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EARLY START

GOP Competitors Blast Trump; Chattanooga Shooting: New Details; Dozens Dead in Suspected ISIS Bombing; Defense Secretary Meets Israeli Leader. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired July 21, 2015 - 04:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:30:21] CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking overnight, Iowa's largest newspaper tells Donald Trump to get out of the race, calling him a feckless blowhard. We bring you the stinging op-ed ahead.

New insight into the mind of a gunman who murdered five U.S. servicemen in Tennessee. What he told a friend about ISIS, ahead.

Dozens dead in the terror attack in Turkey. ISIS believed to be responsible. We are live on the border.

Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans. It is 30 minutes past the hour.

John Berman has the morning off. Nice to see you, everybody.

All right. Developing this morning, Iowa's biggest newspaper calling for Donald Trump to get out of the race, calling him a, quote, "feckless blowhard", who is, quote, "polluting the political waters." Legitimate candidates, the paper wrote, can't get their message across to voters.

"The Des Moines Register" calling Trump, quote, "a distraction with traction". The paper's editorial board writes that with his attempts to demonized immigrants and the initial assertion that John McCain is not a war hero, "Trump has proven himself not only unfit to hold office, but unfit to stand on the stage as his Republican opponents."

This as Trump pulls to the head of the Republican pack in a new ABC/"The Washington Post" poll. He's got 24 percent of the Republican voters. Trump has nearly twice the support of his nearest rival, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker.

One warning sign for Trump, a plunge in support for the billionaire on the very last day pollsters were making calls, which was the first day the McCain controversy was in the news.

Trump's competitors for the nomination adding new fire to their criticism of him. Here is Lindsey Graham speaking to CNN's Kate Bolduan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: That he's a jackass.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Really?

GRAHAM: That he's bringing his name down and he's not helping the process and he shouldn't be commander-in-chief. If you want to be commander-in-chief of the armed forces, you need to understand that John McCain and all like him, not just John, are truly American heroes.

JEB BUSH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don't know -- I'm not into the process side of this. I know that John McCain is a legitimate hero for this country. He serves with distinction. And Mr. Trump ought to reappraise what his thoughts are on this subject.

The guy -- I mean, the guy was in the POW camp for five years and could have gotten out early, but wanted to stay to show respect for the other POW members. This is -- this is a legitimate hero that has served his country in lots of ways. Mr. Trump knows that. He should just apologize.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: So, what does Donald Trump say? Well, he went on Bill O'Reilly's show, insisting that he has already clarified his belief that McCain is a war hero, but added that McCain needs to do a better job in the Senate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL O'REILLY, FOX NEWS: And I want you to be honest, you do think McCain is a hero. I know you do.

TRUMP: I do. And I had -- and by the way, I said it. I actually said it four times. I said it immediately after I went off stage because I was asked the question.

O'REILLY: Well, because I want everybody to know --

TRUMP: I have respect for Senator McCain. I used to like him a lot. I supported him. I raised a lot of money for his campaign against President Obama. And, certainly, if there was a misunderstanding, I would take totally that back. But hopefully I said it correctly. And certainly, shortly thereafter, I said it correctly.

I would like him, however, to do something with the 15,000 people that were in Phoenix about illegal immigration. They are being decimated. These people are being decimated. I would love to see him do a much better job taking care of the veterans.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Today, Trump is back on the campaign trail for the first time since the McCain war hero controversy began. He starts his first visit to South Carolina with a rally at 11:00 a.m. in the city of Bluffton.

All right. This morning, the Ohio Governor John Kasich makes it official, what was already pretty clear. He is running for president. He will be the 16th Republican vying for the party's nomination. The Kasich for America campaign kicks off with a speech at Ohio State University. That's the candidate's alma mater.

This is Kasich's second White House bid. He first ran back in 2000.

All right. New details this morning about the Tennessee gunman who killed four marines and a sailor in Chattanooga. Investigators discovering Mohammad Abdulazeez spent time in Qatar last year during a seven-month trip to visit his family in Jordan. It's not clear what he was doing here.

