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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Wisconsin Prepares For Recount; President-Elect Returns To NYC; Cubans Mourn Fidel Castro's Death; Syrian Regime Tightens Grip On Eastern Aleppo. Aired 5:30-6a ET
Aired November 28, 2016 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:30:50] MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN ANCHOR: President-elect Trump launching into an epic Twitter rant, slamming the recount in Wisconsin while claiming he actually won the popular vote in the presidential election. And he has some choice words for Hillary Clinton, too.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: A tale of two cities in the wake of Fidel Castro's death. The people of Havana grieving, while in Little Havana they're dancing in the street. The big question now, what's next for U.S.-Cuba relations?
MARQUEZ: And Cyber Monday. Millions of Americans hunting for bargains online for the best deals but beware, retailers are hunting you, too. She's hunting for big presents for me, right?
ROMANS: Yes, I am. No, I've actually been buying for myself this morning. Sorry about that.
MARQUEZ: Good morning. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm Miguel Marquez in for John Berman.
ROMANS: And I'm Christine Romans. It is 31 minutes past the hour this morning. Let the recount begin. The Wisconsin Election Commission set to meet in five hours to establish a timeline for recounting every vote in the state from November 8th and that's touching off a Donald Trump Twitter storm. The president-elect calling that recount a scam.
He calls a Hillary Clinton a hypocrite for getting behind 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." And he's also alleging "Serious voter fraud in Virginia, New Hampshire, and California" asking "so why isn't the media reporting on this? Serious bias -- big problem." Trump offering no evidence to support either of these claims.
We get more this morning CNN's Ryan Nobles in Palm Beach, Florida.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RYAN NOBLES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Christine and Miguel, Donald Trump has wrapped up his holiday weekend here at the Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, and while we didn't hear or see the president-elect all that much we did learn quite a bit about how he feels about that recount effort underway 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 in 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 Clarke. He's being considered as the next secretary of Homeland Security. Also on tap, Kathleen Hartnett-White. She could be the next EPA secretary. She was once the Texas commissioner on environmental quality. And, of course, Trump still has a number of major decisions to make, including who will be his next secretary of state -- Christine and Miguel.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MARQUEZ: Ryan Nobles, thanks very much. Let's bring in CNN Politics reporter Eugene Scott --
ROMANS: Good morning.
EUGENE SCOTT, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Morning.
MARQUEZ: -- who must make sense of all of this for us. Donald Trump going after the popular vote here. This is a country divided. Is there any upside to him doing this?
SCOTT: I think what it does is it reminds his base that he is who he said he was when he was on the campaign. There's been some concern and some criticism from the base that he's been in cahoots with too many people in the Republican establishment since being elected, but I think this reminds people that he's going to be a little more unconventional.
ROMANS: Look at this. "I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally." There is how much evidence for this claim?
SCOTT: Zero. There's zero evidence and, I mean, quite frankly, if we want to talk about there being people who voted illegally, which we really don't, why is he not suggesting that some of his votes could have been illegal voters? Like, there's nothing that suggests that this happened. What we do know is that Hillary Clinton got at least about two million more votes than him. Thousands of people voted for Gary Johnson and Jill Stein and other Third Party candidates and I think it burns him.
MARQUEZ: The other thing going on is obviously filling out his cabinet. Romney -- Mitt Romney, who opposed Donald Trump during the election, seems to be in a good position or a possible position for secretary of state. He's getting blowback from that. Kellyanne Conway basically going on the Sunday shows saying he shouldn't get the job. Do you think that's directed by Trump or is that really strife within his own group?
[05:35:12] SCOTT: I don't know if it's directed by Trump but Idefinitely think people very close to Donald Trump are really not as supportive of the idea that Mitt Romney be given such a high profile position. Mitt Romney was one of the most vocal people from the establishment who has been critical of Donald Trump. I think Kellyanne, even on CNN, said we don't even know if Mitt Romney voted for Donald Trump.
ROMANS: Right.
SCOTT: And so, to reward him with such a high profile position would be a slap in the face too many people in the base.
ROMANS: It's also hard for people who are sort of the traditional Republican base -- the traditional Republican base who have a hard time figuring out how Mitt Romney, someone who ran for this office -- the highest office, himself -- would be able to take orders from Donald Trump. Like if you have Mitt Romney out there saying Mr. President, this is what I think we should do vis-a-vis Syria, I mean, this could be Mitt Romney having to execute the foreign policy he doesn't agree with. So it's kind of hard to imagine them doing that.
SCOTT: Very much so. I mean, we saw on issues like Russia, they see things very differently. And so, will Mitt Romney be a voice for Donald Trump around the world or will Mitt Romney carry out, or attempt to carry out his world view?
ROMANS: There very well could be other names out there, too. Kellyanne Conway said as much this weekend --
MARQUEZ: Right.
