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EARLY START

Investigators Search Florida Facility For Clues To Bombmaker; President Trump Deflects Blake For Divided America; White House Considering Travel Ban At Mexico Border; Saudi Chief Prosecutor To Meet With Turkish Counterpart. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired October 26, 2018 - 05:30   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:30:46] DAVE BRIGGS, CNN ANCHOR: Investigators zero in on Florida for the architect of a bomb spree that targeted people the president has attacked.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: The White House reportedly considering a travel ban along the southern border. A blatant play to the base 11 days to the midterms?

BRIGGS: Drowning in student loans? Well, one state is willing to help you pay them off if you move there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

Hickerson Elementary School kindergartners singing and signing "Happy Birthday" to hearing-impaired custodian.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Oh, this special birthday treat for a school custodian in Tennessee who is hearing-impaired. What a gift from those kids signing to him.

Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans. I needed that this morning.

BRIGGS: We all did. I'm Dave Briggs -- 5:31 eastern time.

The president was tweeting this morning -- at 3:14 a.m. this morning amidst the national bomb scare.

The manhunt for whomever is behind one of the most sweeping coordinated political attacks in generations now focused on Florida. Authorities believe several of the pipe bombs mailed to prominent critics of the president and CNN went through the postal service processing center in Opa-Locka, Florida, north of Miami.

That's where CNN's Rosa Flores is standing by for us live at the postal processing plant. Rosa, good morning. What's the latest?

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Dave, good morning. Well, I can tell you that some of the law enforcement resources are

very visible this morning. Within the last half hour, we saw the postal police arrive. Overnight, we have seen Miami-Dade bomb squad and K-9 units. But some of the resources that law enforcement is using are not visible.

But from talking to employees here I can tell you that they tell me that about 20 inspectors are working inside the facility that you see behind me which, as Dave mentioned, is believed to be one of the facilities that processed several of these suspicious packages. In essence, these pipe bombs that were directed at various individuals in various states.

Now, CNN has also learned that all of the 10 packages went through the U.S. Postal Service, which means that there are a lot of clues that are left behind in what's on the package and even on what's not on the package.

For example, some of the postmarks were missing on some of the packages -- like, for example, the one that was delivered to CNN by a courier. But authorities and investigators are following those clues because postmarks tell you the time, place, location as to where the origin of that package is. And if some of those packages are missing that postmark, well then, that's a clue as well, perhaps, that they were sent from different geographical locations.

But there are other clues in this -- in these packages and on these packages that investigators are following. For example, DNA -- potential DNA fingerprints -- DNA and fingerprints.

And, Dave, I can tell you that from being here at this facility since yesterday, throughout the day a lot of these employees didn't even know that some of these packages had been -- had gone through this facility. But they did -- they did tell me that they were shown pictures of the -- of the envelopes and asked to be on the lookout and to be careful as they process the mail here.

BRIGGS: The search continues.

Rosa Flores live for us in Opa-Locka this morning. Thank you.

ROMANS: All right. Thursday, more packages tracked down, two on their way to former Vice President Joe Biden, another to actor Robert De Niro. That makes 10 -- 10 pipe bombs in total sent to prominent targets of President Trump.

We heard from more of them yesterday and from the Florida lawmaker whose address was used on the return labels.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSEPH BIDEN, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We've got to turn off his hate machine. We've got to come together. The American public -- I've been all over the nation. People want us to be more civil. People want us to choose hope over hate. They want us to choose --

for real. I mean, it's guttural. People understand that and words matter -- words matter.

REP. DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (D), FLORIDA: We will never be cowed into submission by people who hate -- never, never.

[05:35:00] REP. MAXINE WATERS (D), CALIFORNIA: We should not crawl under the bed, close the doors, not go out, be afraid to go to rallies, whatever. We have to keep doing what we're doing in order to make this country right. That's what I intend to do. And as the young people said, I ain't scared.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: All those bombs on the way to the FBI lab in Quantico, Virginia for analysis -- Dave.

BRIGGS: President Trump hits the road again tonight, this time for a rally in Charlotte. And you might remember this from his last rally in Wisconsin Wednesday night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Do you see how nice I'm behaving tonight? This is like -- have you ever seen this? We're all behaving very well and hopefully, we can keep it that way, right?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: Wrong -- 3:14 a.m. this morning the president up watching reruns of Don Lemon and anger-tweeting at this very network. Just soak that in for a moment, everyone. Just get a good visual of it.

TEXT: Funny how lowly rated CNN and other, can criticize me at will, even blaming me for the current spate of bombs and ridiculously comparing this to September 11th and the Oklahoma City bombing. Yet, when I criticize them they go wild and scream, "it's just not presidential!"