We're also getting new insight into the shooter's state of mind from a friend who spent time with him in his final days.

CNN special investigations correspondent Drew Griffin has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SPECIAL INVESTIGATIONS UNIT REPORTER: Christine, a confusing picture here in Chattanooga as the investigators continue to probe the background of Mohammad Abdulazeez. At the same time, we are hearing about old writings that rail against U.S. policy and possible suicidal thoughts, one friend is coming forward and saying no.

[04:35:08] (voice-over): James Petty considered Abdulazeez's spiritual supporter in his recent conversion to Islam, constantly texting each other, they hiked the Appalachian Mountains, played sports, even slept over at Abdulazeez's home. He says he never once saw Abdulazeez angry and the only conversations they had about radical Islam was to oppose it.

JAMES PETTY, ABDULAZEEZ'S FRIEND: ISIS mainly. Groups, any terror groups like ISIS.

GRIFFIN (on camera): What did he say?

PETTY: It was a stupid group and it was completely against Islam, and not to even think about going towards them. And I felt like it wasn't in kind of a sense I'm with their group so I don't want you to do like me. It was more like, just stay away. This is not where you should be going toward.

GRIFFIN: You felt he truly believed in his heart at that moment that what ISIS is doing was wrong?

PETTY: Yes, sir.

GRIFFIN (voice-over): Petty describes Abdulazeez as more American than he was and the self described redneck Muslim also liked to shoot guns. PETTY: One day, he said he had a gun. And he was showing me pictures

on his phone. I never shot a gun before. He's like, do you want to shoot this one? And I said sure. Like I don't see why not? I have never shot one.

GRIFFIN (on camera): And, Christine, Petty says the Achilles heel that Abdulazeez had was his marijuana use. His family bothered him about it all the time. He was apparently trying to quit. His parents would call him every 30 minutes, according to Petty, just to see where he was, trying to keep tabs on him.

But it didn't make him depressed according to James Petty. It made him mellow and happy. In the last week when he saw him, he was the happiest he had ever seen him -- Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: Certainly, a complicated picture emerging of that shooter.

All right. This morning, the U.S. is condemning an apparent suicide bombing in Turkey that killed at least 31 people and wounded at least 100 others. The bomb went off in a Turkish town of Suruc, at a rally organized to call for more help rebuilding Kobani, right across the border in Syria, which was the scene of the battle you will recall to dislodged ISIS.

Our senior international correspondent Arwa Damon is there. She is on the Turkish side of the border.

And, Arwa -- you know, I mean, just the moments of that blast, just terrifying.

ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And we are at the spot where the blast took place, Christine. We do have to warn you the video we are about to show you them of the attack is incredibly disturbing. We are however choosing to broadcast it to show just how brutal and merciless and horrific the attack was.

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DAMON: And we are now on the scene about 24 hours later. This is what it looks like at the spot where we believe the suicide bomber detonated the explosives. There have now been toys placed. And that is because those who had gathered here as part of their Kobani reconstruction effort, they were sending in boxes and boxes of toys, books, pencils to the children. You can also see the damage still that has been done to the building.

People gathering around here to pay their respects, to mourn, even though the country has not officially declared a three-day mourning period. The Turkish authorities have however said that they will be beefing up security along the border.

ISIS has not yet claimed responsibility for this attack, but the government does believe that this was the work of ISIS and it is in retaliation for the government's effort in the war on terror, over last few weeks, having rounded up hundreds of individuals believed to have been affiliated with ISIS, coming into this location today, people understandably still very shocked, very somber and everyone being very thoroughly searched. An elderly woman apologizing to us, saying, if only these types of things have been put into place, these measures have been put into place yesterday, perhaps this attack could have been avoided -- Christine.

ROMANS: All right. Arwa Damon, thank you for that this morning. Certainly, just a tragedy, 31 people dead, 100 injured. Thanks, Arwa.

All right. Thirty-nine minutes past the hour.

History made in Havana and Washington. The Cuban flag is now flying over Cuba's embassy for the first time in 54 years as these two countries formally resume diplomatic relations. The U.S. embassy in Havana also opened on Monday. The Secretary of State John Kerry will attend a similar flag raising ceremony in Cuba's capital next month.

