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EARLY START

Donald Trump to Rule Out Third Party Run?; Will Biden Run?; Cop Killed: Manhunt Widens; Migrants Desperate to Reach Germany. Aired 4- 4:30a ET

Aired September 3, 2015 - 04:00   ET

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


[04:00:13] CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Will Donald Trump rule out a third party bid for president? Agreeing to drop out of the race if he is defeated in the Republican primary? A meeting with party leaders this morning. What we're learning, ahead.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Joe Biden fueling new speculation that he could enter the presidential race.

ROMANS: And investigators following new leads this morning, new leads in their search for three men suspected of killing an Illinois police officer.

Good morning. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.

BERMAN: Very nice to see you. I'm John Berman. It is Thursday, September 3rd, 4:00 a.m. in the East.

Big news in the Republican primary race and big moment for Donald Trump here in New York City today. The GOP frontrunner and all the Republican candidates are being asked to sign a loyalty pledge, vowing unconditional support for the eventual nominee while ruling out an independent or third party run.

This is a pledge that Trump has rejected in the past. But today, he will meet with Reince Priebus here in New York. Sources tell CNN all signs indicate Trump will sign the document. What we do know is that Trump will hold a news conference this afternoon, at 2:00 p.m. Promise it would be exciting.

Can I make one point here?

ROMANS: Yes?

BERMAN: This is not enforceable. He can sign the pledge and then go back on it later on. So, this sort of thing is a non-troversy for Donald Trump.

ROMANS: A non-troversy. I have a question: is this normal during a Republican primary season that you have the party asking everyone to sign an oath?

BERMAN: The national party, yes, across the board. Some state parties, South Carolina, you sign that kind of pledge to get your name on the ballot. But again, there is no way to enforce it. So --

ROMANS: Non-troversy.

BERMAN: Exactly.

ROMANS: I like that word. Thanks, Berman.

Meanwhile, Trump and his Republican rival Jeb Bush are escalating their feud. And it's getting personal. Trump telling Breitbart News, excuse me, "I like Jeb. He's a nice man. But he should set the example by speaking English while in the United States."

The former Florida governor who speaks fluent very good Spanish, by the way, firing right back, taking subtle digs at Trump in an online quiz, appearing on his campaign page, all the choices lead to either Bush or Trump. In one answer, Trump is described as the candidate with clear Democratic tendencies.

BERMAN: Bush also makes fun of Trump for being a germaphobe.

ROMANS: That's right.

BERMAN: Vice President Joe Biden sounding very much like a candidate. He spoke at Miami-Dade College Wednesday, touching on subjects like affordable higher education, immigration reform and the economy. So, does this mean he is running? After a few reporters asked him about his plans, no response.

Let's get more now from CNN senior Washington correspondent Jeff Zeleny.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John and Christine.

After a summer of closed-door meetings and quiet strategy sessions, Vice President Joe Biden is hitting the road. And a wave of speculation followed him from Washington, all the way here to Miami, where he's taking a two-day trip. He seemed to relish in all these presidential size attention.

Look what he said during a middle of a speech here at Miami-Dade College.

JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Look at the attention we attracted. Their interesting community college has impressed me greatly. And I hope that's what they're going to write about.

ZELENY: Now, the vice president did not say if he planned to run, but he gave a few hints of what the campaign message might be if he decided to go ahead with the race. He focused hard on middle class, income inequality, raising wages -- of course, all themes of this Obama administration.

But it also raises a challenge. Are voters ready for a third term of this administration? Or are they simply in the mode to move on?

But he first needs to take the temperature of Democrats. He was doing that at a fund-raiser on Wednesday night in Miami. Of course, a key and critical battleground state.

The fund-raiser was for Senate Democrats. But many of these donors would also be key if he would decide to go forward.

He is still mulling this over. He's going to decide, I'm told, within the next three weeks, by October 1st at the latest -- John and Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right. Jeff Zeleny for us -- thanks for that, Jeff, this morning.

Even though the Iran nuclear agreement is all but a done deal, the White House is still out there selling it. The Vice President Joe Biden making a case for the plan when he speaks to Jewish leaders in South Florida this morning.

President Obama has enough votes to make the measure veto-proof with at least 34 senators now publicly backing the agreement. But he is sending out heavy hitters anyway to secure more support.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KERRY, SECRETARY OF STATE: It is our belief, deeply, that this will make Israel safer. It already has made Israel safer. The amount of time to produce enough fissile material for one bomb was down to two months. We will now stretch that out. We've already stretched it out. We've reduced their stockpile. We have limited their centrifuges.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: The White House hoping for at least 41 votes to keep the bill from ever getting to a final vote in the Senate.

