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EARLY START

Clinton Clinches Democratic Nomination; Sanders Seeks Momentum to Carry Him to Convention; Trump Stands By Criticism of Judge; Taking the Fight to ISIS. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired June 7, 2016 - 04:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:31:48] CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Hillary Clinton securing enough delegates to clinch the Democratic nomination. But the race is not over. Millions vote across the country today. And Bernie Sanders, he says he can flip hundreds of super delegates supporting the presumptive nominee.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Donald Trump refuses to back down for saying the judge sitting on the Trump University case cannot be fair because of his Mexican heritage. He is facing new criticism from his party and launching a really interesting conference call with hi own supporters.

Welcome back to EARLY START, everyone. I'm John Berman.

ROMANS: Nice to see you all this morning. I'm Christine Romans. Thirty-two minutes past the hour.

Our breaking news this morning. Hillary Clinton is the presumptive nominee, something that could not be said yesterday at this time and wasn't expected to be possible until maybe this evening. With a strong showing in the Puerto Rico primary and newly added super delegates from a CNN canvas, Clinton now has a total of 2,384 delegates, 2,384, that is one more than needed to win the nomination.

This is historic moment. Hillary Clinton is the first woman to become a major party's presumptive nominee. But she is not celebrating yet. In fact, it's pretty clear, she did not want this moment to happen just yet. Not with voters in six states today casting their ballots in the final Super Tuesday of the primary season.

CNN's Brianna Keilar with the Clinton campaign in California has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John and Christine.

Hillary Clinton and her campaign are not saying "mission accomplished" about these reports. They want to make sure that voter turnout in support of Clinton is not dampened in New Jersey and California and other states that are voting today. In fact, she was asked about the reports seven times by CNN's embed reporter Dan Merica. He said she heard but did not response once.

And here's what she said before a crowd in Long Beach.

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESUMPTIVE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: According to the news, we are on the brink of an historic, unprecedented moment. But we still have work to do, don't we? We have six elections tomorrow. And we're going to fight hard for every single vote, especially right here in California.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

KEILAR: But it's also a fine line that Hillary Clinton is walking. Her campaign actually campaigning off this news, saying it's all thanks to you, seriously. But this primary isn't quite over. So, she wants to focus on New Jersey where the campaign is feeling good, and on California, where it really is up for grabs and so important for her to win this huge delegate haul of a state with 475 delegates, to show some strength moving into the general election especially as Bernie Sanders is saying that he is taking this fight all the way to the Democratic convention in late July -- John and Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: All right. Brianna Keilar, thanks so much.

Now, Bernie Sanders rejects the notion that Hillary Clinton is already the presumptive nominee for the Democratic Party. His campaign issued this statement last night. It says, "Secretary Clinton does not have and will not have the requisite number of pledged delegates to secure the nomination.

[04:35:06] She will be dependent on super delegates who do not vote until July 25th and who can change their minds between now and then. Our job from now until the convention is to convince those super delegates that Bernie is by far the strongest candidate against Donald Trump."

Sanders at his final California rally in San Francisco made clear he was counting on victories today to carry him to the Democratic convention.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If there is a large voter turnout, if working people and young people come out in big numbers to demand a government that represents all of us and not just the 1 percent, we're going to win big tomorrow. And if we can win here in California, win in South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana, New Mexico, do well in New Jersey, we're going to go into that convention with enormous momentum.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Some extraordinary developments on the Republican side of the race. Donald Trump is not backing down in the face of sharp criticism, much from within his own party. Trump has attacked the federal judge in the Trump university lawsuit. Very much an American.

Trump has called the judge a hater and questions his fairness because of his Mexican heritage. Now sources tell CNN that Trump held a conference call with surrogates and all but ordered them to turn you have attacks on the judge. Two sources who were on the call who say Trump made it clear he will not apologize. In fact, He lashed out at his campaign for circulating a memo suggesting that Trump supporters refrain from commenting on the matter.

Overnight, Trump was not apologizing, but focused the discussion on other issues. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESUMPTIVE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I don't care if the judge is Mexican or not. I'm going to do great with the Mexican people because I'll provide jobs. So, I don't care about Mexican. But we're being treated very unfairly, Bill. Very, very unfairly.