BRIGGS: All right -- OK.

Now, let's welcome in Sarah Westwood, CNN White House reporter, live from D.C.

Again, Sarah, most mornings we wake up and we want to see what tone the president will set in this country. I was astonished on my phone at 3:14 when we got our answer.

Has the president, in your accounting, or has Sarah Sanders taken any accountability for the tone his divisive words have sent?

SARAH WESTWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, we did see the president moderate his rhetoric a little bit at that Wisconsin rally. You played a clip of it. The president even acknowledged that he was being nicer than usual and he refrained from attacking the fake news directly during that rally.

But he more or less squandered that high ground the following morning when he started tweeting about the media. And, Sarah Sanders and others came out and echoed that sentiment that the media is also to blame --

ROMANS: Yes.

WESTWOOD: -- for fostering this environment of anger.

And now, a lot of critics would say that President Trump, perhaps, seeded an opportunity to use this moment to his advantage. To rise above sort of the partisan bickering and use this is a presidential moment because not seeing him as presidential, that's a problem some Republican voters still have.

We're about to have an election and the president is hoping that by using the media as a foil, once again, perhaps this could get his base even more revved up. That's something Republicans have been really trying to do --

ROMANS: It's so --

WESTWOOD: -- heading into Election Day.

ROMANS: It's so interesting to me that from inside the White House there is this indignation that the media would even ask if the president's own behavior has raised the temperature or has somehow created this environment that is -- that is dangerous. And the president's own words are exactly why we're asking this question -- listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Such conduct must be fiercely opposed and firmly prosecuted.

All right, yes, get him out. Try not to hurt him. If you do, I'll defend you in court.

We want all sides to come together in peace and harmony.

A future under Democratic mob rule would be a total catastrophe.

Those engaged in the political arena must stop treating political opponents as being morally defective.

I've been going around lately saying the Democrats are the party of crime.

No one should carelessly compare political opponents to historical villains.

Obama is the founder of ISIS.

(END VIDEO CLIP) ROMANS: Sarah, I could do an hour of that -- of teleprompter Trump doing what is a presidential thing to do followed by real Donald Trump who is doing what he wants to do and what his supporters love.

WESTWOOD: That's right. And, you know, the president's allies are correct that leaders on both sides have engaged in heated rhetoric. Hillary Clinton saying there shouldn't be civility until Democrats retake power is the best example of that.

But the point is that it's the targets of Trump's rhetoric that received these bomb scares. And so that's why Trump's words, specifically, are under the microscope and that's not a distinction that Trump and his allies seem willing to entertain. That's why they're pointing the finger at the media.

There is, of course, the chance that Trump's critics -- Democrats, in particular -- could overreach by perhaps trying too hard to tie him --

ROMANS: Yes.

WESTWOOD: -- to the bombing. We still don't know who did it and why --

BRIGGS: Yes.

WESTWOOD: -- and that could backfire in President Trump's favor. Perhaps, that's the calculation Trump is making here --

ROMANS: That's a really good point.

WESTWOOD: -- when he's attacking media.

ROMANS: Really good point.

BRIGGS: Meanwhile, the president and his allies at his network are live on the border because they want you to focus on this caravan which is at least a month away -- maybe 60, maybe even 90 days -- some 900 miles away.

ROMANS: And people dropping off every day.

BRIGGS: And dwindling by the day. Somewhere around 5,000 -- some say it's around 3,000 now.

But some news on the border from the "San Francisco Chronicle" and our former colleague Tal Kopan that the president is considering an executive order to shut down our southern border to those coming from Central America.

[05:40:03] What is this about? Is this a political play just a few weeks from the midterms or is this a national emergency as the administration contends?

WESTWOOD: Well, I think there are a few things at play. One is that Republicans, for months, have been lagging behind in voter enthusiasm. The confirmation of Justice Kavanaugh gave them a way to start to make up that gap. And now, pointing to the caravan and Trump using that as a vehicle for touting his immigration agenda -- that's helped to sustain some of that energy.

And you see that Republicans across the country and these outside spending groups are using the caravan in their closing arguments in terms of what kinds of ads they're putting on the airwaves.

But also, it's likely that Trump is positioning himself for the funding fight we're going to see after the midterm election -- so in the next few weeks -- to get appropriations for his border wall. That funding fight at the urging of Republican leadership Trump agreed to put off until after Election Day. But the continuing resolution that's funding the Department of Homeland Security, that will run out in early December.

So over the next month or so you are going to see Trump wage that fight with the border wall and with a lot of gusto, in particular, if Republicans lose the House. This will be his last chance. So perhaps by throwing the spotlight on the caravan now, he's positioning himself to be able to make a really strong argument in favor of the wall.

ROMANS: Yes.