[04:40:00] The family of a woman fatally shot on the San Francisco pier will be in Washington, D.C. today to push for immigration reform. Kate Steinle's father will testify before a Senate committee as it takes a closer look at sanctuary city policies. The policies restrict public employees from cooperating with federal immigration authorities.

Five-time deportee Francisco Sanchez ahs admitted on camera to firing the shot that killed Steinle, but he says it was an accident. Sanchez was on the street because San Francisco released him -- released him from jail after drug charges against him were dropped.

Time for an early start on your money this Tuesday morning. Stocks looking good so far. U.S. stock futures pointing higher. The NASDAQ close at a record high yesterday, driven by strong corporate earnings. We'll hear from Apple after the close today.

Stunning drop in gold, down again this morning. Yesterday, gold plunged to an almost five-year low. Couple of things going on here. There are signs Chinese demands maybe weaker than expected, and concerns about higher interest rates. Gold is a safe haven for investors, but experts now expect prices could fall even further at least until after a looming interest hike.

New information this morning on just how two killers broke out of prison. The now captured inmate sharing new details of the escape, next.

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ROMANS: There are stunning new details this morning about the brazen escape of inmates from an upstate New York prison last month. The New York Times" revealing more of what David Sweat told investigators about the months of planning and the keys to their escape. Sweat was caught after three weeks on the run. Fellow escapee Richard Matt was shot and killed by police.

[04:45:02] We get more this morning from CNN's Miguel Marquez. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Christine, some really interesting details in this "New York Times" account of how David Sweat and Richard Matt escaped from that Maximum security prison upstate New York, saying that Sweat was free for months unto the tunnels under the correctional facility. At 11:30 p.m., the last head count of the night, he would go down to the tunnels, he would return by 5:30 a.m., the first head count of the next morning.

One of the more interesting bits is that once he got down there, he had to figure out how do I get out? He started chipping away at the concrete wall of the prison itself using a sledgehammer and hand tools. Then, he caught a lucky break, says "The New York Times". They turned off the steam to the steam pipe that was providing heat to the prison on May 4th. He was able to short circuit the process basically by cutting through that steam pipe with a hacksaw. It took him over a month to do it.

Also interesting detail, that they hit a sewer pipe at one point. They thought they could get through that ala "Shawshank Redemption". That's how the character in the "Shawshank Redemption" did that. One other detail they have in there is that the two joked about the fact that the "Shawshank Redemption" main character took 20 years to escape from that fictional prison and it only took 10 to escape from the real one.

There was the question all along is who was the mastermind here. Richard Matt had escaped twice before, one successfully. So, it was assumed that he was the mastermind. But investigators telling "The New York Times" that it was in fact David Sweat. That the planning started in earnest in January 2015 when Sweat was moved next to Matt's cell. That he cut a hole in his cell first and into Matt's cell.

Another inmate at one point heard the sawing and asked Matt about it. And he said, "I was just stretching canvasses." Matt known to draw pictures and paint pictures and giving them to prison guards -- Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right. Miguel Marquez, thank you for that, Miguel.

Prosecutors say the death of Sandra Bland is being treated as a murder investigation. Police claim the 28-year-old Illinois woman hanged herself with a plastic bag in a Texas jail cell last week after she was arrested for allegedly kicking a police officer during a traffic stop. Bland was in Texas to interview for a job at Prairie View A&M University.

Her sister insists there is no way she committed suicide.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Help me understand how her failure to signal a lane change out of a courtesy to the state trooper who seemed to zooming up on her caused her to be out of her vehicle on the ground and in jail over the weekend, and now, no longer with us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Bland supporters claim she was a victim of police brutality. An independent autopsy ordered by her family was completed Sunday. Those results have not been released.

In the recent weeks, Bland had posted videos on her Facebook describing her battle with depression and PTSD, calling it a daily test. She was also a social media activist who had spoken out against police brutality.

No let up in the steam heat wave with 11 million people under heat advisories today. Let's bring in meteorologist Ivan Cabrera.

