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EARLY START

Taliban Captures Key Northern Afghan City; Trump Unveils Tax Proposal; Experts Say Trump Plan Would Add To Deficit; Paul Walker's Daughter Sues Porsche; Trevor Noah's "Daily Show" Debut; Stocks Down Around The World. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired September 29, 2015 - 05:30   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: President Obama face-to-face with Russian Leader Vladimir Putin clashing over Syria and Ukraine. The frosty exchange ahead.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking overnight, the U.S. launching a new attack on an Afghanistan city taken by the Taliban. We are live.

Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Alison Kosik.

ROMANS: I'm Christine Romans. It's so nice to see you this morning, Alison. It is 30 minutes past the hour. The White House claims it has new clarity on Russian objectives this morning after the first face-to-face sit down between President Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin in two years.

But that clarity and some military coordination in Syria seemed to be all the U.S. achieved. The two leaders toasting lunch with an icy glare then shaking hands stiffly before meeting for 90 minutes in the United Nations conference room.

Putin and Obama facing off in U.N. speeches outlining drastically different visions for how to fight Islamic terror. Putin calling it an enormous mistake to refusing to cooperate with the Assad regime in its battle against ISIS.

President Obama blaming Bashar al-Assad for the power vacuum that has allowed ISIS to spread. This morning President Obama hosts a summit with leaders from dozens of countries fight ISIS except for Putin who is not expected to attend.

For more, let's bring in senior international correspondent, Matthew Chance. Matthew, for the past couple years the U.S. western leaders have been isolating Vladimir Putin. His economy is in turmoil. Now the two men faced with reality on the ground in Syria that they need to talk.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and I think that's a good takeaway from this meeting. Despite the obvious animosity that exists between the two leaders, in the end, they are merely representatives of much bigger powers and countries. They have to be practical. They already established military contact when it comes to Syria to make sure the various armed forces don't come into confrontation with each other. And they agreed to work together on the issue of Syria despite the big differences that exist.

Particularly on the issue of what happens to Bashar Al Assad and should he have a role in any post-war scenario. Vladimir Putin thinks he does. He seems he is a bull work against Islamic states and other rebel groups in Syria.

President Obama has a very different perspective. Take a listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: When a dictator slaughters tens of thousands of his own people. That is not an issue of one's nation of internal affairs. It brings human suffering on an order of magnitude that affects us all.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHANCE: Well, both leaders dug their heels in over that issue, again, expressed that they would be a compromise. What form that will take will mean months of negotiations ahead.

ROMANS: All right, Matthew Chance, for us in Moscow this morning. Thank you, Matthew.

KOSIK: Afghan security forces backed by a U.S. air strike trying to recapture a major northern city that fell to the Taliban one day ago. The fall of Kunduz is a critical blow to the Afghan government giving the insurgents a key base of operations beyond their stronghold in the southern part of the country.

For the latest, let's bring in our international diplomatic editor, Nic Robertson. You know, Afghanistan has been out of the news headlines every day for a bit now. Now it's back in the headlines, especially as we are seeing the Taliban gain a greater foothold there. This situation is changing hour by hour, isn't it?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: It is. The government is trying to take the town of Kunduz. The first time they have taken a major town like this since 2001. It's a major highway to the north.

Kunduz is a reasonably well off agricultural area. It's an important to the government. There are more troops and police than the Taliban did have the 500 fighters that came into town.

They came in early yesterday morning and went to hospital and searched for government troops and went to the local university and the jail and freed 500 prisoners, took control of the whole town. The government forces forced outside.

Now the government is on the forward foot again. They've rushed in reinforcements. They will try with the help of these air strikes try to retake the town. The key here is and we have seen it before with the Taliban.

When they get into a town this quickly and this easily, that means they have supporters there. This attack has been seen coming for months and months. The Taliban has been building up for six months since April early this year.

[05:35:08] So the government really in some ways has no excuse for losing it in the first place. So clearly an important to retake it, but then the question is how they were able to lose it in the first place -- Alison.