BRIGGS: And a reminder it was his own House that did not clear the money for that wall and a Republican House and Senate that could not agree on immigration legislation.

ROMANS: And nobody talking about fixing the gate. Fixing how we are bringing in refugees. Fixing how we're bringing in guest workers.

It's all about just seal the border. That's the plan. It works politically.

BRIGGS: Sarah Westwood, thank you for being here. Have a great weekend.

ROMANS: Nice to see you.

All right.

Reality star and transgender activist Caitlyn Jenner now turning her back on President Trump. The self-identified conservative Republican saying she was wrong about the president's commitment to lesbian, gay, and transgender rights.

Many in the LGBTQ community were upset by Jenner's vocal support for this president. But in a "Washington Post" op-ed, Jenner says she thought she could work within the administration to support her community. She now says that was a mistake.

She says, "The reality is that the trans community is being relentlessly attacked by this president.

He has ignored our humanity. He has insulted our dignity. He has made trans people into political pawns. It is unacceptable, it is upsetting, and it has deeply, personally hurt me." This week, "The New York Times" reported the administration is looking to narrow the definition of gender to a person's biological sex at birth, in effect legally erasing transgender people.

BRIGGS: All right.

A big, new development out of Turkey. The Saudis are sending their chief prosecutor to meet their Turkish counterpart. And now, the Turkish president warning he has more to share about the murder of U.S. resident and former journalist at "The Washington Post," Jamal Khashoggi.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:47:04] BRIGGS: Just in out of Turkey, the Saudi chief prosecutor coming to Istanbul on Sunday to meet with his Turkish counterpart. And now, the Turkish President Recep Erdogan suggests he has more information to share about the murder of "Washington Post" journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

International diplomatic editor Nic Robertson live for us in Istanbul with the latest. Nic, good morning.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, good morning, Dave.

After weeks of having a drip, drip, drip of information from anonymous officials in Turkey, we now have President Erdogan essentially threatening Saudi Arabia, saying these 15 people who came -- essentially, this hit team that came to kill Jamal Khashoggi -- who sent them? Who gave them the orders?

That's what he's saying. He's putting that to the -- he's putting that to Saudi officials and adding that well, you know, we may have more documents. Maybe tomorrow is a new day.

There seems to be a very clear threat there that he has evidence that is going to flush out more details from Saudi officials. We've seen them now into their fifth iteration of accounting for events here at the consulate that resulted in Khashoggi's brutal murder.

The chief prosecutor, yesterday in Saudi Arabia, saying that this was premeditated. But everything that the Saudi officials are doing so far, it appears, is to keep blame and responsibility away from Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman. Not clear if that's what President Erdogan is hinting at here.

Also, perhaps an element of frustration creeping in from the Turkish president that Gina Haspel briefed President Trump yesterday on the details -- evidence that Turkey says it has about this murder, and no significant reaction from President Trump so far.

So, Erdogan here, clearly pushing the Saudis. Perhaps, President Trump has got information and is prepared to go public with it. And this is the way he and his anonymous officials have been dripping out information -- this is the way they've been playing it all along. He, now, breaking cover and putting it directly to the Saudis, himself -- Dave.

BRIGGS: Yes. If, in fact, these reports are correct that Gina Haspel played President Trump the audio from the Turks, you would hope the president has a reaction today.

Nic Robertson live for us in Istanbul. Thank you.

ROMANS: All right.

At least 14 kindergartners injured in a stabbing spree at their school in southwest China. Police in the city of Chongqing have identified the attacker as Ms. Liu, a 39-year-old local woman.

They say she attacked the children with a kitchen knife as they were returning from an outdoor class. School security guards managed to contain her before police arrived.

The 14 children were taken to the hospital for treatment and a police investigation is ongoing.

All right, let's get a check on "CNN Business" this morning.

Amazon is on a billion-dollar profit streak. Remember when the company routinely lost money because it was spending so heavily on its growth? It reported a record $2.9 billion profit for the three months ending in September. But -- but -- but, the stock right now is plummeting almost 10 percent after hours.

[05:50:03] Amazon's sales forecast for the holidays was not as strong as Wall Street had expected.

Also looking at Google parent Alphabet -- its revenue up 21 percent. Its profit more than $9 billion but that was shy of Wall Street hopes.

The report came hours after a "New York Times" article alleged Google paid executives millions of dollars after they were accused of sexual harassment. According to the "Times" report, Google stayed silent about sexual misconduct allegations against three executives over the past decade, including Android creator Andy Rubin, who left the company in 2014.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai told employees in a letter, late yesterday, he is quote "dead serious about a safe workplace."

