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EARLY START

Trump: "McCain Has Abandoned Our Veterans"; Marines Murdered: New Information; Iran Nuclear Agreement: United Nations Vote. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired July 20, 2015 - 04:30   ET

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


[04:30:05] CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking overnight, new insults from Donald Trump against John McCain. He is not holding back and actually more -- more criticism of McCain unleashed in the new op- ed this morning.

New information on the gunman who murdered five people in Chattanooga. His family revealing a troubling past that could be key in explaining this tragedy.

A key vote on the nuclear deal with Iran. The new conditions considering the agreement, a move that is causing controversy this morning. We are live why the Obama administration has a tough sell ahead.

Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans. Thirty minutes past the hour. John Berman has the morning off.

Breaking overnight, Donald Trump escalating his criticism of Senator John McCain. The billionaire Republican candidate already the target of criticism for saying McCain, John McCain is not a war hero. Now, in a "USA Today" op-ed, Trump blames McCain for covering up the V.A. hospital scandal and says the senator, quote, "has made America less safe" and, quote, "sent our soldiers into wrong-headed foreign adventures".

Trump also tears into other Republican candidates who blasted him for criticizing McCain. He writes, quote, "A number of my competitors for the nomination have no business running for president. I do not need to be lectured by any of them. Many are failed politicians or people who would be unable to succeed in the private sector."

National correspondent Sunlen Serfaty has more from the White House.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Christine.

Well, Donald Trump is not backing down from his comments and he's been digging in even more offering no apologies and refusing all the calls from other fellow candidates that he should drop out of the race.

Here's what he had to say Sunday on ABC's "This Week." MARTHA RADDATZ, ABC: Do you owe John McCain an apology?

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: No, not at all. I believe that I will do far more for veterans than John McCain has done for years with all talk and no action. He's on television all the time talking, talking, nothing gets done. You look at what is happening to veterans. They are being decimated, OK?

So, I will do far more for veterans than anybody. I will be able to build them new hospitals. I will be able to build them care centers. I'll be able to help the veterans. John McCain has failed, because all you have to do is take a look which you report on all the time, take a look at the scandal at the Veterans Administration and the disastrous conditions under which our veterans have to live.

And believe me -- I built, with a small group, the Vietnam Memorial in downtown Manhattan. I know what it is to help people and I know what it is to help veterans.

SERFATY: And many have been quickly coming to the defense of Senator McCain and his service to the nation. The senator, a former Navy fighter pilot shot down, put in prison, tortured in Hanoi for five years. He refused early released and later on went to earn the Purple Heart.

But this controversy surely has given an opening to many of the Republican candidates, many who were just waiting for this opportunity to come out more openly and criticize Donald Trump, some saying that this should disqualify him from running for the presidential race.

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R-FL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's not just absurd, it's offensive. It's ridiculous. And I do think it is a disqualifier as commander-in-chief.

RICK PERRY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Until Mr. Trump apologizes directly to John McCain and also the veterans of this country, I don't think he has the character or temperament to hold the highest position in this country.

SERFATY: And the RNC took the rare step and responded directly to Trump's comments, saying comments like those have no place in their party. Now, we still have not heard from Senator John McCain. He's been silent since Trump made those comments. But we did hear from his daughter, Meghan McCain. She says that she is horrified and disgusted by Trump's rhetoric -- Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right. Sunlen Serfaty at the White House, thank you for that.

Breaking overnight: new information about the gunman who killed five service members in a shooting rampage last week in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The federal investigation into Mohammad Youssuf Abdulazeez turning up evidence he suffered from mental illness and had been abusing drugs. A U.S. law enforcement official familiar with the says family members

are telling investigators that Abdulazeez suffered from bipolar disorder, he had been abusing painkillers, sleeping pills, marijuana and other so-called party drugs.

The official says Abdulazeez had sought treatment from the psychiatrist, the family sent him away to Jordan last year to get him away from friends they believe were bad influences. The official also saying the family was aware of the high power weapons Abdulazeez owned, that he used most of his money to buy guns and often went target shooting.

