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EARLY START

GOP Candidates Battle It Out On Stage; Democrats Block Vote on Planned Parenthood Defunding; Tent Collapses: 2 Killed, Dozens Injured. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired August 4, 2015 - 04:00   ET

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


[04:00:19] CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Republicans running for president on stage giving voters a preview of what's to come. In just hours, we will know which 10 candidates will face off on the first debate of the primary season. Who appears to be coming out on top? That's ahead.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Democrats blocking a vote to defund Planned Parenthood. But this morning, the controversy far from over.

ROMANS: Breaking overnight: two dozens killed, or two dozen -- two killed, rather, dozens hospitalized when a circus tent collapsed. What we're learning this morning ahead.

Good morning and welcome to EALY START. I'm Christine Romans.

BERMAN: I'm John Berman. It's Tuesday, August 4th, 4:00 a.m. in the East.

And it happens today. There can be only ten, 10 candidates on one debate stage. And by this evening, we will know which 10 officially make the cut for the first Republican presidential debate.

A new CNN poll of polls shows who is most likely to make it on the stage in Cleveland on Thursday night. The frontrunner, yes, Donald Trump, way out in front at 22 percent, trailed by Jeb Bush and Scott Walker. Behind them, Ted Cruz, Mike Huckabee, Ben Carson, Rand Paul, Marco Rubio, John Kasich out of nowhere, and Chris Christie round out the top 10, though their places are a bit less secure. That means Rick Perry and Rick Santorum will not make the debate stage.

Overnight, voters across the country had the chance to see most of the Republican field together. Not in a debate really, but one at a time, in a candidate forum hosted by "The New Hampshire Union Leader". A big forum, a lot was said.

CNN's Athena Jones has the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, guys.

This forum was the chance for you to hear directly from all of the candidates who wanted to participate. There was no cutoff, so any candidate who chose to show up could show up. This was all about focusing voters in the early voting states right here in New Hampshire, South Carolina and Iowa, aimed at those voters and airing on stations in those states.

Now, almost all of the candidates chose to come. There were three no shows. One of them was Donald Trump, who happens to be leading in recent national polls and also leading in the latest WMUR poll here in the state of New Hampshire. He skipped the forum last night.

You didn't hear the candidates really taking anytime blasting the Donald. Instead, they held their fire for Hillary Clinton.

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm fluent in Clinton speak. You want me to translate that? When he says -- Bill says, "I didn't have sex with that woman", he did. When she says, "I'll tell you about Bill and the pipeline when I get to be president" means she won't. When she tells us, "Trust me, you've got all of the e-mails that you need", we haven't even scratched the surface. So, I understand this crowd and I can beat them.

JONES: So, there you have it. Some harsh words for Hillary Clinton from Senator Lindsey Graham.

Now, this, of course, was not a debate. It was a forum, where candidates were asked questions in one-on-one setting, over several minutes. But it still gave them a chance to practice delivering policy positions in a concise manner.

Now, Donald Trump has said he doesn't see how you can, quote, "artificially prepare for something like a debate". So, it doesn't sound like he is spending a lot of time rehearsing which should make Thursday evening all the more interesting.

Back to you, guys.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right. Athena, thanks for that.

Jeb Bush with a summation of his record as governor of Florida, Chris Christie, the current sitting governor of New Jersey talking about drug treatment for small time drug offenders. Mandatory drug treatment, he said that there is disease at the root of the crime in this country and that needs to be tackle.

BERMAN: And Rick Perry was asked three agencies he would shut down when he becomes president. If you remember, four years, he was asked, that was a problem. He said, I've heard that one before.

ROMANS: Anyway, so we're hearing more from this and we will be hearing much more from these candidates in the months ahead.

Now, three senators had to appear at the candidate forum by video, Rand Paul, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz were stuck in Washington for a vote on Senator Paul's bill to defund Planned Parenthood. The measure failed to get the 60 votes needed to advance. Planned Parenthood has come under intense fire, intense scrutiny after an anti-abortion group released a series of secretly recorded videos. The group says its videos prove Planned Parenthood profits from the sale of aborted fetuses for medical research, something Planned Parenthood denies.

At the GOP forum, candidates staking out a strong opposition to federal funding for Planned Parenthood.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. BEN CARSON (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: These recent videos show the atrocity of that and the level of depravity that we have sunk into as a nation. And we simply have to stop that. If people want to do it, let them take money out of their pocket, let them find other depraved individuals to help them.