All right. Global stock markets, right now, mostly lower after Wall Street had that bounce back Thursday. The Dow rose 400 points or 1.6 percent Thursday. The broader S&P 500 was up 1.9 percent. The Nasdaq rallied three percent.

Stocks bounced back after that sharp drop Wednesday that sent the Nasdaq into a correction. The market has slumped badly in the last several weeks but it hasn't fallen in a straight line. That's what we call volatility. The volatility is spiking and huge sell-offs have been interspersed with big gains.

A cooldown in the housing market, especially if you live in the northeast, folks. Mortgage rates are rising and that new tax law nails homeowners in big tax states.

The government reports sales of new single-family homes fell 13.2 percent last month. Sorry, New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut -- home sales in the northeast fell by 40 percent. New home sales down 40 percent.

A provision in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, signed into law by the president in December, restricts deductions for state and local taxes to $10,000 a year.

The south is the biggest area for new home sales, by the way. A drop in sales there was likely affected by Hurricane Florence.

All right, your chocolate habit is going to get more expensive. Hershey's chocolate planning to raise the prices of a fifth of its products by about just 2 1/2 percent. One of the many companies squeezed by rising commodity and shipping costs.

Hershey's hopes the higher prices will cover their higher costs without losing customers. Hershey first said it would raise prices over the summer, citing rising operational costs. The changes will go into effect next year.

BRIGGS: Folks out here need that chocolate after that housing story.

ROMANS: I know. I'm not going to buy a new house but I will buy more chocolate.

BRIGGS: It's interesting -- the president is a New York real estate guy.

All right, get your umbrellas out. A messy weekend in store for the Northeast. Your forecast, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:56:48] ROMANS: Do you have student loan debt? The state of Maine may be willing to help you pay it off. You have to move there.

Maine draws 36 million tourists each year but they can't get young people to live there. The state has the oldest population in the nation with a median age of 44.

So officials are expanding a program they started 10 years ago to attract young professionals. It allows them to subtract their total student loan payments for the year from their state income taxes.

A storm moving up the east coast will make for a messy weekend in the northeast.

Here's meteorologist Derek Van Dam.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Great Friday morning, Dave and Christine. You have one more dry day ahead of you before things start to change into your Saturday. More on that in just one second.

But it's this low pressure that's really going to be the culprit for your change in your weather forecast. It's starting to bring wet weather across places like Atlanta and Charlotte today, all the way through the Ohio River Valley, eventually moving into the mid-Atlantic overnight and into your early Saturday morning.

But as it strengthens and deepens off the east coast, it will turn into a classic nor'easter. But it will be just too close to the coast and temperatures will be just too warm for this to be a snow event for the major east coast cities. Maybe a few flakes will fly -- just Upstate New York and into Vermont and New Hampshire.

There's the storm gathering some strength across the southeast again. Wet weather expected from Georgia all the way to Pennsylvania and into Maryland and the Delmarva Peninsula, for instance. But as we head into the day on Saturday, that's when we start to see the raindrops into New York City, as well as Boston.

Look at the temperatures as we head into the day today. Fifty degrees for the Big Apple, 53 for D.C.

Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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

BRIGGS: Thank you, Derek.

Amidst all the negativity in this country and the contentious political climate in which we reside, here now, the story we all need this Friday morning. Grab a Kleenex.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

Hickerson Elementary School kindergartners singing and signing "Happy Birthday" to hearing-impaired custodian.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: That's James Anthony moved to tears on his 60th birthday. James has been custodian at Hickerson Elementary School in Tennessee for 15 years. He happens to be hearing-impaired so the kids learned how to sign happy birthday while they were singing it.

Yes, the gesture moved James and all of us to tears, and children teaching all of us adults how to act. Thank you to those kids --

ROMANS: Oh.

BRIGGS: -- at that school.

ROMANS: Happy birthday to you. And, happy Friday, America. Thanks for joining us. Have a good weekend, everybody. I'm Christine Romans.

BRIGGS: I'm Dave Briggs. Enjoy the weekend, everybody. "NEW DAY" right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So the packages originated from Florida.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This investigation is very much in its infancy. It's all hands on deck.

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D), NEW YORK: There is a question if whether or not the bombs were designed to detonate or to intimidate.

CARL BERNSTEIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: No president has ever spewed the kind of consistent hate, disdain, and division.

SARAH SANDERS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The president is certainly not responsible for sending suspicious packages.

GOV. JOHN KASICH (R), OHIO: The president has the greatest megaphone in the entire world and the way he speaks matters.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Alisyn Camerota and John Berman.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is NEW DAY. It's Friday, October 26th, 6:00 here in New York.

Investigators up all night chasing new leads in the hunt for a serial bomber. The president, apparently up all night tweeting about the media. More on that in a moment.

First, the investigation.