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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Wisconsin Prepares For Recount; Cruz To Trump: Time To Deliver On Promises; Toys Were Hot On Black Friday; Cubans Mourn Fidel Castro's Death; Cuban Exiles Celebrate Castro's Death; Deadly Police Shooting In Chicago. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired November 28, 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] MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN GUEST ANCHOR: The president-elect calling the recount a scam and Hillary Clinton a hypocrite for supporting it. And that's not all, Trump tweeting, "In addition to winning the Electoral College in a landslide, I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally." There is no evidence for that, by the way.

And he is also alleging, quote, "Serious vote fraud in Virginia, New Hampshire and California." Asking, so why isn't the media reporting on this? Serious bias, big problem." Trump is offering no evidence to support either of those claims.

We get more from CNN's Ryan Nobles in Palm Beach, Florida.

RYAN NOBLES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christine and Miguel, Donald Trump has wrapped up his holiday weekend here at the Mar-a-Lago Resort in Florida. While we did not hear or see the president-elect all that much, we did learn quite a bit about how he feels about that recount effort under way in Wisconsin that was started by Green Party candidate, Jill Stein.

Trump tweeted about the topic 12 different times. More than he's tweeted about any topic since being elected president. He even suggested at one point that he may have won the popular vote if votes cast illegally were not included.

Now the Clinton campaign has joined on this effort. They say that they don't find any evidence that anything wrong happened with the vote, but they just want to rule in or rule out that possibility.

Now Trump has a very busy Monday planned at Trump Tower, eight different people will come to meet with him and the Vice President- elect Mike Pence.

Among them, Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clark, he is being considered as the next secretary of homeland security. Also on tap, Kathleen Harnett White. She could be the next EPA secretary. She was once the Texas commissioner on environmental quality.

And of course, still has a number of major decisions to make including who will be his next secretary of state -- Christine and Miguel.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Ryan, thank you. Let's bring in CNN politics reporter, Eugene Scott. What a weekend here, while we were digesting our turkey and going out shopping, there was an awful lot going on and Donald Trump with the longest sort of Twitter tirade that we've seen since he's been president-elect. What do we make of this?

EUGENE SCOTT, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Well, it's a shock more than anything else because there is no proof whatsoever to the claims that he is making. I know most people believe it is a response to recount 2016, which makes the most sense.

But it is also something that he hinted at even before the recount got forward. A lot of attention has been paid on the fact that Donald Trump was elected based on the Electoral College and not the popular vote.

And people closest to him or people not close to him, but just paying attention to him think that really bothers him.

MARQUEZ: What does he have to gain here? I mean, the country is very divided. Hillary Clinton is up by 2 million votes in the popular vote. Is there a play here? Is there any reason why he would go after this?

SCOTT: Not with people who are already opposed to him. Not with people who already have problems with how he uses his social media and how he presents himself. It is something that keeps him in good standing with people who helped get him there. The base that may be a bit concerned with him bowing to Republican establishment figures a bit more as his campaign suggested.

ROMANS: It is an intellectual contradiction if you are so quick to discount anything or any shenanigans in the recount in Wisconsin, right, but you're so quick to embrace shenanigans that there is no evidence for -- on the other side.

SCOTT: Yes, I certainly saw a tweet that said, Donald Trump claimed to be the victim and the victor at the same time. Praising his win, but saying that something happened suspicious about how he got there.

MARQUEZ: Kellyanne Conway on the Sunday morning shows went after Mitt Romney as the possible pick for State Department. If Republicans can't mend their own fences internally, what chance does a Trump administration have for sort of mending fences across the country and bringing the country together after a very, very bitter election?

SCOTT: Right. To be a little fair, he is considering some Democrats. We know that he spoke with Tulsi Gabbard from Hawaii and even Sheriff Clark, David Clark from Milwaukee, as conservative as he is, I believe he is still a registered Democrat.

