feeling pretty good about New Jersey. California is a tighter race, but her campaign thinks she's leading there too. They are, though, emphasizing that she doesn't need to win California or even New Jersey to be the nominee.
But make no mistake: the campaign knows it's very important that she projects strength going into the general election. Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton continuing her recent Trump-style practice of call-in interviews, this one with CNN as she promised she'll do everything she can to unify the Democratic Party and said her campaign is talking to the Sanders campaign.
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE (via telephone): Once the primaries are over as of next Tuesday, we will begin talking in more detail about what we can do to unify the party because as I've said many times and as Senator Sanders has said, we both are going to do everything we can to prevent Donald Trump from getting anywhere near the White House.
[04:05:05] KEILAR: So, what about the ultimate unification of the party, a Clinton/Sanders ticket? Bernie Sanders wouldn't dismiss that idea when asked. He has said should he not be the nominee, Clinton needs to pick a liberal running mate, not a moderate, trying to influence the ticket as well as the party platform.
Hillary Clinton recently told CNN that talk of a Clinton/Sanders pairing is something down the road -- John and Christine.
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ROMANS: All right. Brianna, thank you.
Today, Bernie Sanders will be trying to hammer home his message across California in his make-or-break bid to block Hillary Clinton. But in a setback for Sanders effort, California Governor Jerry Brown has endorsed Hillary Clinton. In a statement, Brown said the stakes couldn't be higher. "This is no time for Democrats to keep fighting each other. The general election has already begun. Hillary Clinton, with her long experience, especially as secretary of state, has a firm grasp of the issues and will be prepared to lead our country on day one."
Sanders says he's been fighting the Democratic establishment in every state and that he believes he can win California and the nomination with or without Governor Brown.
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SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I really have not heard what the governor has to say, and I like Jerry Brown, but people can make their own choices. But again, what we have had to do we've done pretty well in every state in this country, taken on Democratic governors, taken on Democratic senators, taken on Democratic members of the House, Democratic mayors, and all of their political apparatus. Yet, we've won in 20 states, and I think we're going to win here in California.
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ROMANS: The Clinton campaign showing it may be a little worried, changing the candidate's schedule so she spends five days in California up to the state's primary on Tuesday.
BERMAN: It's interesting. You know, the Jerry Brown thing. There's a lot of history between the Clintons and Jerry Brown. Jerry Brown ran against Bill Clinton in 1992. They had harsh words. But apparently both Hillary Clinton and bill Clinton met with Jerry Brown over the last few weeks. That could be a big nomination.
ROMANS: Jerry Brown was sort of like a Bernie Sanders type of candidate back in 1992, interesting.
BERMAN: And Jerry Brown said as much, when he was endorsing Hillary Clinton. He says, you know, I've done this. You know, I like what Bernie Sanders is about, but I'm behind Hillary Clinton right now.
New testimony has been released in a lawsuit over Hillary Clinton's use of a private e-mail server. Her longtime aide Cheryl Mills sat in a deposition last week. It said that after Hillary Clinton stepped down as secretary of state, Mills discussed the server with the technical aide who helped set it up, but the lawyer for Mills stopped her from speaking in detail about the work of the technician Brian Pagliano or whether he was employed by Clinton at the time.
ROMANS: All right. The Transportation Safety Administration taken to task over potential security flaws at America's airports. TSA data shows an average of 2,500 security breaches, 2,500 breaches a year at airport parameters and key access points. The Government Accountability Office blames the TSA for failing to update security standards for the airports to follow.
BERMAN: Symbolic visit for President Obama today. He returns to Elkhart, Indiana. That's the site of his first trip after he took office in 2009. The president expected to highlight economic policies he says have helped the area improve since the recession.
New businesses have struggled to take root there, but officials say the county is better positioned for the next economic downturn. He's also going to try to set up the dynamics and prospects of the presidential race this fall. The White House says this could be the first real speech defining what's at stake in the fall. ROMANS: All right. New this morning, Amazon CEO and "Washington
Post" owner Jeff Bezos fighting back against Donald Trump's attacks on the media. At a conference last night, Bezos said it's inappropriate for Trump to try to freeze or chill the media that are examining him.
