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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
FBI investigators have obtained a search warrant to begin reviewing newly discovered e-mails belonging to Huma Abedin. Harry Reid on the attack. Can the stock market predict the winner of the presidential election? S&P 500 down 2.1 percent. The search for a suspected killer in Oklahoma is over. Fugitive Michael Vance was killed in a shootout with police. New aftershocks reported after the 6.2 magnitude earthquake hitting essentially Italy over the weekend. it's another big merger Monday, a huge oil and gas deal; G.E. and Baker Hughes are nearing a $30 billion deal. Jury selection set to begin this morning in South Carolina in the case of the former North Charleston Police Officer Michael Slager. Chicago Cubs beat the Indians 3-2 in Game 5. The series now goes back to Cleveland for Game 6, Tuesday night. Aired 4:30-5 a.m ET
Aired October 31, 2016 - 04:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:30:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JOHN BERMAN, "EARLY START" CO-ANCHOR: The FBI now has its warrant. Agents will now comb through thousands of newly discovered e-mails that could be related to the Hillary Clinton investigation.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, "EARLY START" CO-ANCHOR: Questions surround FBI Director James Comey. What did he know about this brand new batch of (ph) e-mails and when did he know it?
BERMAN: The Trump and Clinton campaigns, are back in force on the trail, eight days to go until election day. Welcome back to "Early Start" everyone, I'm John Berman.
ROMANS: And I'm Christine Romans. It is 31 minutes past the hour. Happy Halloween everybody.
BERMAN: Oh, yeah.
ROMANS: Crazy, it is Halloween. This is the other scary things happening in politics though. Breaking news overnight, FBI agents obtained the search warrant that will allow them to scour a huge batch of e-mails to and from a top Hillary Clinton aide. Agents will try to assess whether Huma Abedin's e-mails add anything new to the investigation into Clinton's private e-mail server.
There is also new information this morning about the role of the FBI Director James Comey in that investigation. Questions this morning about the timing of the probe so close to election day. For the very latest, we turn to CNN's Evan Perez in Washington.
EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. FBI investigators have obtained a search warrant to begin reviewing thousands of newly discovered e-mails belonging to Huma Abedin, one of Clinton's closest advisers.
Investigators found the e-mails weeks ago, stumbling on them as they conducted an investigation of Abedin's husband, former congressman, Anthony Weiner.
He is under investigation for allegedly exchanging sexually explicit messages with an underage girl. Now, that's leading to questions from the Clinton campaign about why all of this only became public on Friday, days before the presidential election.
The law enforcement officials tell CNN what's been going on behind the scenes in the past month is this, technical experts spent some time cataloging all the e-mails. The top FBI officials were briefed after the surprise discovery of the e-mails, there were also some legal questions because the search warrant they had only covered the Weiner sexting allegations.
FBI Director James Comey was aware, a couple of weeks ago, that his investigator had uncovered e-mails that could relate to the Clinton investigation. But Comey was fully briefed on Thursday after investigators had determined there was enough cause to seek a new search warrant.
Those investigators will now work to determine whether there is classified information in the Abedin e-mails as well as their relevance to the investigation into Clinton's private e-mail server.
Comey sent a three-paragraph letter to members of Congress on Friday. But despite calls from the Clinton campaign and from republicans to provide more information, Comey has no plans to say more while his investigators are still doing their work.
BERMAN: All right, that's Evan Perez, thank you so much.
This morning, nearly 100 former federal prosecutors and high ranking Justice Department officials, both democrats and republicans, have raised concerns about Comey's letter to Congress.
They say it is "inconsistent with prevailing department policy." Among the signers of an open letter criticizing Comey, former Attorney General Eric Holder and former Deputy Attorney General Larry Thompson. Larry Thompson served in the George W. Bush administration.
The letter says that Comey's "unprecedented decision to publicly comment on evidence in what may be an ongoing inquiry just 11 days before a presidential election leaves us both astonished and perplexed."
ROMANS: And Director Comey, also the subject of the critical (ph) op- ed this morning, former Attorney General Eric Holder with this op-ed in "The Washington Post." The title really says it all. James Comey is a good man, but he made a serious mistake.