But as far as unity in the Republican Party, we should not be surprised. It was a very divisive primary even up until the last days going into the general election. We saw very high profile Republicans pushing back on Donald Trump.

ROMANS: So let's talk a little bit. Ted Cruz talking about pitchforks in the streets. If you have the White House and both houses of Congress in the hands of Republicans, they have to do something with it. Let's listen to Ted Cruz.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TED CRUZ (R), TEXAS: If we're given the white house and both houses of Congress and we don't deliver, I think there will be pitchforks and torches in the streets. I think rightly. I think people are so fed up with Washington, this election was a mandate with change of the most catastrophic thing Republicans could do is go back to business as usual.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[05:05:01]ROMANS: So the question here is to your point, how do Republicans work with Donald Trump now? How does Paul Ryan work with Donald Trump now? You know, the markets are expecting tax cuts, infrastructure spending.

They are expecting rolling back of all kinds of regulations. They are expecting growth and spending and borrowing, and that's why you have the stock market up, and mortgage rates up. The bond market reacting as well. Is there any indication that this party is going to be able to move forward and get stuff done next year?

SCOTT: Well, I certainly see -- I have seen some people come around to Donald Trump, who weren't before like Mitt Romney of all people. We definitely see people wanting to see the party work together. But the whole idea that there this mandate telling Donald Trump to do certain things is an odd argument to make.

Because different people voted for Donald Trump for different reasons. So the reality is that everyone is not on the same page and so there will be significant internal conflict within the party.

ROMANS: I'm really curious what the budget hawks will do.

MARQUEZ: The political is fascinating to see what happens next. It is not clear where the Paul Ryan and Donald Trump balance will come, is it?

SCOTT: No, not at all. I mean, we certainly see Republican establishments pushing for a direction more in this way. But to Cruz's point, I mean, there are some people who are more from the base who really have ideas to see Washington turned upside down. But some of the suggested appointments don't seemed to suggest that is the direction that Donald Trump may move in.

ROMANS: A lot of people watching is it going to be a billionaire stacked cabinet? You know, what will be the background of the cabinet and how will they influence Donald Trump and policy and the secretary of state pick is going to be big.

MARQUEZ: My prediction it's going to be a fine Christmas for lobbyists everywhere.

SCOTT: Well, he said no lobbyists, but we don't know. We will see.

MARQUEZ: Well, I think there are plenty helping out.

ROMANS: Come back. We'll talk more.

Today is the day called Cyber Monday. Used to be just one holiday, Black Friday. Now online retailers are in on the game. They are expecting a lot of traffic here, 122 million people are forecast to shop for digital deals today.

That is according to the National Retail Federation. It's more than last year. About a quarter will shop on their phones. That's so interesting to me. The phone has now become this gateway to spending.

People are going to be up early too, about 39 percent will shop first thing in the morning. The retail group says despite the flood of online deals on Black Friday, consumers have put money aside for Cyber Monday deals.

Of course, the trade association would say that. Final numbers from Black Friday show consumers are being smart about what they buy. Here's what they were buying. The most popular toys on Black Friday was Lego creator sets, electric scooters from Racer, Nerf guns, DJI phantom drones, and Barbie Dreamhouse. She makes another big showing again this year.

For the big kids, it was Macbook laptops and 4k TVs. I told you how so many of those retailers or some of those were 250 bucks you could get this huge 50 inch TV. One big retailer has great deals on TVs today. We will tell you which retailer that is later this hour.

MARQUEZ: I bought my Barbie Dreamhouse on my iPhone.

ROMANS: I just bought a pair of boots.

MARQUEZ: More on the death of Fidel Castro. The streets of Havana are somber. In Miami, joyful celebrations. Where is the U.S./Cuba relationship headed? We will chat about that coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:12:23]

ROMANS: Fidel Castro's funeral is set for Sunday. Over the next six days, Cubans will celebrate the life of their former leader in a series of public events. On Wednesday, the late dictator's ashes will begin a ceremonial journey 700 miles across the islan nation. CNN's Nic Robertson live from Havana this morning. Good morning, Nic.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, good morning, Christine. This morning about four's time, there will be a 21-gun salute here in Havana and at the other end of the island as well, Santiago to Cuba.