All of this coming out hours after Chattanooga mourned the victims at memorial and a procession.

CNN's Boris Sanchez was there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A very emotional time here in Chattanooga, Christine. On Sunday, a procession led by hearse carrying the body of Randall Smith, the sailor who passed away early Saturday morning after the shooting on Thursday, drove by this memorial.

[04:35:04] People in the crowd waving flags, offering signs of support and condolence to the families of those affective.

Randall Smith's mother, Paula, actually visited the memorial. She was visibly emotional and she was overcome with grief when she saw a picture of her son behind me here at the memorial. I've got a chance to speak with her. She said she was overwhelmed by the amount of support she's in the community, but she choked up after I asked how her family was holding up.

We're also hearing from the family of the shooter for the first time, Mohammad Youssuf Abdulazeez's family, putting out a statement, offering condolences and sympathies for those affected by the shooting, and writing, quote, "There are no words to describe our shock, horror and grief. The person who committed this horrible crime was not the son we knew and loved for many years. Our son suffered from depression. It grieves us beyond belief to know that his pain found an expression in this heinous act of violence."

That tidbit about depression bring up the question of whether or not this was more than a just a jihadist mentality that led to the shooting but also potentially a sign of mental illness on behalf of the shooter -- Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: Certainly one of the threads they will explore as they look for a motive here.

All right. Happening this morning, a United Nations Security Council vote on lifting sanctions in Iran and that is the main carrot used during negotiations in Vienna that got Iran to agree to the limitations on its nuclear program.

For the White House decision to let the U.N. vote before Congress -- well, that has some people on Capitol Hill upset. On Sunday, the administration officially submitted the deal to Congress starting what looks to be 60 days of no-holds barred debate.

Meanwhile, Secretary of Defense Ash Carter's arrived in Israel earlier this morning. Carter's visit to Israel, Saudi Arabia and Jordan this week comes in what he calls a very important moment because of the Iran deal.

For the very latest, let's bring in CNN's Erin McLaughlin in Jerusalem.

Good morning, Erin.

ERIN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Christine.

Well, Secretary Carter received a warm welcome from his Israeli counterpart, Moshe Ya'alon. The Israeli military rolling out the red carpet. There is also band music to welcome him at the beginning of their meeting. The two emphasized the mutual friendship that exists between the United States and Israel.

At a time, really, when that friendship does seem to be put to the test. Israel is, of course, one of the Iran nuclear deal's most vocal and harshest critics. The deal that was, of course, brokered by the United States.

On the plane flight to Tel Aviv, Secretary Carter addressing those differences saying even friends can disagree.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ASH CARTER, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: I'm not going to change anybody's mind in Israel. That's not the purpose of my trip. The purpose of my trip is to work on all the things that we do together to guarantee the security of American interests in the region and very importantly, one of those is the security of Israel.

Obviously, we believe that the nuclear deal promotes the security in the region, the American strategy and also the defense of Israel. But as I said, friends can disagree.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCLAUGHLIN: Well, on Saturday, Iran's supreme leader saying that Iran's policy toward the United States will not change as a result of the agreement. Something that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was critical of during his cabinet meeting on Sunday, saying that Israel will not compromise as long as Iran does not change its behavior. For his part, Secretary Carter on that plane flight to Tel Aviv telling reporters that the current nuclear agreement does nothing to prevent a U.S. military option.

One of the reasons he says at agreement is a good one. Now, U.S. officials say that he will be talking to Israeli military officials during his visit about ways of increasing cooperation to prevent what they characterize to be Iran's destabilizing activities in the region -- Christine.

ROMANS: All right. Erin McLaughlin in Jerusalem -- thank you, Erin.

It's opening day for embassies in Washington and Havana, marking a start of a new era in diplomatic relations between two countries that severed ties 54 years ago. Officials say the American flag, it's not going to immediately fly outside the embassy in Cuba. That's going to wait. That will happen during a formal ceremony when Secretary of State John Kerry visits in August. But those two facilities now open.