Again, this from Eric Holder, writing this. He says Comey broke with fundamental principles and fears the Director may have negatively affected public trust of the FBI. Holder writes, "it is incumbent upon him or the leadership of the department to dispel the uncertainty he has created before election day. Not for the sake of a political candidate or campaign, but in order to protect our of from justice." It's a remarkable editorial. I encourage everybody to read this.
BERMAN: It's really remarkable. He says he hates the fact he has to write this, then he goes after James Comey for doing this. You know what Eric Holder is talking about is the tradition in some cases a policy guideline not to involve yourself in an investigation 60 days before an election.
[04:35:00] ROMANS: Yeah. it's now eight days -- eight days to go.
Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid is actually accusing the FBI Director of breaking the law. Reid has written to Congressional committee chair and says, he believes that Comey's 11th hour revelations "may violate the Hatch Act." The Hatch Act bars FBI officials from engaging in political activity. Comey was, until recently, a registered republican. He is now registered independent. Reid also accuse Comey of a double standard, claiming that he has refused to release some unspecified information about Trump's, now Trump dealings with Russia. Harry Reid on the attack here.
ROMANS: You know what Harry Reid does? Harry Reid is retiring but going out with a bang in Harry Reid style to be sure.
Donald Trump is trying to make hay out of the whole e-mail situation. And it isn't just what he says, but where he is saying it. This is he trying to close the polling gap which stands at five points in the CNN poll of polls. you can see it right there. CNN's Jim Acosta with the Trump campaign.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: John and Christine, Donald Trump is now fully embracing the FBI's investigation of that new batch of e-mails possibly linked to Hillary Clinton.
Trump and his advisors are praising the FBI for looking into those e- mails as part of this investigation to the sexting allegations against former New York Congressman Anthony Weiner. That is a big shift after Trump accuse the FBI to be part of a conspiracy to rig the election and give it to Hillary Clinton.
Now, Trump says the FBI has all the information it needs to bring Clinton to justice. Here's what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: But how do you have that many e-mails? What do you do, sit down all day and just keep typing?
(CROWD CHEERING)
TRUMP: Hey! No wonder nothing gets done in our country.
(CROWD CHEERING)
TRUMP: This is the single biggest scandal since Watergate. (END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: Trump is pursuing something of a blue state strategy in his late stage of the campaign making stops to places like here in New Mexico and also Michigan. Those are some of the states that Trump will have to flip if he has any hopes of winning on November 8th. John and Christine?
ROMANS: Jim Acosta, thanks Jim.
Hillary Clinton trying to contain the damage from that e-mail controversy without directly addressing it. She campaigns in Ohio today; at a rally, Sunday, in Florida, she did not mention the issue, instead she implored voters to remember the bigger picture.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON, U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: There have been ups and downs and all that we've gone through over the years and even in this campaign, but I want you to know, I am focused on one thing, you. There's lot of noise and distraction but really it comes down to what kind of future we want.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: The race is tightening. Eight days out from the election. The question now how does the Clinton campaign handle this? Here is CNN's Phil Mattingly.
PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, John and Christine. There is something noticeably absent from Hillary Clinton's remarks on Sunday.
Any mention of FBI Director Comey or the letter that he sent to Capitol Hill on Friday. There's a reason for that. The Clinton campaign, as they look at things now, they're top advisers now question, they are going to continue to attack James Comey and continue to try and undercut everything that he was trying to do by informing Congress.
Hillary Clinton herself, she is reverting back to what they were trying to do to 12 days ago, before this all started. She has a campaign strategy and a campaign message that the campaign believes was winning before this all happened. The message that she needs to get back to now. And here's why. Early voting. People are voting across the country most noticeably here in Florida. Something Hillary Clinton made very clear. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINTON: This is amazing. More than 20 million people have already voted in this election.
(CROWD CHEERING)
CLINTON: Most of those votes in the last few days, 3 million of those votes from right here in Florida. (CROWD CHEERING)
CLINTON: Now you only see numbers like that when people are standing up for what they really believe in.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MATTINGLY: The big question is, will she lose support? Will the masses walk away from her? her campaign advisers say now they believe that this leak, when it comes to the e-mail server, things were already baked in. The believe this may actually energize her supporters but circle the wagons in some way she had performed as their supporters come out and try and defend her over the course of these last seven, eight, nine days. It is something we saw anecdotally at least here in Florida on Sunday. The big question is, will that carry over and, of course, the bigger question is, will there be any large impact on the numbers? has got to wait and see a couple of days for that. John and Christine?