IVAN CABRERA, AMS METEOROLOGIST: And it's not just the heat, it's the humidity, of course, which is making it feel even worse out there. Temperatures in the mid-90s yesterday in New York, 91 today. It's still going to be oppressive. We have a cold front that's going to come in and take our temperatures down where they should be this time of year, which is mid-80s. And that's where we will be in New York by the time we get to the day on Wednesday. Likewise on Thursday, and we'll stay that way.

D.C., 92 today, and 89, doing a little better into the upper 80s as we head through Thursday. Nice in Chicago, in the low 80s, no complaints there with the temperatures this time of year in the low 80s. We do have heat warnings across the southeast. Temperatures here have been into the 90s where I forgot how long at this point.

The heat index, that's what's going to make it feel like 105 to 110 degrees in some areas because of the humidity. Keep cool out here and keep yourself hydrated over the next few days because it continues here. Unlike the Northeast, you get a break there. But in the South, it remains hot -- Christine.

ROMANS: All right. Ivan Cabrera, it is hot, indeed. Thank you for that.

Now, the Obama administration is working overtime to repair a rift with Israel following the Iran nuclear deal. A key meeting happened this morning. We are live after the break.

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[04:53:05] ROMANS: Happening right now, Secretary of Defense Ash Carter meeting with Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. This comes the day after the U.N. Security Council voted to endorse the nuclear deal with Tehran and begin lifting a decade of sanctions. It's a deal Israel fiercely opposes. That makes Carter's primary mission to reassure Netanyahu of America's commitment to Israeli security.

Joining us with the latest from Jerusalem, CNN's Erin McLaughlin -- Erin.

ERIN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Christine.

Well, Secretary Carter and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu briefly shaking hands for the cameras before continuing their meeting behind closed doors. Before embarking on this trip, Secretary Carter said that his goal was not to try to persuade Israeli opinion on the Iran nuclear deal. His goal was to reinforce and focus on the Israeli/U.S. military cooperation.

It was very much the subject of the press conference that took place yesterday with his Israeli counterpart, Moshe Ya'alon. Both men saying despite the differences on the Iran nuclear agreement, military cooperation would not be negatively impacted by those differences. And they said that both countries share the same objectives.

(BGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ASH CARTER, U.S. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: There's no disagreement about the ultimate objective. We cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon. And there's no disagreement about the threats Israel sees every day, from Iran's destabilizing activities, from terrorists like Hezbollah, Hamas and ISIL.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCLAUGHLIN: The question, of course, becomes, what to do about the so-called destabilizing activities. There has been talk of the United States signaling it's open to consultation of ways to increase military aid to Israel. Every year, the United States gives some $3 billion to Israel.

[04:55:00] Moshe Ya'alon was asked about that in the press conference and he said currently, Israel is trying to assess Israel's capabilities in the wake of the Iran nuclear agreement, as well as the capabilities of its proxies. He said that assessment should be completed by the end of the year and perhaps those consultations, the implication being could begin then -- Christine.

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

America's oldest grocery store chain going belly up. What it means for the future of your grocery shopping. That's next.

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

U.S. stock futures barely moving. Stocks here in record territory, though. NASDAQ closed at a record high yesterday, the third in three days. Strong corporate earnings are fueling this rise. One stock soaring before the bell, PayPal. Yesterday, it was its first official day as a public company after being spun off from eBay. The stock climbed more than 5 percent. PayPal keeps growing as more people move to digital payments. Search for alien life is getting big funding. Famous physicist Stephen Hawking and a few others are injecting $100 million an a lot of brain power. The idea behind the project bring the Silicon Valley approach to the search for intelligent life. That means collecting a lot more data and making it available to the public so anyone can help. Scientists will have access to powerful technology, including some of the best telescopes in the world.

Grocery store chain A&P back in bankruptcy. That means America's oldest grocery store chain will either sell or close most of its 300 stores. A&P's troubles highlight a tough market for traditional grocery stores. Their steep competition from big retailers like Walmart and specialty stores like Whole Foods.

EARLY START continues right now.