MODERATOR: Should Planned Parenthood receive federal taxpayer funding?

CARLY FIORINA (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Absolutely not. This is about the character, the moral character of our nation. It's not about whether you're pro-choice or pro-life. This is taking care of people who need our care is part of the moral fiber of our nation as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[04:05:01] ROMANS: Planned Parenthood president Cecil Richards responded in a statement to the failed Senate vote in defunding and to conservatives' plans to try to attach defunding provisions to upcoming federal spending bills, she said, quote, "While some extreme Republicans may continue to insist on shutting down the government in order to deny health care, including birth control to millions of women, that is a fight that the American people have zero appetite for and a fight these extremists will not win."

Hillary Clinton making it clear she fully supports federal funding for Planned Parenthood. In a campaign video released Monday, the former secretary of state says every woman in America has the right to make her own health decision.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: When they attack women's health, they attack America's health and it's wrong. And we're not going to let them get away with it. We're not going back. We're going to fight back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Clinton's chief Democratic rival, Senator Bernie Sanders, also blasting Republicans for trying to defund Planned Parenthood. He calls it a smear campaign and an attack on women's health.

BERMAN: You know, the Hillary Clinton video was interesting. She named names and she talked directly about Scott Walker, about Jeb Bush, about some of these Republican candidates she could face in a general election if she and they get that far.

Breaking news overnight: two people killed when a circus tent collapsed in Lancaster, New Hampshire. At least 27 other people were hospitalized. There are 100 people were inside the tent watching the Walker Brothers circus when a powerful thunderstorm with 60 mile an hour wind and one-inch hail blew through.

This man's 4-year-old son was badly injured.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRANDON ISHAM, FATHER OF INJURED BOY: I believe it was a pole. It happened so fast. But a pole, and he took it to the upper side of his left eye, right to his forehead. Cut him open pretty good. All I saw was blood when I looked down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Officials are not releasing the names of the people two killed, describing the victims as a young man and a young girl.

ROMANS: Too bad.

Troubling news this morning on the war against ISIS. Pentagon officials say ISIS remains, quote, "as strong as it was a year ago", citing a classified intelligence assessment. The official says Iraqi security forces and ISIS are in a stalemate. The good news says the official, is that ISIS is no longer making rapid advances which the Pentagon considers progress.

BERMAN: A new Syrian forced train by the Pentagon has suffered its first battlefield fatality. U.S. officials believe the Syrian fighter was killed last Friday during a clash with the Nusra Front. It's an al Qaeda affiliate. The battle triggered the first U.S. air strike in defense of the American-backed Syrian backed force. The Pentagon program to train Syrian rebels to fight ISIS has faced a whole lot of challenges. Only 60 recruits made it on to the field so far.

Lobbyists, diplomats and administration officials will face off today over the Iran nuclear deal at a series of hearings and forums. Opponents feel it is a threat to Israel and a chance for Iran to export terror. Supporters say this is the last best hope for stopping Iran for developing nuclear weapons.

It's a big diplomatic win for the White House. The deal has won the backing of Gulf Arab States, some had previously expressed misgivings about potentially making Iran a stronger rival.

In Tehran, debate over the deal could be setting the stage for the political comeback of a hardliner. Former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has launched a campaign ahead of parliamentary elections next year.

ROMANS: All right. Eight minutes past the hour. Time for an early start on your money this morning. China stocks up a lot. Shanghai's benchmark index up close to 4

percent. Why? Well, the government there is stepping up dramatic efforts to boost the market. Stocks elsewhere are falling and U.S. stock futures are lower right now as well. Yesterday, the Dow down 92 led by energy stocks, oil prices still sliding. Now, oil, the lowest level since March.

Delta and American Airlines will not allow certain big game trophies on their aircraft. That means no more shipping lion, leopard, elephant, rhinoceros or buffalo trophies as freight. The change is in response to outrage -- international outrage over Cecil the Lion's illegal slaughter. Activists started a petition asking Delta to stop transporting animal trophies. It had 400,000 signatures. Delta and American Airlines now changing their policies.

BERMAN: Never have thought that airlines transporting these things would be --

(CROSSTALK)

ROMANS: Yes.

BERMAN: Stunning new video creating controversy this morning. Parents suing after a school resource officer accused of handcuffing mentally disabled students. We'll have the details next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:12:39] ROMANS: All right. Outrage this morning after video emerging showing a child with ADHD being placed in handcuffs by a school resource officer in Kentucky.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You don't get to swing at me like that. You don't get to swing at me like that. You can do what we asked you to or you can suffer the consequences.