ROMANS: Yeah. I can't wait.
BERMAN: Phil Mattingly, laying it all out. it will be interesting to see. Meanwhile, a face we have not seen on the campaign trail. this week, the one on the left there, Melania Trump. she is going to give her first speech since the republican convention back in July.
She will go to Philadelphia on Thursday. Now, Donald Trump announced last week that she is going to be giving two or three speeches before election day and he promises they will be big, important speeches.
[04:40:00] ROMANS: All right, joining us now, CNN Politics Reporter Eugene Scott. and oh, my goodness, a lot has happened since the last time we saw you last week. A very big weekend of developments.
I want to get to start with the democrats and their kind of assault now on James Comey. Listen to John Podesta. He was on with Jake yesterday with "State of the Union." Listen to this..
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN PODESTA, CLINTON CAMPAIGN CHAIRMAN: I think this is something that has been tossed into the middle of the campaign. We would have preferred that that not happen, but now that it has happened, Mr. Comey really needs to come forward and explain why he took this unprecedented step, particularly when he said himself in the letter to the Hill that these may not even be significant.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: It wasn't long ago. We listened to the ice presidential candidate Tim Kaine saying Jim Comey was a fair person; he made the right call and not recommending to charge against Hillary Clinton for the whole e-mail scandal. But now, the top democrats have a very different tune here.
EUGENE SCOTT, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Yeah, very much. It's been interesting watching the pivot from both sides of the ticket. We saw Mike Pence say that Comey displayed real leadership this weekend, which is very different from what Donald Trump would have said about him just days before this whole situation.
BERMAN: It is rigged. The whole thing is rigged.
(CROSSTALK)
SCOTT: Right.
BERMAN: The investigation was rigged. Not so rigged anymore.
(CROSSTALK)
SCOTT: Not so rigged anymore.
(CROSSTALK)
BERMAN: Appoint me, Donald Trump.
It is interesting because one of the things that we'd be able to say about this election is whoever is talked about more on the campaign trail, is losing. Right? If the election is about Donald Trump, he's losing. If the election is about Hillary Clinton, she's losing. So this is going on with Hillary Clinton.
But it doesn't change the situation for Donald Trump. There is the "Access Hollywood" tape that's out there. There are still the women accusers that are out there. But still the fact that he hasn't disclosed his tax returns which every candidate has done going back to Richard Nixon.
There is that, it's a report in "The Washington Post" from David this weekend, but really looks at his charitable giving or lack thereof over the last several years.
So all these stuff that is still out there with Donald Trump but it is almost like there is so much that when one thing comes up about Hillary Clinton, albeit a huge thing, it shifts the focus clearly.
SCOTT: Especially because this is one of the talking points that that has raised Donald Trump to the platform that he is currently on. Like, this is what, his base rallied behind. The question becomes, will this make people get on board his campaign who are not as of yet? And that remains to be seen. and the polling suggests perhaps not.
ROMANS: Well what it means for Hillary Clinton supporters. right? I'm trying to figure out what it means for Hillary Clinton supporters who gave -- are you less likely to vote for her, just to wait in line, you know, for an hour to vote. if you think, oh, well, you know, does it matter or it doesn't matter. This is what the "ABC News"/"Washington Post" poll. will the e-mails affect the Clinton vote? NO difference, 63 percent.
BERMAN: And among those who say they are less likely, a lot of those are Donald Trump supporters, to begin with. That is one day of polling, right there. It doesn't look like it makes much difference. But you have seen over the course of a week, it is hard to tell.
(CROSSTALK)
ROMANS: Is it like turnout to the defense choice (ph)? I mean, this is so entertaining (inaudible).
SCOTT: I mean, the fact that when voters have gone to the polls as of now, they already knew that there was an e-mail situation ...
(CROSSTALK)
ROMANS: Right.
SCOTT: ... with Hillary Clinton and this e-mail situation currently has not proven to be significant in terms of wrongdoing. We don't know what happened. We don't know.
(CROSSTALK)
SCOTT: We don't know who sent the e-mails.
ROMANS: Will we know any more by election day?
SCOTT: As of Friday, it looks like we would not, but I think, and now we have the warrant, and so people are going to move faster hopefully trying to get some answers, I imagine. Comey said ...