I want to talk about how lousy the economy is. I want to talk about how badly we're doing against ISIS, how badly we're going on the border. But every time I go and do the show, all they want to do is talk about Trump University.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Let's talk about all this right now, the race for president. Joining us is Eugene Scott from CNN politics.

Eugene, thanks so much for being with us.

EUGENE SCOTT, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Thank you.

BERMAN: Again, overnight, if you happen to go to sleep early, like, say, Christine Romans and me, Hillary Clinton became the Democratic Party's presumptive nominee while everyone was sleeping. The superdelegates put her over the top. New counts coming in. This is history, Eugene.

SCOTT: Yes, very much so. This has never happened before. A lot of attention on social media was magnifying the significance of it, despite the fact that Hillary Clinton was tempered in her response to it because tonight is still a big night. And she still wants people to come out and show up and vote and have the opportunity to have their say in this election. It certainly was something that got a lot of attention from people on multiple sides of the aisle for its significance and symbolic nature.

ROMANS: We know the president is expected to make an endorsement in coming days, maybe as early as tomorrow. Josh Earnest, the president's spokesman was asked about that yesterday in his briefing, let's listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The president was pretty clear, that once the voters in New Jersey and California have an opportunity to express their preference about who should represent the Democratic Party in the general election, we may be in a position where we have a much greater sense of the outcome is likely to be.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: We know the president has called Bernie Sanders. This weekend, he called Bernie Sanders. And Bernie Sanders was asked about that phone call with the president.

SCOTT: Yes, he was. You saw that Bernie Sanders wasn't really willing to share much about the phone call. I'm sure if the phone call was supportive and encouraging, Mr. Sanders would have made that very clear.

But he did not. And that's not surprising to most people because people believe that the president believes that Hillary Clinton is the best person to continue the agenda and legacy that he put forward.

But, ultimately, we know the president wants to unify the party and encourage the Sanders campaign to get on board to make the Democrats as effective as possible in defeating Trump in November.

BERMAN: And maybe the president can reach the Bernie Sanders voters who have been reluctant to come over the Hillary Clinton side, some of those more progressive, younger voters who flock to Bernie Sanders maybe persuadable by the president, no?

SCOTT: Yes, that's certainly the hope. Bernie Sanders is winning with millennial voters and President Obama did very well with millennial voters. I mean, there are demographics that President Obama and Bernie Sanders have more in common than Hillary Clinton does. So, they're hoping that Hillary Clinton wasn't able to convince some Bernie Sanders supporters to get on board, then hopefully, President Barack Obama can.

[04:40:05] ROMANS: He'll have to be healer in chief and go forward over the next few days in his party.

I want to listen to something, I want to talk about the Republicans for a moment. You know, Marco Rubio, he was on camera yesterday discussing the Trump University judge situation. The look on his face I think kind of says it all. Let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R), FLORIDA: I made a commitment during the race I would support the nominee of my party. This is not the choice I wanted us to have, obviously. I ran myself.

And, look, I continue to have strong disagreements on him with a bunch of issues that I do not agree with and, in fact, quite frankly, I'm disturbed by the way he keeps referring to this judge, an American born in Indiana, who he continues to raise issues about. I hope he'll stop doing that. But that's what the voters -- this is the choice the voters have given us to this primary. And we'll see what happens.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: The judge by the way had to be guarded by security at one point because of his work against the Mexican drug cartels. The frenzy within his own party over the judge thing just continues. And Donald Trump, we know from the call he had with surrogates. He is not backing down. In fact, he is telling people, no, keep going on this.

SCOTT: Very much so. We saw yesterday former Arizona Governor Jan Brewer reporting to receive a memo, instructing surrogates not to talk about this Trump University case. Donald Trump strongly dismissed that report and encouraged people to defend him and explain why it is that he was concerned about this judge's Mexican heritage. Donald Trump is not backing down despite the fact that many people in the Republican establishment have said that his words are concerning about this judge and other judges.

He also expressed concern about people of Muslim faith on judicial courts being able to rule fairly. And so, he has been consistent with what with we have seen of him in this campaign.

BERMAN: All right. Eugene Scott, thanks so much. We will talk to you again in a little bit.

ROMANS: OK, that's politics. Time for money, an early start on your money this morning.

The Dow futures are higher building on solid gains yesterday. Stock markets in Europe and Asia are also higher. Oil is up.