BERMAN: The House panel investigating the deadly 2012 attacks in Benghazi set to question two of Hillary Clinton's top aides while she was secretary of state.

[04:05:02] Former of chief of staff, Cheryl Mills, she will be questioned today with former aide Jake Sullivan questioned tomorrow.

Sources tell CNN Mills wanted the hearing conducted in public. That was denied. She's expected to be asked about internal communications between Secretary Clinton and her to staffers.

ROMANS: The Veterans Administration and its systems for tracking requests for medical care is so unreliable. It is impossible for the department to know how many veterans still need treatment or whether those veterans are even still alive. That's according to a new report by the V.A. inspector general. He found of the 847,000 vets waiting for care in the V.A. medical

enrolment system, 307,000 have died. That's more than one-third. As many as 10,000 applications have been lost in the last five years.

BERMAN: President Obama winding up his Alaska visit with the taste of the Arctic. He visited a tiny whaling village on the barrier island of about 400 residents, could be forced to move because melting ice is raising sea levels. The president warning the time to act on climate change is now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: So, the good news is we made a lot of progress in the last six years. But I'm here to tell you we've got to do more. We've got to move faster. We're not moving fast enough. And for the sake of our kids, we've got to keep going. America has to lead the world in transitioning to a clean energy economy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: The president is the first sitting president to cross the Arctic Circle. He is calling for an international agreement to reduce carbon emissions.

ROMANS: All right. Time now for an early start on your money this morning. Stocks moving higher, Chinese markets are closed for a holiday for the rest of the week. That means the big swings we've been seeing aren't spooking global markets today. European stocks are higher, so are U.S. stock futures.

You know, yesterday stocks surged. The Dow up 293 points. Those gains led by tech giants Apple, up 4.3 percent. Microsoft had a good day.

Stocks are getting attention with wild swings, but important things that matter to Americans, pocketbooks are looking up. Home prices are rising. A new report from Zillow out this morning, brand new, shows fewer homeowners are under water. And the ADP employment report showed solid growth last month in jobs growth. We're going to get a better look, of course, tomorrow morning when the grand daddy of economic reports, August jobs.

BERMAN: The granddaddy of them all, and you'll be the grand marshal of the parade.

ROMANS: Grandmommy, why do we say granddaddy?

BERMAN: It's a good question. A good question.

ROMANS: I'll think about that.

BERMAN: Happening now. Investigators following the new leads in the search for three men suspected of killing a police officer. We have new information coming in overnight. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:10:45] ROMANS: Thousands of people turned out Wednesday in Fox Lake, Illinois, at a pair of vigils to remember slain police officer Joe Gliniewicz. The officer affectionately known as "G.I. Joe", he was less than one month from retirement when he was shot and killed by three suspects who are still at large. The manhunt has now widened.

Authorities acknowledged the killers could be out of town. They could be out of state. There are no hard leads, but more than 100 tips from phone and social media. And they are hoping surveillance video will prove more answers.

We get more this morning from CNN's Ryan Young.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John and Christine, you can feel the emotions in the city. You can really feel it. As you look behind us and see all the balloons and everything left for the guy they call G.I. Joe. We actually went to the candlelight vigil where over 100 people showed up to show respects to an officer who served so much time in the community.

But one thing was for sure, we heard over and over how the search will continue and how it has changed. In fact, we went up in a helicopter and we look from above, more than 500 feet above to see what officers would be dealing with, difficult terrain. You had inlets. You had marshland. You also had lakes.

And there's a heavy wood line area here. So, you can tell it would be very easy for someone to hide. But they have changed the way they are looking for the suspects. They have taken down the hard perimeter and now they are broadening that search with more than 100 investigators on the case.

So, throughout the day, we know that there is a 17-minute period where officers are really analyzing all the information they got. In fact, they are looking at surveillance video to try and see if they can get digital images to see if they can get a better description of these suspects -- John and Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: Ryan Young, thanks so much.

Authorities in San Antonio, Texas, now focusing on a second video of a police shooting. The victim, 41-year-old Gilbert Flores, had his hands in the air when the deputies fired the shots. But sources now say a new video, not this one, but a second video suggests something might have been in one of his hands, the hands obscured by that television pole.

Let's get more now from CNN's Ed Lavandera.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John and Christine, the way that 41- year-old Gilbert Flores was shot and killed by sheriff's deputies here in San Antonio has been described as disturbing and troubling. Investigators are taking a much closer look to determine if it was a justified shooting.