(CROSSTALK)
ROMANS: What if these are a lot of duplicate e-mails?
(CROSSTALK)
SCOTT: That's very possible. That's very possible. We don't know what they say, but the idea that this is worse than Watergate when we know so little information, is just odd and misleading.
BERMAN: Eugene Scott, I have a feeling we will talk about this again.
SCOTT: So good.
BERMAN: Great to see you. Thanks so much.
ROMANS: All right, can the stock market predict the winner of the presidential election?
Two of social rival (ph) models are pointing in different directions. I'll give you both of them. Since 1944, if the S&P 500 falls from August through October, there is an 86 percent chance the incumbent party loses the election. If the S&P 500 rises, it has a similar chance the party will win the election.
So, with one trading day less than that stands, the S&P 500 is down 2.1 percent. So if that first model is correct, that points to a Donald Trump victory. Oh, but wait. Another set of metrics point to a Clinton win. This went
From Moody's. They have predicted every presidential winner since '98. So four economic factors in Clinton's favor.
One, President Obama's approval rating to 64 percent.
Two, gas prices are low, about $2.21 a gallon. Three, economic growth, 2.9 percent. we got that number on Friday.
and the jobless rate is 5 percent. We get a brand new reading on that on Friday. That will be the last big, economic piece of news before the election. And there is also a second meeting this week but we're (inaudible) federal reserve to race (inaudible) yes.
BERMAN: All right, we got some breaking news overnight. a manhunt for a second killer in Oklahoma ended overnight in dramatic fashion. We'll tell you all about it.
[04:45:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BERMAN: All right, breaking news overnight. The search for a suspected killer in Oklahoma is over. After eight days on the run, fugitive Michael Vance was killed in a shootout with police.
One officer was shot during the pursuit. He has been identified as Dewey County Sheriff Clay Sander. (Inaudible) he was I surgery for gunshot wounds to the forearm and shoulder. Authorities say Vance murdered two relatives last week and wounded two police officers cutting (ph) off the state while manhunt, a viewer saying that this guy was taunting authorities on social media during this event.
ROMANS: Yeah, it's almost seemed to fuel him in a way.
BERMAN: Now he appears to be dead overnight I a shootout with police.
ROMANS: All right, 22 people injured when a car struck a crowd of pedestrians following a Nascar event in Martinsville, Virginia, Sunday.
Nine of the victims taken to the hospital. This happened in a handicapped parking area. Police say the driver tried to pass someone who was waiting in traffic after the race, struck that vehicle and then plowed into the crowd. They say alcohol does not appear to be a factor.
BERMAN: New aftershocks reported just a short time ago after the 6.2 magnitude earthquake hitting essentially Italy over the weekend. CNN's Barbie Nadeau following developments for us live in Rome.
So still more aftershocks this morning, Barbie?
[04:50:00] BARBIE NADEAU, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: That's right. Civil Protection Authority and search responders are fighting against the relentless aftershocks. The building there. There are at least affected areas are so compromised that even a small aftershock could make them crumble. And that's want they worry about. They want people who are still in the area, who don't want to leave their property, to get out of there, get to safety. We have got reports of up to 5,000 churches and monuments alone that have been either heavily damaged or destroyed.
That doesn't even take into account the thousands of houses and businesses and all of those other structures that have been completely destroyed or so damaged that they are going to have to be rebuilt from the bottom up. John?
BERMAN: All right, Barbie Nadeau for us in Rome. You look at thee pictures from central Italy. Again, you know, three earthquakes in the last two weeks. More aftershocks just this morning after the devastating earthquake a couple of months ago. Your heart go out to them this morning.
ROMANS: All right, it's another big merger Monday this morning. This time, a huge oil and gas deal. One of the companies is not known for oil and gas. I'll tell you who it is as we get a look at your money.
BERMAN: We can make Merger Monday.
[04:55:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BERMAN: Jury selection set to begin this morning in South Carolina. This is the case of the former North Charleston Police Officer Michael Slager who was charged in the fatal shooting of Walter Scott who was unarmed following a traffic stop. Cell phone video shows Scott running away from the officer when he was shot. Slager faces 30 years to life in prison if convicted.