KOSIK: Do you see the U.S. getting more entrenched in this?

ROBERTSON: You know, the U.S. has a lot invested in training the Afghan military. It has the ability to provide intelligence, satellite imagery, and drone imagery to the Afghan forces, who will have to lead the fight on the ground. Air strikes are always will benefit any forces fighting on the ground.

The thing the U.S. has to be careful of, they are aware of this, this is a town -- it's an urban environment. People live there. You don't want to cause civilian casualties with air strikes.

So to quite a degree, this will come down to the Afghan army fighting it out. They will draw on the U.S. training and perhaps from some intelligence and advisers that can support them from behind the frontlines.

KOSIK: All right, this is the situation that continues to change. Nic Robertson, thanks for that.

ROMANS: ISIS is driven to be a recruiting machine. U.S. intelligence experts believe 30,000 foreign fighters have traveled to Iraq and Syria to join that terror organization since 2011. That is double last year's assessment.

As many as 250 Americans are among those ISIS recruits. That's according to "The New York Times." Later this morning, a Homeland Security Task Force will release a report citing gaping security holes in Europe to make it easier for foreign fighters to join ISIS and for Jihadist to travel to the west.

KOSIK: Planned Parenthood's president, Cecile Richards, testifies before a House Oversight Committee today. She is expected to tell lawmakers defunding the organization will leave 650,000 women with reduced or no preventative health care in the first year alone. Richards say other government-approved health care facilities cannot pick up the slack if Congress strips Planned Parenthood of federal funding.

ROMANS: Congress appears poised to pass legislation averting a government shutdown this week. A stop-gap bill to keep government funding at current levels through December 11 cleared a key procedural hurdle in the Senate on Monday. The measure could be passed in the House tomorrow preventing a shutdown.

The conservatives view December as a better time to challenge President Obama on Planned Parenthood funding since new leadership will be in place in the House.

KOSIK: The number two Republican in the House making it official. He wants to be number one. Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California entering the race to replace John Boehner as House speaker next month. It appears he has very little competition. McCarthy making hundreds of phone calls to fellow lawmakers promising to fight for conservative principles if he is elected to the post.

ROMANS: All right, time for an EARLY START on your money. Asian shares fell this morning. European shares down leaving the drop commodities stocks, worries about a global slowdown and demand led by China. The same worries sending prices for raw materials like oil, copper and iron lower.

Shares of mining giant, Glencore yesterday plummeted almost 30 percent yesterday. The investors are worried how the company will service its huge debt load. Shares bouncing a bit from that nosedive this morning. That got a lot of attention yesterday.

Another sector crushed is bio-tech. Yesterday, Valeant Pharmaceuticals dove 17 percent after congressional Democrats pushed to subpoena the company. They want answers about big price hikes for two heart drugs.

All right, Donald Trump one-on-one with CNN. He is giving new details about that big tax plan he unveiled. Who he says will benefit and will it even work? That's next.

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[05:42:19]

ROMANS: After weeks of sketching the outlines of his tax plan, Donald Trump finally has lifted the veil. He is promising drastic cuts for rich, middle income, and poor Americans. He is promising to close some tax loopholes. Some experts are saying there is no way Trump can keep his other promise to not run up the deficit at the same time. CNN's Sara Murray has details.

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Good morning, Christine and Alison. Donald Trump has faced plenty of criticism for being a substance free candidate. He changed his tune yesterday at a press conference here in New York where he unveiled his tax plan.

He used it as a plan that would benefit the middle class. It does that, but it offers a hefty tax breaks for high income individuals.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The economy will go up like a rocket. This is my prediction. This is my wheelhouse. You will create tremendous numbers of jobs. I'm going bring a lot of jobs back into the country.

So many other countries have taken our jobs and our base and manufacturing. We will couple that with this tax plan. We will have a country that really is going to rocket again. We have not had that for a long time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MURRAY: Trump would reduce the top rate from nearly 40 percent down to 25 percent in addition to cutting corporate taxes. All of this has tax experts telling me it is very difficult for Trump to live up to the promise that this will be a revenue neutral plan and it won't add to the debt or deficit.