UNIDENTIFIED KID: It hurts!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sit down in the chair like I've asked you to.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: This is one of two incidents. Now, the ACLU is suing the Kenton County sheriff and the officer in the video on behalf of the kids' mothers. The suit acknowledges both children had been disrupted in school. The boy also tried to hit the officer, but says the force used by the officer with the handcuffs above the child's elbows, that force was unnecessary.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICKELL HOWARD, CHILDREN'S LAW CENTER: School resource officers are supposed to be there to protect our children and not harm them. We would like for them to change their policies and practices so this never happens to another child in elementary school again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: CNN reaching out to the officer for comment. We have not been able to make contact yet.

BERMAN: The manhunt for the paroled bank robber who allegedly shot and killed a Memphis police officer is over. Twenty-nine-year-old Tremaine Wilbourn will be in court this morning after surrendering to authorities yesterday. He is accused of shooting and killing Officer Sean Bolton during a traffic stop Saturday. The officer will be buried Thursday.

ROMANS: Darren Wilson, the former Ferguson, Missouri police officer, who shot and killed teenager Michael Brown. He is speaking out. Wilson tells "The New Yorker Magazine" he is living in a house wired with surveillance cameras on a dead end street outside St. Louis. He rarely goes out in public, cannot find a job in law enforcement and will not discuss the Michael Brown shooting because of pending legal issues.

Some of his comments to the magazine about inner city families are stirring anger in the Brown family. In a "New Yorker" article, Wilson says, quote, "They are so wrapped up in a different culture than -- what I'm trying to say is, the right culture, the better one to pick from, pre-gang culture where you are just running in the streets -- not worried about working in the morning, but worried about your immediate gratification. It is the same younger culture that is everywhere in the inner cities."

The Brown family attorney claims those comments prove Darren Wilson is a racist. Listen to his comments followed by a Darren Wilson's lawyer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[04:15:01] ANTHONY GRAY, BROWN FAMILY ATTORNEY: I find it really appalling that he would make that reference when he had a turbulent upbringing himself by his own admission. So, I guess that kind of hypocrisy really turns I think most readers off, and it just perpetuates the view of Darren Wilson as being self-serving in everything that he said and done since August the 9th.

NEIL J. BRUNTRAGER, DARREN WILSON'S ATTORNEY: Darren Wilson is no racist. I know him well. I think the article misrepresents who he is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Darren Wilson says he would like to rejoin the Ferguson police force for one day just to prove he has not been defeated.

BERMAN: New information this morning. The death of Samuel DuBose, a 43-year-old Ohio man who was shot and killed during a traffic stop by University of Cincinnati police officer. During that stop, Officer Ray Tensing asked DuBose about a bottle in the front seat labeled gin. DuBose can be heard telling the officer it was only air freshener. But Tensing's initial report said DuBose produced an alcohol bottle. Now, the lab reports are in. It was just air freshener in that bottle.

ROMANS: James Holmes is one step closer to a possible death sentence this morning. A Colorado jury rejecting defense claims that Holmes' mental illness should rule out capital punishment. Holmes killed 12 people, wounded 70 others when he opened fire inside an Aurora movie theater back in 2012. In the next phase of sentencing, family members of the victims will get to speak directly to the jurors.

BERMAN: Comedian Amy Schumer is taking a stand against gun violence following the deadly movie theater shooting in Lafayette, Louisiana. She joined forces with her second cousin once removed, New York Senator Charles Schumer, calling for a stronger background check. Amy Schumer would not speak the shooter's name in Louisiana.

Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AMY SCHUMER, COMEDIAN: For me, the pain I share with so many other Americans on the issue of gun violence, it was made extra personal to me on Thursday, July 23rd. When -- I'm not even going to say his name. When this -- he sat down for my movie "Trainwreck" at the Grand Theatre in Lafayette, Louisiana. Two lives were tragically lost and others injured. And I thought about these victims each day since the tragedy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: The gunman killed 33-year-old Jillian Johnson and 21-year-old Mayci Breaux during a screening of Schumer's film "Trainwreck" before killing himself.

ROMANS: Amy Schumer said she's been getting death threats and all kinds of different threats about her taking a stand on this. But she said she's not -- she's not going to back down. She was really moved by that event.