He says presidential candidates should be doing the opposite. Quote, "They should say, I'm running for president of the most important country in the world. I expect to be scrutinized. Please examine me. That's very important cultural norm. Without the cultural norms, the Constitution is just a piece of paper," end quote.
Trump has been critical of the "Washington Post", Amazon and Bezos personally and all of the media, frankly. Bezos deflected questions on whether he would donate money or take other options to stop Trump from winning the November election.
BERMAN: Just remember, it's a journalist's job to ask questions. That's what we're here to do.
ROMANS: Really important part of a democracy, right, a free press.
BERMAN: In fact, it is.
All right. The gorilla killed after a small child entered its enclosure. New luminaries are now weighing on this controversy and new details about how it all happened.
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[04:13:31] ROMANS: Welcome back.
Authorities are investigating the family of the 3-year-old boy who fell into a gorilla habitat at the Cincinnati Zoo. There's growing outrage over the decision to shoot and kill the silverback gorilla Harambe in order to save that little boy's life. Animal rights activists and some every day Americans calling for criminal charges, criminal charges against the child's mother.
We get more from CNN's Jessica Schneider.
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JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John and Christine, Cincinnati police are delving into the details about what transpired on Saturday, specifically they say they're investigating the parents and the mother to find out what happened in the minutes before that 4-year-old came face to face with that gorilla.
The mother in particular has come under intense scrutiny on the Internet. Twitter abound with her criticisms about her, saying she should have kept a closer watch on her son. There's also a petition circulating online that garnered more than 400,000 signatures, people saying she should be investigated.
Now, at this point, we don't know a lot about the family. They've only released a statement saying that their child is safe and that they're grateful to the zoo. We also know that the mother works at a day care right here in Cincinnati.
Now, as for the zoo itself, police say they're not investigating it because it falls into the purview of the USDA. The zoo was last looked at and inspected by the USDA in April. They did have a citation in March for leaving a door open where a polar bear then got out, and went into an employee room, but there's never been a citation against the zoo concerning that gorilla enclosure -- Christine and John.
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[04:15:03] BERMAN: All right. Jessica, thanks so much.
Doctors in New Jersey confirmed the birth of a baby girl suffering from microcephaly caused by the Zika virus. The unidentified 31-year- old mother came down with a virus at her home country of Honduras. He was taken at an emergency at Hackensack University Medical Center on Friday, while vacationing in the United States. The child is the first to be born in the New York tri-state area with the Zika-linked brain disorder.
ROMANS: The federal government is suing to block a life insurance payment of more than $250,000 to the family of San Bernardino shooter Syed Rizwan Farook. Authorities are seeking to seize the death benefit, alleging the proceeds from Farook's two insurance policies are the result of a terrorist act. Farook and his wife opened fire on San Bernardino County workers at a holiday party last December, killing 14 people, injuring 22 others.
BERMAN: Former Illinois police sergeant, Drew Peterson, has been found guilty on two counts of solicitation of murder for trying to hire a hitman to kill the prosecutor who sent him to prison. Peterson is already serving a 38-year-old prison sentence for killing his third ex-wife, his third wife. Prosecutors say he tried to arrange the murder of a state attorney from behind bars between 2013 and 2014.
ROMANS: Four years in prison for the Oklahoma reserve deputy who shot and killed an unarmed man last year claiming he mistook his gun for a taser. Seventy-four-year-old Robert Bates was caught on video shooting Eric Harris during a sting operation last year in Tulsa. That incident raised questions out training standards for volunteer deputies. Harris was found guilty of second-degree manslaughter last month.
BERMAN: The transgender bathroom debate could be headed to the Supreme Court. This is because a federal appeals court is refusing to review a ruling by a three-judge panel. The appeals panel ruled that a Virginia high school discriminated against a transgender teen by not allowing him to use the bathroom corresponding with his gender identity. The dissenting judge in the appeals court calls the case momentous and says the issue deserves an open road to the Supreme Court.
ROMANS: Mandatory evacuations under way this morning as seven people are killed in record-breaking floods that have hit parts of Texas. I think this video pretty much says it all. Local authorities in San Antonio say the storm system dumped up to 22 inches of rain in just a few hours. As you can see, streets submerged. The swollen Brazos River in Richmond rising to levels not seen since 1913. Meanwhile, officials in Ft. Bend County just southwest of Houston say they've made more than 120 water rescues.