We're breaking news: four Italians kidnapped in Libya. A crisis team now activated to try to free the construction company workers. No word yet on who might have taken them. Italy closed its embassy in Libya back in February and urged all of its citizens to leave the country as Libya sank further into chaos and violence.

Time for an early start on your money this Monday morning. European markets higher.

[04:40:00] U.S. futures following their lead. Greek banks open for the first time in three weeks. They were shutdown last month to prevent the country's financial system collapsing amid a run on the banks from nervous Greek citizens.

But it is not all back to normal. Greek citizens can only withdraw 420 euro a week. The Athens stock exchange remains closed. The banks are open as negotiations are set to begin on Greece's third bailout since 2010.

Last week, Europe's central bank promised 900 million euros in new emergency funding. Europe is giving Greece a bridge loan worth nearly $8 billion while this new deal is hammered out. The third bailout in just the last five years. Unbelievable.

All right. New testimony from Bill Cosby revealed the comedian under oath about drugs, sex and younger women. What we're learning ahead, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: New and graphic details about Bill Cosby's troubling behavior from a deposition he gave ten years ago. In that deposition, Cosby admits he had sexual relationships with at least five women outside his marriage, gave prescription sedatives to women he wanted to have sex with and tried to hide the affairs from his wife. Cosby also calls himself, quote, "a pretty decent reader of nonverbal clues" that women were welcoming his sexual advances.

The deposition stem from a civil lawsuit by a woman who claimed the comedian drugged and molested her.

Two dozen women had publicly accused Cosby of sexual assault. [04:45:00] One of them, Barbara Bowman, says his admissions under oath

come as no surprise.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARBARA BOWMAN, ACCUSES COSBY OF RAPE: It's classic, narcissistic, psychopathic behavior. It's the ego. It's the control, the diabolical thinking and behaviors. It's classic. It's exactly what was perpetrated upon me.

It's the smoking mirrors and it's reverse, you know, pointing the finger back at the victim, making us all wonder, how did I just get raped? Why did that just happen?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: The 78-year-old Cosby has never been charged. He denies any wrongdoing. In the 2005 deposition, he claimed the sex and drug taking were always consensual.

Authorities on New York's Long Island say a drunk driver crashed and killed four in a limousine. That scene is just horrific. Here is the scene on Saturday after the pickup truck T-boned the limo, just moments after it left a winery. Inside was the bride-to-be and her seven friends. They had hired this limo so they wouldn't have to drive.

At least two survivors remain hospitalized this morning. The truck's driver was hospitalized and pleaded not guilty to DWI charges Sunday during his bedside arraignment.

Republican presidential candidate Scott Walker on the record whether gays should be banned from being leaders of the Boy Scouts. Scott Walker campaigning across Iowa, where he's leading in the polls.

The Wisconsin governor tells CNN's Dana Bash, it's the organization, not the government to decide. He also faced questions on the broader subject of homosexuality.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Do you think that being gay is a choice?

GOV. SCOTT WALKER (R-WI), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Oh, I mean, I think that's not even an issue for me to be involved in. The bottom line is I'm going to stand up and work hard for every American regardless of who they are no matter what they come from, no matter what their background. I'm going to fight for people, and no matter whether they vote for me or not.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Walker also says, contrary to reports, Walker doesn't disagree with his stance on same sex marriage. Walker called the Supreme Court decision legalizing gay marriage, quote, "a grave mistake".

Meantime, Walker's fellow Republican candidate, former Texas Governor Rick Perry, says the Boy Scouts would be quote better off without openly gay scout masters. His comments coming as the party courts socially conservatives following the Supreme Court same sex marriage ruling.

Former President George H.W. Bush home from the hospital. He was discharged Sunday after four days of treatment for a fractured vertebrae, suffered when he fell at his summer home in Kennebunkport, Maine. Bush was fitted for a neck brace. He is undergoing physical therapy. The 91-year-old suffers from Parkinson's disease and is in a wheel chair.

Widespread thunderstorms across the country today. The worst of it in the Midwest. Forecast to be a repeat of Sunday's severe weather pattern.