ROMANS: -- that there are names out there.
SCOTT: Right.
ROMANS: That we are focused on these two names, Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney.
MARQUEZ: I mean, there's a lot of military names out there as well.
SCOTT: David Petraeus, John Kelly.
MARQUEZ: Right.
SCOTT: We saw Sen. Bob Corker from Tennessee. So we don't know yet.
ROMANS: But, David Petraeus is interesting because he has a classified material problem.
SCOTT: Yes, he does.
ROMANS: Donald Trump won an election basically hammering about a classified material problem. That would be a -- that would be ironic.
SCOTT: It would, very much so. But I think what we saw with David Petraeus, he's a name that Donald Trump very frequently mentioned as getting a raw deal and maybe he wants to make justice right or offer him some type of repayment, but this would be quite a bit of a repayment.
MARQUEZ: Well, given his turnaround on Hillary Clinton, though, it's not very clear that all of that about--
SCOTT: Sure.
MARQUEZ: -- the email scandal --
ROMANS: Right.
MARQUEZ: -- really rates with him at the end of the day.
ROMANS: You're right, you're right, you're right.
SCOTT: True.
MARQUEZ: Eugene Scott, thank you.
ROMANS: Nice to see you.
MARQUEZ: Thank you very much.
ROMANS: A lot going on today. Also today, it's a little thing called Cyber Monday.
MARQUEZ: What?
ROMANS: The best deals out there today are for things that are rarely on sale. Don't be duped by doorbusters. Those are for Black Friday. Stay focused on the real deals. Things that you normally can't get such deep discounts.
Amazon is offering 75,000 deals. There'll be lightning deals for prime members today. The best discounts may be on its own devices. The Echo, the Fire TV, the Kindle, all of them at least 20 percent off.Walmart has discounts on TV's from Samsung and Vizio. We've seen this, these huge 50 -- these ultra 50-inch TV's.
MARQUEZ: Fifty, 75.
ROMANS: Oh, my gosh.
MARQUEZ: One hundred and eight-inch --
ROMANS: Oh, please. You guys and your big TV's. Hundreds of dollars on many models. And Target's offering 15 percent off your entire order. Fifteen percent in stores and online, and Apple products are included in that.
There are websites out there that are compiling the deals for you. CyberMonday.com, that's by the National Retail Federation, has rolling deals throughout the day. TheBlackFriday.com has direct links to sales at major chain stores if you're too lazy to look for yourself. RetailMeNot.com has tons of product categories and coupon codes. If you're looking for something specific try Offers.com.
Now, just anecdotally, my producers and I -- my producer said the Walmart deal on TV's is just ridiculous.
MARQUEZ: Ridiculous.
ROMANS: That's what Mike Tarson -- ridiculous term. I've been looking for apparel retailers and stuff. What I'mfinding is there aren't a lot of sizes, there aren't a lot of colors, especially if you're looking at outwear and things that are sort of seasonal. So just because it's got a name, Cyber Monday, and there's a 50 percent off doesn't mean you're going to be able to get a deal, so be careful out there.
MARQUEZ: And I do appreciate you've been shopping for me all morning.
ROMANS: I have.
MARQUEZ: So I really --
ROMANS: I bought you a big bag of coal --
MARQUEZ: Several, several gifts I'm looking forward to.
ROMANS: -- for you.
MARQUEZ: Plenty of tears in the wake of Fidel Castro's death. In Havana, mostly tears of sorrow. In Little Havana, Miami, tears of joy. So where do U.S.-Cuban relations go from here? We are live in Cuba, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:43:00] MARQUEZ: Fidel Castro's funeral 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 island nation. CNN's Nic Robertson live from Havana this morning. Nick, what's the sense of things there?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, compared to what we've seen in Little Havana in Miami, I mean, it's the complete opposite here. There have not been huge outpourings of emotion, either jubilant or sad. It's been very muted. I think we'll see something different today when those public memorials begin at 9:00 a.m. in the Revolution Square here in -- here in Havana.
We're going to have a -- or there will be a 21-gun salute in Havana and in Santiago at the other end of the country. That will be at 9:00 a.m. this morning. There will be the same 21-gun salute Saturday -- next weekend -- from Tuesday through to next weekend from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. every day. On the hour, every hour, there will be single cannon fired in memory of Fidel Castro.
So that, apart from the flags flying at half-staff, apart from major public events being canceled, these will be really the first and strongest symbols of the country mourning the passing of Fidel Castro. But really, you have to look at the streets here and really feel there's a sense of it's somewhat muted, somewhat subdued. Whatever people's deep emotions are at the moment, they've not really been on public display so far.