All right. Overnight, it is not the end for the Chicago Cubs. They're still a World Series. They beat the Indians 3-2 in Game 5. (inaudible) Aroldis Chapman, the closure. I heard him say to Mike Stein (ph), I think he thanks (ph) the Yankees. He got the final eight outs. Chapman saved the game and the season for the Cubs. The series now goes back to Cleveland for Game 6, Tuesday night. The Cubs made more if you're going to take it down in this and Cleveland has home field, so we will see what happens.
ROMANS: Did you hear Mike you only talk about former Red Sox players when they do something good?
BERMAN: It is actually incorrect. Still much of what he says ...
(LAUGHTER)
ROMANS: All right, it's a Monday morning guys.
Let's get a check on money stream. Investors grappling with a tight presidential election heading into the final eight days. Dow Futures pushing higher, the market dropped Friday then recovered after the news of that new investigation of Hillary Clinton e-mails.
Stocks markets, in Europe, it's been open about an hour, they are edging lower right now. Asian stock markets dropped overnight. again, with the election uncertainty, oil down here.
General Electric could be expanding its oil and gas business with a huge merger. So, like G.E. in the oil and gases. The "Wall Street Journal" reports G.E. and Baker Hughes are nearing a $30 billion deal. Both of the stocks seem to moving higher as rumors about this swirled last week. Baker Hughes declining, our CNN money request to comment on the deal, G.E. not responding. oh, but the two have scheduled an investor webcast for 8:30 a.m. Eastern time. No comment, but we will see you at 8:30.
(CROSSTALK)
BERMAN: Coincidentally with 8:30 web cast.
ROMANS: If history is my guide I would say something it's happening at 8:30. Friday is a positive reading on economic growth was overshadowed by Hillary Clinton's e-mail scandal. But there are two more economic events this week that I think could get a candidate talking about the top issue for voters.
The economy and jobs, the Federal Reserve starts a 2-day policy meeting tomorrow. Investors don't think there's not much of rate hike right now, but the money is on December, when you got about 68 percent chance of an increase then. Donald Trump has criticized the fed recently, saying, it is keeping rates low to preserve President Obama's economic record but that of course says it is not political.
Then on Friday, the government releases its October jobs report. Early estimates call for 170,000 new jobs, and then I wonder right now that we're looking for 4.9 percent. Do you remember it was about 10 percent the height of specialist, 5 percent in September. See if it ticks down just a little bit. You can check out the new CNN Money stream app. It's business news, personalized, download it now on the app store or on Google Play. It's very cool.
BERMAN: All right, "New Day" starts right now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: They are reopening the case into her criminal and illegal conduct.
(CROWD CHEERING)
TRUMP: Comey wrote a letter that was light on facts and heavy on innuendo.
TRUMP: I'll bet you there was a revolt in the FBI.
CLINTON: It's pretty strange to put something like that out with such little information.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know where this e-mail came from.
TRUMP: By the way, we are leading in so many polls. I could tell you that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I wouldn't be voting for ...
CLINTON: No matter what they throw at us in these last days, we're not going to back down.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(VOICE-OVER): This is "New Day" with Chris Cuomo and Alisyn Camerota.
ALISYN CAMEROTA, "NEW DAY" CO-HOST: Here we go. Good morning, everyone. Welcome to your early edition of "New Day." It is Monday, October 31st., 5 o'clock in the East.
Up first, the FBI now obtaining a warrant to begin searching those thousands of newly discovered e-mails from that topic (ph), Hillary Clinton to determine if there is a link to the now closed investigation to Clinton's use of private e-mail.
The FBI Director now caught in the middle of a political firestorm over the latest October surprise.
You can't just ignore that it's Halloween. we can't. happy Halloween.
CAMEROTA: Let's just pause and say that to everybody.
CHRIS CUOMO, "NEW DAY" CO-HOST: You know, trick-or-treat. Not screams more than the election. You dressed once again as a wildly intelligent, beautiful news anchor.
(CROSSTALK)
CAMEROTA: I like where you're going with ...
[05:00:00] CUOMO: A little too on the nose, I would say. And I am once again is vanilla gorilla. Excuse me. That's just age.
So, dozens of former federal prosecutors are blasting the FBI Chief. Why? Because They are saying this seems politically motivated, that it breached protocol. but remember, what happened initially when the FBI Director came out and said there was no case to prosecute also.