There will be a 21-gun salute. At that time, that's when the public memorial at Revolution Square here in Cuba will begin. That's when perhaps we can begin to see people gathering here. We have not witnessed that in Havana.

The mood here has been muted. People have not been coming out as they have in Little Havana in Miami and cheering on the streets. Here it is much quieter. You talk to some of the younger people here. They talk about their hopes for the future.

That they hope that perhaps diplomatic relations with the United States will improve the economy, will improve their lives here, but there are still concern at the same time that President-elect Donald Trump has indicated that he potentially may roll that back.

So the mood here so far has been one muted. Certainly no one surprised that Fidel Castro was dead, but it's a different thing when it happens. What happens next? That is what on a lot of people's minds right now.

ROMANS: It is so interesting because, Nic, over the course of my lifetime and even longer, his relationship with the United States was just so fraught with tension. So many presidents at odds with the policies of this man. But more recently, he has been out of the public eye. His brother has been running the country. I wonder if that has any kind of effect on the muted reaction in the streets there.

ROBERTSON: Yes. It does. I guess in a couple of times will work ways. One is obviously the transfer of full power in 2008. You had Raul Castro in power for a long time. He has put some of his own players in positions of authority and moved out some of Fidel's loyalists.

However, the system of government and control of the country and everything that keeps order and security and peace in the country remains in place. So people know that government structure has held an oppressive hand here.

They know that that hand is still there. So in one way, it is the situation remains the same. In other ways, the improved diplomatic relations and visit of President Obama, these have been symbolic.

[05:15:01]The first, direct flight from the United States, scheduled direct flights from the United States lands here in Cuba in a little in two and a half hours, an American Airlines flight. So that is an indication of just how much things have moved forward.

But in real terms to improve people's lives here, to give them the certainty of a better economic future, you really need to do a lot more to improve trade and travel. That's perhaps where the uncertainty lies.

Will Raul Castro go that extra distance? He said that he will step down in 2018. Who comes next? How is that person chosen? Certainly the 1996 states that there should be free and fair elections in this country before you completely open up trade ties. Does that happen? So all of these things are in the background of people's minds at the moment. ROMANS: And also in the background, the President-elect Trump here in this country has been critical. President Obama's approach to Cuba and what you are talking about, what will Donald Trump's policy to Cuba be? That's also another wildcard. Nic Robertson in Havana for us. Nice to see you this morning. Thanks, Nic.

MARQUEZ: That's a very different scene in South Florida. Cuban exiles dancing in the streets in Miami's Little Havana. Hundreds waving Cuban flags and banging on pots and pans overjoyed by the news of Castro's death. As CNN's Boris Sanchez tells us many of them have waited decades for this very celebration.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christine and Miguel, it is hard to believe that the response from people in Cuba and the response to people here in Miami is to the death of the same person. As you can behind me there is a celebration here on Calye Otso (ph) at Cafe (inaudible), there's a deejay with speakers set up playing music or people waving flags.

Some people holding mementos of loved ones on the island that could not be here to celebrate a moment that many people are saying they've been looking forward to for a long time.

And perhaps no better story captures the divide, the polarity between the two responses to the passing of Fidel better than Elian Gonzalez and the saga that played out here in Miami back about 15, 16 years ago.

Elian for his response has called Fidel a father figure. He is someone he admires and looks up to. Here is some of what Elian said in response to the death of Fidel Castro.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ELIAN GONZALEZ, FORMER SUBJECT OF INTERNATIONAL CUSTODY DISPUTE (through translator): He is a father who like my father. I wanted to show him everything I achieved. That he would be proud of me. That's how it was with Fidel. If I learned something and wanted to show him and there are still many things I want to show him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Of course, Elian Gonzalez is not well liked in Miami as much as he was when he was a child. Several people that I've spoken to here say that they see him as a prop for the regime. A propaganda tool to elevate Fidel Castro into the status of an idol.