MARQUEZ: Cubans enormously proud of the role that they played in the Cold War, thumbing their nose at the U.S.successfully. Fidel Castro leading that. Is -- with everything happening now, the U.S. opening relations, Donald Trump coming into office, what is the sense on the street about where the revolution goes from here?
[05:45:08] ROBERTSON: Hmm, you know, if you talk to young people here there's a real hope that Raul Castro may -- now that his brother's gone and doesn't have him looking over his shoulder -- shift gears and try to improve significantly the ties with the United States and to get the country back to a much stronger economic part. A more prosperous future. You'll certainly hear that aspiration from young people.
Perhaps older generations here have been so used to Fidel Castro's rule with an iron grip and his brother essentially using the same machine to continue a strong leadership. There will be concern that these aspirations that they might have now could be brought back into the fold of the international community to put behind them the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 once and for all and to become another nation to the world beyond that. That's something that the older generations here may have aspirations for but would be concerned that it may not be realized in their lifetimes.
I think there's a sense here that change, because of what Castro brought to this country for so many decades -- that kind of control takes a long time to change.
MARQUEZ: Yes. It is going to be a fascinating several years, I take it. In 2018, Raul Castro is meant to leave government but we don't know if there's going to be elections. Is that right?
ROBERTSON: No, it's not clear precisely who will take over and whether those elections, if there were to be elections -- and you look at any country around the world that's coming out of a situation like this. Out of essentially a totalitarian dictatorship. How do you get from that to democracy and where do -- how do you develop the parties?
Yesterday, for example, the White Ladies, a protest group that protests for that. Every Sunday they come out and protest and march for the last 13 years about their husbands being in jail -- political prisoners. When you have a system that jails political opposition how do you generate a political opposition to have a free and fair election?
That transition that we've witnessed in other countries when it happens can be a very difficult and painful transition. But the actual transmission itself is just not a quick one. You don't go from this, that you have had here, to open and free democracy quickly, and that's a big question on people's minds. Can we do that? Can we -- are we going to be allowed to do that?
MARQUEZ: Yes.
ROBERTSON: Will it happen safely and securely?
MARQUEZ: More fraught days ahead for Cuba. Nic Robertson for us in Havana. Thank you.
ROMANS: All right. From Cuba now, ironically, to online sales -- capitalism.
MARQUEZ: From anti-capitalism to total capitalism.
ROMANS: You know, you're going to find some deals here on Cyber Monday. I'm going to tell you if there are any good ones. But guess what? There are not very many discounts in the stock market right now. All the major stock market averages, record high. We're going to get a check on CNN Money Stream next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:52:15] ROMANS: Syrian regime forces have reclaimed two more neighborhoods in Eastern Aleppo. Government airstrikes over the weekend pushing the civilian death toll to over 500 in just the past two weeks. That's raising concerns a long-threatened ground assault the rebels is about to hit high gear. CNN's Frederik Pleitgen tracking the latest developments live from London for us. When we talk about ground assault against rebels there are civilians right there, too.
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, there certainly are, Christine. And, you know, it's one of the big concerns of the U.S. and of the United Nations that there could still about around 250,000 civilians trapped inside those besieged areas in Eastern Aleppo, and 100,000 of those might very well be children.
Now, the U.N., because of the fighting that's going on but also because the Syrian regime aren't letting them pass, have not been able to run any convoys into the eastern part of Aleppo to bring food. But also, first and foremost, to bring medicine because there are, of course, people there who are wounded because of the fighting and also who have medical conditions. They can't be evacuated out and they can't get proper treatment because most of the hospitals in that area have, quite frankly, been bombed by Syrian warplanes and some of them by the Russians, as well.
As far as the fighting is concerned, it is quite surprising how quickly Syrian government forces are moving forward. They've made more gains in the past 24 hours than they have over the course of the last four years. They save they've taken some 10 neighborhoods in Eastern Aleppo. And the latest that we're hearing is that they've actually managed to take the entire northeastern part of the city. We have to keep in mind that this is the last stronghold that the
rebels hold in any sort of urban area. It is by far the biggest prize of Syria's civil war at this point in time and, certainly, if the rebels lose all of Eastern Aleppo it could mark a very important turning point away from the rebels and certainly in favor of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad -- Christine.
ROMANS: Certainly remarkable pictures we keep seeing of what it looks like in Aleppo. I can't even imagine what it would be like to live there. All right, Fred Pleitgen watching it all for us in London. Thank you, Fred.
MARQUEZ: Breaking overnight in the Philippines, an improvised explosive device found a few hundred feet from the U.S. embassy in Manila. Authorities quickly diffused the bomb that witnesses say was placed by a person riding in a taxi. Police consider it an attempted act of terrorism. The IED had the same design as one used in the deadly marketplace bombing in September that killed 14 people.
Also 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.