More than 13,000 people now evacuated and thousands of structures under threat as fire crews in California is struggling to contain this so-called Rocky wildfire. The flames 12 percent contained, 60,000 acres charred. No rain in the forecast to help firefighters, just the latest in the string of wildfires that have scorched more than 134,000 acres this year. It's almost hard to imagine how much scorched earth that is in California.

Officials say this fire reaching epic levels.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FIRE OFFICIAL: The term I'm using is "historic", and the reason I say is there are firefighters that have 20, 25, 30 years on the job that have never seen fire behavior like we've seen the last couple of days.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: We get the latest now from CNN's Paul Vercammen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christine and John, the nemesis of firefighters here in Northern California: shifting winds. Winds at one point going one direction and flip-flapping back to the other direction. Late in the day, the Rocky Fire here in Colusa County actually jumped over Highway 20 and firefighters had a new pitch battle, had a new front on their hands.

Now, here on Highway 16, the eastern flank of the fire, firefighters had had it. Here's what they had to do. Fight fire with fire behind me. Behind me, very carefully set back fires. They use the mix of diesel fuel and gasoline to go ahead and light up much of the hillside. The idea being as you see, create as much burned out black space as possible so the fire has no chance to advance forward -- really a tough job for the firefighters as they face three things, extremely low humidity, you've got high heat in the afternoon and then those dastardly winds.

Back to you now, Christine and John.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right. Paul Vercammen, thanks for that, Paul.

BERMAN: All right. Happening now, experts in France set to review plane debris washed ashore in the Indian Ocean. Does it belong to missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370? We are live with new information, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:23:16] ROMANS: Investigators making preparations in France to analyze plane wreckage found washed ashore in the Indian Ocean, which may belong to missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. Now, the wreckage from the same type of plane as MH370.

What can we expect when the examination begins?

Let's get right to CNN's senior European correspondent Jim Bittermann live in Paris.

I mean, Jim, we know there's -- this is 777 wreckage it looks like, at least a piece of it, a flaperon. And there's only one 777 missing, right, and that is MH370.

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN SENIOR EUROPEAN CORRESPONDENT: Exactly. There's only been four crashes of 777s in aviation history. They were over land in San Francisco and London and the Ukraine.

This is the only plane that went missing over the ocean. And it seems logical that this is the flaperon was part of that plane. I think what most of the experts will be centered on now is exactly what this piece of airplane can say as the experts say.

What it can tell about the crash and they will look at things like the stress fractures and how this plane came -- how this piece of plane came off the wing. They may be able to tell the direction the plane was flying. They may be able to tell the speed of the impact into the ocean, that sort of thing from this bit of metal.

However, it's probably going to give no indication of what was really going on in the cockpit or in the cabin. It could be that if there was an explosion, it might be some explosive residue on this piece of plane. But that's a fairly far fetched likelihood if it was an explosion in the inside of the plane, for example.

So, it's not going to tell us what really happened, but it will be an indication where to look for the next bit of puzzle -- Christine.

[04:25:04] ROMANS: All right. Jim Bittermann for us this morning in Paris -- thank you for that, Jim.

BERMAN: All right. Republicans running for president, they battle it out on stage for the first time days ahead of the first actual debate. Was anyone able to separate him or herself from the pack? Details next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: In just hours, we will know which Republican presidential candidates will make the cut -- make it on to the stage for the first presidential debate. We've got a preview last night of what to expect, who was able to separate him or herself. We'll tell you, coming up.

ROMANS: Republicans failing to defund Planned Parenthood in the Senate vote last night. But that doesn't mean the battle is over, far from it.

BERMAN: And breaking overnight: two killed, dozens injured when a circus tent collapses. The victims sharing their stories ahead.

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

ROMANS: I'm Christine Romans. Twenty-nine minutes past the hour.

Happening today: the cutoff for polls that FOX News will use to decide who makes it into the first Republican presidential debate.

A new CNN poll of polls shows who is most likely to make it unto the stage in Cleveland on Thursday night. Consistently leading the pack are Donald Trump, with 22 percent, trailed by Jeb Bush at 13, and Scott walker at 12. Behind them are Ted Cruz, Mike Huckabee, Ben Carson, Rand Paul, and Marco Rubio. John Kasich and Chris Christie round up the top 10 though their places are less secure. Bloomberg is set to release a poll which could shake things up at the bottom.

Overnight, voters across the country have their first -- very first chance to see most of the Republican field together. This was not a debate, but this was one at a time, a candidate forum hosted by "The New Hampshire Union Leader".