Now, the video that we have all seen is incredibly dramatic and disturbing to watch, but investigators and prosecutors say that there is a second video from a closer and clearer angle. And the sheriff says they believe that Flores had a knife in his hand at the time he was killed by two sheriff's deputies. That video image has been sent for further testing and enhancement to determine exactly what was in his hands at the time.

However, when we asked the sheriff with a knife was found at the scene, they would not confirm if that indeed had had happened. A source close to the investigation who had seen the second video says that Flores can be heard acting wildly aggressive toward the officers there at the scene. But they say it's hard to make out exactly what he is saying. At one point, you hear the voice on the videotape. Someone said it appeared that Flores was trying to get himself killed -- John and Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right. Thanks for that, Ed Lavandera.

Six Baltimore police officers charged in the death of Freddie Gray will stand trial. The judge Wednesday denying a defense motion to dismiss charges against those officers. He also rejected his request to remove the Marilyn -- state attorney Marilyn Mosby from this case. And the judge ruled the six Baltimore cops will be tried separately.

The charges range from false imprisonment to involuntary manslaughter. The 25-year-old Gray died of spinal injuries while in police custody.

BERMAN: The police response to unrest in Ferguson, Missouri, is a lesson in how not to mass demonstrations. That Justice Department report on the aftermath of the Michael Brown shooting last summer. The report being released today cites poor community police relations, ineffective communications among dozens of law enforcement agencies and military style tactics that antagonized demonstrators.

ROMANS: In South Carolina the Governor Nikki Haley discussing race relations at the National Press Club in Washington Wednesday and taking the Black Lives Matter to task.

[04:15:05] She says its strategy of, quote, "yell and scream" has gained national attention, but also made it part of the problem.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. NIKKI HALEY (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: Most of the people who now live in terror because local police are too intimidated to do their jobs are black. Black lives do matter and they have been disgracefully jeopardized by the movement that has laid waste to Ferguson and Baltimore.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Then she says South Carolina can be a model for easing racial tensions. She led the charge to take down the confederate flag outside the state capitol, you'll recall, following the Charleston church massacre.

BERMAN: The family of the women shot and killed on a San Francisco pier allegedly by an undocumented immigrant is speaking to CNN after filing a lawsuit over her death. Kate Steinle's parents believe the police and sheriffs played a role in the tragedy. Steinle's father says even after his daughter's death, little is being done to fix the broader problem.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIM STEINLE, KATE STEINLE'S FATHER: The silence has been deafening. We have not heard any steps of any kind being taken by any of these offices, federal, state and local, to try to correct what happened so another human being doesn't end up like our family and Kate.

LIZ SULLIVAN, KATE STEINLE'S MOTHER: She's fun, fun girl. We're getting ready to go on a camping trip and we're going to miss. I -- we're hesitating because it was just so wonderful. The fun we all had as a family. We always had done so many family things. She will just be deeply missed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Steinle's alleged shooter was on the streets despite having been deported to Mexico five times.

ROMANS: Kentucky clerk Kim Davis will be in federal court this morning. She has to answer a contempt citation. She is defying several court orders to issue marriage licenses to same sex couples. Davis refuses to do. She's doing -- she refuses to do so on religious grounds. She calls it a heaven or hell decision for her. She said her ultimately authority is God, not the law.

On Wednesday, yet another couple was turned away from her office in Rowan County, Kentucky.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

ROMANS: Davis could be fined. She could be put in jail if she continues to defy the courts.

BERMAN: Impressive heat sticking around along the East Coast, with parts of the country experiencing some colder weather, even mountain snow.

Let's get to meteorologist Pedram Javaheri.

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: John and Christine, good Thursday morning to you.

Look at this pattern. We're kind of following the next six to 10-day outlook here to show you how long live this pattern could be days. Above average temperatures expected for much of the eastern half of the country in the same period for the next 24 hours. For this afternoon, we'll go to 92 degrees. What it will feel like in Chicago into the mid-90s in parts of Washington, D.C. and New York, about 91 with the humidity. Very stick set up as well.

And you look at the see-saw battle, places like Milwaukee just about a week ago, about 64, 65 degrees, roller coaster ride has taken them all the way up to 94 degrees in recent days. So, just when you thought you had a taste of fall, back to reality. Where they are getting a case of fall, about northwest, take you in towards the Cascade Mountains and Mt. Rainier right here.