[05:55:07] And police in New Orleans believe bad blood between two men sparked a deadly shootout on Bourbon Street. Investigators still searching for the suspects this morning. Gunfire erupted in the French Quarter early Sunday morning after the end of a big college football game. Ten people all described as innocent bystanders were wounded. One person was killed.
And the Army Corps of Engineers urging thousands of Dakota Access Pipeline protesters to move to a free speech zone by December 5th, but officials say there are no plans to forcibly remove those who remain. Native tribes and environmental activists have clashed violently with authorities in recent days. Many of them fear the pipeline could contaminate the Missouri River and disrupt tribal burial grounds.
ROMANS: All indications that most of those protesters do not want to move away from where they are now to a free speech zone.
MARQUEZ: Yes.
ROMANS: They want to stay where they are. All right, let's try and get a check on CNN Money Stream this morning. The Dow, Nasdaq, S&P 500 all at record highs but investors are set to take a step back at the open. We're looking at Dow futures right now. They're pointing lower here. They're following stock markets in Europe. Those are all down. Shares in Asia mixed overnight.
We're looking at oil prices here. They've turned around after big losses this weekend. That's weighing on global stock markets right now. It appears OPEC countries will not reach a deal to cut production so right now it seems that oil is a really big factor in how stocks will fare today.
Investors can be thankful for the gains last week. It's something we haven't seen in years. The past three years, the stock market has been very quiet on Thanksgiving. Look at that, barely moving most years and then last week, boom. The Dow up 1.5 percent over the past four sessions, almost 10 percent for the year. That is that Donald Trump stock market rally.
The downside to the recent Donald Trump stock market rally, mortgage rates are spiking. The average 30-year fixed rate mortgage is now 4.19 percent. Look at that. On Election Day, it was just 3.62. The huge increase comes from Treasury bonds. They are tied to mortgage rates. Investors are ditching bonds in favor of stocks. When you sell bonds that drives the rate up.
That's because folks believe Donald Trump's policies will lead to more government spending and more borrowing, which will lead to higher interest rates. Plus, the strong stock market reaction makes it easier for the Fed to hike its target rate next month.
Here's what that increase means for your money in mortgage rates. A $250,000 mortgage with a 3.5 interest rate -- there's the payment, $1,123 a month. So the same mortgage -- the same mortgage at 4.25 interest rate, that's $1,230 a month. That's an increase of about $100. That's $38,000 over the life of the loan. All of that in just three weeks.
Check out the new CNN Money Stream app. It's business news personalized. The stories, videos, tweets, topics you want all in one feed. Download it now on the App Store or Google Play. And I'll tell you, we're going to be covering Cyber Monday. The big deals on Friday, as well. And the bottom line, I think, is that mobile kept some people out of the stores. Foot traffic down in some places.
MARQUEZ: I can buy all my gifts for you on my device.
ROMANS: Have you? Thank you.
MARQUEZ: Yes, they're all here.
ROMANS: Do you know my size?
MARQUEZ: Yes, yes. Got it.
ROMANS: That's EARLY START for today. I'm Christine Romans.
MARQUEZ: And I'm Miguel Marquez. Twelve angry tweets from Donald Trump, all protesting the Wisconsin recounts while proclaiming he actually won the popular vote. The transition taking a nasty turn. "NEW DAY" picks up the story now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARQUEZ: Trump claiming he actually won the popular vote.
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The Green Party has the legal right to do it. We have recounts probably almost every election.
REINCE PRIEBUS, INCOMING WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: It's ridiculous. This is a fundraising, notoriety-driven fraud.
SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R), FLORIDA: He has the opportunity to pick someone that he believes will carry out his vision of American foreign policy.
KELLYANNE CONWAY, FORMER TRUMP CAMPAIGN MANAGER: Gov. Romney went so far out of his way to hurt Donald Trump.
REP. ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN (R), FLORIDA: I hope that the new administration will pressure the Castro regime.
PRIEBUS: Action is something that will be required under a President Trump.
SEN. TED CRUZ (R), TEXAS: It is my hope that we will see U.S. strength prompting real change and real freedom in Cuba.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo and Alisyn Camerota.
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Welcome to your NEW DAY. It's Monday, November 28th, 6:00 in the East. Up first, President- elect Donald Trump falsely claims that millions of people illegally voted in the election and that's why he didn't win the popular vote. His 12 angry tweets fueling more concern about how this administration will function.
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: So that widely debunked conspiracy theory comes as the Clinton campaign joins a recount effort in Wisconsin, and a top Trump adviser very publicly undermines Mitt Romney as the potential pick for secretary of state. We have all of this covered for you so let's begin with Sara Murray. She is live in Washington. Good morning, Sara.
SARA MURRAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alisyn. Well, it really is an unprecedented move. Donald Trump using his platform to question the integrity of the American election system, an election which he won, without offering any evidence.