California hit hard by flash flooding. It was so bad, a bridge over a California freeway collapsed Sunday in desert center. A truck was crushed in the incident. Crews worked furiously to free the driver trapped inside. The victim was taken to the hospital with minor injuries. The other truck drivers used straps from their cars to hold that truck from swallowed into the hole.

A tragedy in Cincinnati. A pregnant mom and two children killed in severe flooding. The intense rain swept away their mobile home Saturday. The family's father and two other sons survived. They were rescued two hours after that home was swept away.

At least six people rescued in Illinois after they were stranded when several levees broke along a creek. Streets submerged in the town of Hill View. Several people when their homes flooded. The town's church opened up for those displaced by the storm.

No relief in the forecast for much of the country. Let's get to meteorologist Derek Van Dam for the latest.

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Unseasonably rainfall continues across Southern California. All thanks to what was the remnants of Hurricane Dolores, still spinning just south and west of Los Angeles and San Diego.

The National Weather Service has continued with flood watches and advisories and warnings for the interior of California and southern Nevada. Including the Las Vegas region with more rainfall to come. You see showers overspreading Los Angeles and San Diego later today.

Speaking of San Diego, they broke a record. In fact, two records on Sunday. Rainfall and high temperature. 88 degrees by Sunday afternoon. Look at the forecast going forward. Above 100 degrees for Phoenix. Cooling in the greater Los Angeles area.

But this is not the only area that will sizzle. Heat advisories and warnings. Look at this along the East Coast. Heat warnings for the Philadelphia region, and advisories all the way to the Big Apple. [04:50:04] But there is some relief in store. A cold front sweeps

through by mid-week and that brings our temperatures down a few degrees from New York all the way to D.C.

Back to you.

ROMANS: All right. It will be hunt. Thank you for that, Derek.

All right. Caught on camera, a surfer confronted by a shark in the middle of a competition, forced to wrestle it out. Dramatic video right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: All right. Champion surfer Mick Fanning has battled the biggest waves, but its his terrifying close encounter with a shark that has grabbed the world's attention. This happened during a surfing competition played out on live TV. Remarkably, Fanning came away unscathed and he knows just how lucky he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICK FANNING, SURFER ATTACKED BY SHARK: I felt something grab like got stuck in my leg. And I like instantly just jumped like a lion. It just kept coming at my board. I just like kicking and screaming and, boy --

REPORTER: Did you see some teeth? Got some teeth?

FANNING: I just saw fins. I was waiting for the teeth to come at me. I thought --

REPORTER: Did you get a couple punches in?

FANNING: I punched it in the back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: It came at him twice. It came -- the only damage was a severed leash on Fanning's surfboard.

[04:55:01] And what a story to tell, huh?

All right. Banks have reopened in Greece for the first time in three weeks. Does that mean life is back to normal? We'll get an early start on your money, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: I'm Christine Romans. Let's get an early start on your money this morning.

European markets are higher. Stock markets are higher in Europe. U.S. futures are following their lead.

Last week, strong earnings pushed the NASDAQ to the record high close. The S&P 500 snapped a three-week losing streak.

Earnings season continues this week. We will hear from Apple, Amazon and Chipotle.

Greek banks open for the first time in three weeks. It's not business as usual, though, folks. Greek citizens can only withdraw up to 420 euro a week. The Athens stock exchange remains closed. The economy is still really being damaged. Banks shutdown last month to prevent the financial system from collapsing amid a run on cash by nervous Greek citizens. The negotiations are set to begin on the Greece's third bailout since 2010.

All right. Baby chicks in Iowa are flying to Brazil to be saved from the bird flu. You know, at least 10 percent of the total egg supply has been destroyed by the bird flu. Now, farmers are not taking any chances with the baby chicks. The source of egg laying hens are relocating them throughout the country and abroad. Cases of the bird flu have decreased recently, but the U.S. Department of Agriculture is worried new cases will emerge this fall.

EARLY START continues right now.

(MUSIC)

ROMANS: Donald Trump digs in. New insults against Senator John McCain in a new op-ed from the Donald released overnight.