BERMAN: All right. The rain and potential flooding not over yet. Let's get to meteorologist Derek Van Dam.
DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Unfortunately, John and Christine, the forecast calls for more rain for central and eastern Texas. The upper level pattern drawing south from the four corners region, making its way towards the Gulf of Mexico. Really tapping into that moisture-laden air. That's going to allow more showers and storms to form today and through the rest of the workweek.
National Weather Service has flood watches and warnings, likely to be expanded across much of Texas. Look at our high-resolution radar imagery. You can see the thunderstorms really firing up, thanks to the daytime heating from the sun.
This is a very saturated environment. Additional rainfall of 3 to 5 inches could lead to more flooding today and again through the rest of the workweek. The rest of the country, lots of sunshine across the New England coastline, starting to warm up over the interior western half of the U.S. take a look at the temperatures today for the Big Apple, 81, Detroit, 84, Charleston, 88, Atlanta, a sizzling 92.
Back to you.
ROMANS: Sizzling 92. All right. Thanks for that, Derek.
For the first time in ten years, the death rate in America is going up. Preliminary numbers from last year show an increase in the number of people dying from things like drug overdoses, suicides, guns, and Alzheimer's disease. Even deaths from heart disease ticked up slightly, bucking a decade-long trend. On the flip side, cancer is still killing people at a lower rate.
BERMAN: A humanitarian crisis in Iraq. Tens of thousands of people trapped as Iraqis try to take back a key city from ISIS. That's next.
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ROMANS: The civilian death toll is rising in Fallujah. Right now, there's fierce fighting between Iraqi security forces and ISIS militants at the southern edge of the city with more than 50,000 citizens caught in the crossfire. And in northern Syria, thousands of U.S.-backed fighters are preparing for an offensive to retake a critical region from terrorist control.
CNN's senior international correspondent Frederik Pleitgen is tracking the latest developments for us. He's live from London.
Good morning, Fred.
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Christine.
Yes, certainly there are developments on multiple fronts there on the battlefield. First of all in Syria, it seems as though the Syrian democratic forces, which is the U.S.-backed alliance up there which has a lot of Kurdish fighters, seems to have taken several villages in northern Syria, which is very close to Raqqah, very close to Aleppo.
What they're trying to do is choke off ISIS from their border crossings that they still have with Turkey. Of course, therefore, trying to stop infiltration of foreign fighters into Syria, which is something that's going to be very important if there's going to be more headway against ISIS.
Then you have Fallujah. Fallujah really is the biggest concern right now to humanitarian organizations but also to Iraqis as well. The Iraqi military and some Shiite militias that backed the Iraqi military have made a major push to try and get into Fallujah. The latest we have is there's very fierce fighting on the entrances to Fallujah that the Iraqi security forces have not managed to get in yet and ISIS has some of its most fervent fighters on the ground there also launching counteroffensives as well.
[04:25:06] Of course, the big concern right now is for the many civilians that are still trapped inside that city. You mentioned the number, 50,000. Well, the U.N. says among those are about 20,000 children. They fear some of them will be forced to fight with ISIS and others are simply in harm's way as that battle moves very close. It seems as though right now the way it's shaping up that it will be a very bloody battle there in the city of Fallujah -- Christine.
ROMANS: All right, Fred. Thank you so much for that. Frederik Pleitgen for us this morning.
BERMAN: All right. The number of migrants killed at sea in the past week now climbing above a thousand. These numbers from the international organization for migration citing accounts from survivors. Rickety boats overloaded with hundreds of people are sinking, despite calm waters in the Mediterranean. Smuggling gangs are using riskier tactics to prey on people desperate to leave the Middle East and North Africa.
ROMANS: A warning from the State Department to all Americans planning to visit Europe this summer. The risk of a terrorist attack is high with sporting events, tourist attractions, restaurants, and shopping centers the likeliest targets. U.S. travelers were also being warned to be vigilant when using mass transportation and to be prepared for additional security screenings and an unexpected travel disruption.
BERMAN: Euro 2016, the big soccer tournament that gets under way shortly. I think there's a lot of concern there.
All right. Donald Trump on the attack, hurling insults at the media and also hurling insults at the judge overseeing the fraud case brought against his so-called university. That's next.
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