We're getting a few reports of snow showers, get up above 6,000 feet, accumulating snow possible as we head into Labor Day weekend. In fact, to the south, around Klamath Falls, temperatures 30 to 35, with freeze advisories in place.

So, yes, it's changing for the Northeast. But it looks like a cooling trend for Friday and Saturday, back towards seasonal averages long term. Into next week again, a warming trend returns, guys, for much of the Northeast.

BERMAN: It looks like a nice weekend.

All right. Thanks, Pedram.

Happening now: migrants stranded in the streets. They are desperately trying to get out. This situation is spiraling out of control. We are live where the crisis is unfolding next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:22:49] ROMANS: A migrant crisis consuming Europe. Thousands, thousands of desperate people, men, women and children, fleeing war and fleeing poverty in the Middle East and Africa. They are flooding across the Serbian border into Hungary.

They are living in squalor. They're in makeshift refugee camps in the heart of Budapest. They've been trying for days to board trains bound for Germany. Now, they're finally being allowed into the rail stations, but they're not going anywhere close to their destination.

CNN senior international correspondent Arwa Damon live from Budapest.

In many cases, these frustrated people, they have tickets, but they're not allowed to get on those trains and go to Germany, where the German government, the governor chancellor, Angela Merkel, has said, "Come here, come here, we want to help you."

ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And that's what makes it difficult, because the longer they are stuck here in Hungary, the longer they are living on the streets like this. That's the main entrance of the Budapest Keleti train station. And there used to be a line of police that were blocking migrants and refugees from entering it and getting on those trains.

Earlier this morning, they cleared out, opened the door, and everyone's first assumption is the route to Germany must be opened. So, they flooded inside, they jumped on the first train they saw.

Problem is, none of the trains departing from this station, according to the government spokesman are crossing Hungary's borders. No international departures. That is something the government is implementing at this stage indefinitely. We went inside, spoke to some people, asking them where they thought they were going because they are still waiting to get on those trains.

And they said, well, we hope they are going to Germany, asked if they've heard that international departures were closed. They said, well, yes, in some cases, we have heard about it, but we just have this one hope that maybe we'll somehow be able to get there. We just want to get on the train and try it. That's all we have to cling to at this stage. If it stops before the borders, then we'll just get out and walk right back here.

[04:25:00] These people have had it. They are at their wits' end. Their nerves are frayed. They are emotionally drained and exhausted.

They've spent weeks trekking across Europe, putting their children's lives in danger. They've been left here like this to languish like this -- very, very difficult conditions for them at this stage. Meetings happening, yes, but the decisions are taking way too long to actually lead to concrete solutions.

ROMANS: It looks, Arwa, like internal politics at play, because the Hungarian prime minister, in an op-ed, according to "Reuters", saying that governments must control their borders before they can decide how many asylum seekers they can take, and saying the influx of refugees into Europe threatens to undermine the continent's Christian route. So, clearly, inside Hungary, there is a political feeling that this flow of migration is not supported in Hungary. If you look over in Germany, it is a different public view.

DAMON: It is. Look, the issue of migration here in Hungary has been a political flash point, well before this current crisis that the country is dealing with, when people coming across over a year ago, it was heavily politicized. The current government in power is a right wing government. Its opponents have accused it of deliberately launching an anti-refugee campaign and potentially endangering migrants and refugees, but it is creating a very hostile feeling amongst the population, telling its supporters, the government supporters that these migrants and refugees are going to destroy society, are going to be taking Hungarian jobs.

So, yes, these people are being caught up within Hungary's internal political battle. They are also being caught up in this very vicious to a certain degree game of ping pong as various different governments who can influence what is happening to them seem to be saying one thing, doing something else, giving them the hopes that they will be able to move on. And yet, nothing as of yet is really materializing.

ROMANS: All right. Arwa Damon, thanks for that. And again, the prime minister there in Hungary saying they have done everything they can do to stick to E.U. rules for how to deal with the migrant flow. And I think what we know here is that the rules in Europe -- Europe is one big open border.

Once you get into Europe, inside that zone, it is one big trade zone, one big travel zone. But it's not -- those rules aren't really up to date for what is happening now.

BERMAN: The rules have to figure out how to deal with the kids washing up on the beaches in some of these countries.

ROMANS: Yes.

BERMAN: So, big crisis there.

Donald Trump hours away from pledging his loyalty to the Republican Party. Will this really happen? It doesn't even matter. He is being asked to sign a pledge that says he will not run as a third-party candidate if he doesn't get the Republican nomination. He is holding a news conference today. My, oh, my.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)