Why the buying mood? Well, Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen basically took a June rate hike off the table. Why she called that weak jobs report disappointing. After her speech, much watched speech yesterday, the Dow ended up 113 points. NASDAQ and the S&P 500 popped around half a percent each. While Yellen did not offer any clues to the next rate hike, she did say she is seriously worried one thing outside the U.S.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JANET YELLEN, FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIR: One development that could shift investors' sentiment is the upcoming referendum in the United Kingdom. The U.K. vote to exit the European Union could have significant economic repercussions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: That vote takes place on June 23rd. Recent polls there show rising support for the movement to leave, for the U.K. to leave the eurozone. And this is something that bankers and manufacturers and economists are starting to really closely watch, because, you know, even retail banks are starting to train their workers what to do if this happens.

BERMAN: A lot of jitters here. All right. This morning, the Cincinnati zoo reopens with new security

after the 3-year-old fell in the gorilla enclosure. What the zoo is doing and what the prosecutors are now saying about the case.

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[04:47:46] BERMAN: All right. Happening today, the gorilla world exhibit at the Cincinnati Zoo is set to reopen with a new, more secure barrier, to keep the visitors out. It comes after the zoo was forced to kill Harambe the gorilla to protect a 3-year-old boy who fell into the enclosure.

After investigating, prosecutors have cleared the boy's mother, determining that she was not at fault. The barrier which had repeatedly passed inspections will now be 42 inches high, a half foot taller than before and a knotted rope netting at the bottom.

ROMANS: The California serial killer known as the Grim Sleeper has been sentenced to death by a Los Angeles jury. Lonnie David Franklin will be back in court in August. An L.A. County superior court judge will have the final say in his sentence. The 63-year-old Franklin was convicted of murdering nine women and a 15-year-old girl over a 22- year period in Los Angeles.

Authorities believe the former mechanic and sanitation worker is responsible for more than two dozen deaths.

BERMAN: Outrage in northern California over the six-month sentence given to former Stanford University swimmer Brock Turner for raping an unconscious woman last year. Prosecutors had asked for a six-year prison sentence for the 20-year-old who was convicted back in March. A very powerful impact statement from the victim was read in court last week.

Recall effort was launched Monday to remove the judge who was a Stanford alum from the bench. Turner's father really added fuel to the fire with an appeal for leniency. In a letter, he told the judge his son had already paid a heavy price for, quote, "20 minutes of action."

ROMANS: The gulf coast of Florida taking a pounding from Tropical Storm Colin. St. Pete Beach taking the worst of it with homes and streets underwater. Locals say they haven't seen flooding like this in decades. The winds so fierce, the skyway bridge had to be shutdown. Nearly 10,000 homes without power, 6,000 National Guard members on stand by in case evacuations are needed.

BERMAN: Where is Tropical Storm Colin headed next? I want to bring in meteorologist Pedram Javaheri.

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, John and Christine.

We watch Colin made landfall early this morning, coming across the Big Bend of Florida. But one of those storms disorganized, much of the conviction, much of the heaviest rainfall across the region. [04:50:04] And that's exactly what we are watching for higher flooding

concerns and this storm is just absolutely screaming across portions of the eastern seaboard by this afternoon. We're talking about a progressing, some 25 to 30 miles per hour as it moves off the coast of Carolinas.

But notice, we still have tropical storm warnings in place across parts of western Florida, but also around portions of the Carolinas and coastal Georgia as well. We have seen pockets of heavy rainfall just north of Tallahassee upwards of 10 inches of rainfall has come down just south of Jacksonville. We've seen another batch of heavy rainfall.

And again, at this point, watching the next round of heaviest remaining rain to be confined towards that Tampa area and also out towards, say, Orlando. Notice much of it wants to stay offshore as it pushes off the coastline by this afternoon. The other story we are watching is the major heat developing, the run of 90 degree days as the massive ridge begins to build.

By this Saturday and Sunday, a pretty good area of the country also looking at heat indices, what it feels like outside up to 100 degree as cross the areas indicated here in red, guys.

ROMANS: All right. Pedram, thank you so much for that.

All right. How does a company turn customers into shareholders? Give them stock for free. We'll tell you what well known consumer brand is doing just that when we get an early start on your money.