They don't see him as an objective voice when it comes to Fidel's legacy. The party here is going to continue seemingly for the next few days. In Havana, as you know, there are nine days of mourning, a very stark contrast between the two places -- Miguel and Christine.

MARQUEZ: Boris Sanches for us in Miami, thank you very much. Breaking overnight, a deadly shooting involving a Chicago police officer. The incident began with a domestic battery call late last night. Police say the suspect fired at officers then took off running. He was shot and killed during a foot chase. Officials say they found a 24-year-old pregnant woman shot in the abdomen during the course of their investigation. She is hospitalized in serious condition. An independent review board is now investigating.

ROMANS: Troubling story. All right, 18 minutes past the hour. Sunday night football, Broncos versus Chiefs. Big gamble in overtime decided the outcome of this critical match up. Andy Scholes has highlights in the "Bleacher Report" that's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:23:23]

MARQUEZ: The Chiefs breaking the Broncos in an overnight thriller, overtime thriller, not overnight, Sunday night football.

ROMANS: Andy Scholes has more in this morning's "Bleacher Report." Hey, Andy.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, guys. Christine, have you ever been near the end of EARLY START and give Miguel a high five for a job well done? Well, that's exactly how the Kansas City Chiefs operate. Check out the highlights.

Rookie Tyre Hill goes 86 yards for the touchdown. He gets a high five from the teammate right here before crossing the goal line. Don't see that every day. Kansas City was down eight in the closing seconds.

He finds Hill for the touchdown. Chiefs get the two-point conversion. We go to overtime. Broncos miss a long game winning field goal attempt. Santos gets this to go off the upright and in. Chiefs win in a thriller, 30-27.

Raiders had a big scare against the Panthers. Derek Carr dislocated his pinkie on the snap in the third quarter, very painful. He went back to the locker room. He would return later in the game and led the Raiders come back and the Raiders take the lead in the field goal. Cam Newton with one last chance, but sacked on the fourth down play. Oakland is 9-2 after the win over Carolina.

Patriots trying to keep pace with the Raiders for the best record in the AFC. Fourth quarter Jeff (inaudible) Fitzpatrick finding a leaping Quincy who gets a foot and cheek in for the go-ahead touchdown. Brady leading the Pats down the field for the game winner. The 50th time Brady has led a game winning drive after being down or tied in the fourth quarter.

[05:25:07] Also Brady's 200th career win which ties him for Peyton manning for the most ever. Pats win, 22-17.

Finally, this made me laugh out loud. The Ravens were up seven on the bangles and 11 seconds left, it's four down but instead of punting, John Harbau said grab and tackle all of the player and the punter, you see him in the back of the end zone. He runs out of bounds for the safety. Multiple flags thrown on the play. Since all of them are offense penalties, the game is over. Ravens win, 19-14. Frustrating for the Bengals. Genius on the side of the Ravens.

MARQUEZ: That looked like the most bizarre dance I have ever seen. I don't understand what happened. I want to have to e-mail you here to find out what that was.

ROMANS: Showing us again.

WIRE: So all the Ravens players are offense. They are grabbing the Bengals and tackling. It doesn't matter if they get penalties. The game can end on an offensive penalty. If it ends on a defense, it cannot end. Harbaugh says the game will end go out and tackle all of the Bengals.

MARQUEZ: This is actually harder than your math earlier. We're done with you, Andy.

ROMANS: Goodbye, Andy. Thank you.

MARQUEZ: President-elect Trump unleashing a Twitter tirade again. Claiming he actually won the popular votes while slamming a recount that is about to begin in Wisconsin. Where is all this heading? EARLY START back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)