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[04:55:30] BERMAN: Fierce fighting on two fronts in the battle against ISIS. U.S.-backed forces in northern Syria have terrorists surrounded on three sides in the city of Manbij, that's nearly a quarter of a million people are in harms way there. And in Iraq, civilians trying to flee the fighting in Fallujah are being shot on the spot by ISIS.

The U.S. is playing a role on both of those battles, from air and by sea. The USS Harry Truman dropping more bombs on terrorist targets than any ship in the U.S. fleet right now.

CNN senior international correspondent Frederik Pleitgen had a chance to spend time onboard the Truman. He joins us now live from the island of Crete this morning.

Fred, an interesting deployment of this carrier to get much closer to the action, no?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you are absolutely right. They certainly did get much closer to the action. The USS Harry Truman initially, John, was station in the Persian gulf where they didn't have quite a bit of flying time, until they were above those areas of operation, especially if you're talking about Northern Syria. Well, that aircraft carrier has been moved closer to the Mediterranean where it has a few minutes of flight time and then you are over northern Syria and eastern Syria as well. You mentioned no other ship in the U.S. fleet has dropped more ordnance on ISIS. You're talking about some 1,800 sorties and dropping up to 1.5 million pounds of ammunition. So, certainly, a lot of air strikes flown.

We were on the carrier and we talked to some of the pilots flying the first missions from here in the Mediterranean. They say right now what it is, it's the so-called close air support missions where they get called in. Someone on the ground tells them there's a target they need to hit, an ISIS checkpoint, or an ISIS patrol, and then they do that very quickly and they go back to the carrier. Nevertheless, those missions can take between 5 and 7 hours in the air.

Right now is a decisive time, John. As you mentioned, ISIS threatened of losing strongholds in Syria and Iraq. And certainly, a lot of concern especially in Fallujah where a lot of the civilians are trying to flee. Many of them getting executed by ISIS. Others used as human shields by ISIS.

And, of course, the fact that fighting there is getting ever closer to the city center of Fallujah means the civilians that are still trapped are at greater risk than they were before. And human rights groups believe that some 50,000 people might still be trapped inside that city of Fallujah as the fighting moves closer and closer, John.

BERMAN: All right. That fighting continuing as you say. Frederik Pleitgen for us on Crete this morning -- thank you so much.

Breaking overnight: A bomb targeting a police shuttle hit an historic corridor in Istanbul, killing at least 11 people, dozens more were injured. The remote control car bomb detonated during rush hour as a bus carrying police officers passed by. So far, there's been no claim of responsibility so far. We're going to keep our eye on this story and keep you updated as it develops.

ROMANS: All right. Fifty-eight minutes past the hour. Let's get an early start on your money this Tuesday morning.

Stock futures solidly higher. Investors looking to build on yesterday's gains after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen took a rate hike off the table for next week's Fed meeting. Stock markets in Europe and Asia higher. Oil up fractionally.

All right. T-Mobile wants to make investors out of customers as a thank you. The company is offering new and existing primary account holders 1 share of common stock. There are about 11 million customers who are eligible. Shares of T-Mobile are currently trading at $43 a share. It is offering a new app with deals every Tuesday like pizza and Wendy's frosties and movie rentals.

Stock is up 10 percent this year after falling with the broader market in February. But over -- it's doubled over the past three years. The company has been aggressively courting customers from other cellular providers, and it's forced competitors to offer similar deals to switch. It's famously known as the un-carrier. Pizza and stock for T-Mobile customers.

All right. New two iconic brands coming together in a very unlikely marriage. The co- owner of the Twinkie brand just bought the Playboy Mansion. The buyer and owner of private equity firm that rescued Twinkie snack cakes from extinction when it bought Hostess out of bankruptcy in 2013. The owner is in contract to purchase the notorious party palace, but he won't call it home just yet. Playboy's 90-year-old founder Hugh Hefner will get to stay at the mansion for the rest of his life, per terms of the sale. The Playboy Mansion was built in 1927, has seven bedrooms, eight bathrooms, a tennis court, game room and, of course, the famous grotto attached to the swimming pool.

The estate is listed for $200 million, though the final sale price has not yet been disclosed.

BERMAN: Free Twinkies, too, by the way --

ROMANS: Twinkies.

BERMAN: -- as part of that deal, which lasts forever.

EARLY START continues right now.