Erin Burnett caught up with Donald Trump yesterday to ask what his plan would do to his tax tab.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST, "ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT": Donald Trump's tax plan, you, will you pay more money? Will it be millions and millions, hundreds of millions? How much more will you pay?

TRUMP: I will probably end up paying more money, but at the same time I think the economy will do better so I will make it up that way. I believe in the end I might do better because I believe the economy will boom.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MURRAY: But there is a little something for everyone in this. If you are at the bottom of the income scale, your new tax rate is zero. If you are a middle class family, you might be getting a tax cut, but it seems that the big winners here might be the wealthy. Back to you, Christine and Alison.

KOSIK: OK, Sara, thanks for that. Another university cutting ties with Bill Cosby. Brown University rescinding the comedian's honorary degree 30 years after it was awarded. The school's president sending a letter to students calling Cosby's conduct is grossly inconsistent with Brown's values.

ROMANS: "Fast and Furious" actor Paul Walker's daughter filing a wrongful death lawsuit against Porsche on his behalf. According to the "Associated Press," the suit claims the street legal race car he died in lacked proper stability control as well as safety features to protect occupants and keep it from catching fire.

Walker was in the passenger seat of the Porsche when it collided with a power pole and several trees back in 2013. He and a friend were both killed in the accident.

KOSIK: An amazing discovery that has the science world abuzz. NASA confirming for the first time that liquid water actually flows on or near the surface of Mars. Scientists had previously speculated that the dark features on the planet were water, but now it has found evidence the streaks are seasonal flows of water.

So the question is could this salty water support life? That is the object of further study and speculation with folks with imagination like Christine.

ROMANS: It is cool to see. Let's look at what is coming up on "NEW DAY." Michaela Pereira joins us this morning.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: I'm buzzing. We will have cocktails on Mars at some point, ladies. All right, we are following a lot of news here on NEW DAY this morning. We are watching breaking news from Afghanistan. U.S. has launched an air strike overnight trying to help retake a city from the Taliban. We will take a look at what this offensive means for U.S. involvement there and troop numbers on the ground there, and if the Taliban is getting stronger again.

Plus, President Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin face-to- face at the United Nations, we are going to break down their highly anticipated meeting. Was there any real progress made? We will look at that and a lot more at the top of the hour.

KOSIK: Michaela, thanks. Trevor Noah making his debut on "The Daily Show." How he did as his family opens up about his success.

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[05:50:00]

KOSIK: "The Daily Show" is back with a new host. Trevor Noah, a comedian from South Africa, got right to work on the premiere episode last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TREVOR NOAH, "DAILY SHOW" HOST: The truth is now I'm in the chair and I can only assume this is as strange for you as me. Jon Stewart was more than a late night host. He was our refuge and political dad. It's weird because dad has left and now -- and now it feels like the family has a new stepdad. And he's black.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSIK: So how did he do? The show is getting good reviews in the U.S., but how are people back home reacting? CNN's David McKenzie is live in Johannesburg. David, what kind of reaction are you getting?

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alison. It is a sigh of relief. South Africans are happy he took the helm of "The Daily Show." He is well known here as a comedy act. The reviews have been good and some mixed. He managed to scrape through and in fact could be a great host.

We went to Soweto where his grandmother still lives. Trevor Noah was born in the '80s to a white father and black South American mother. He likes to say he was born a crime and his granny told us, well, he was funny even during those dark days of South Africa, and she believes he'll be a huge success -- Alison.

KOSIK: All right, David McKenzie, thanks for that.

ROMANS: An influential billionaire coming out in full support of Donald Trump. Why this billionaire says Trump is the president America needs.

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[05:56:24]

ROMANS: I'm Christine Romans. Let's get an EARLY START on your money this Tuesday morning. Asian shares close lower. European shares are down 2. Volkswagen falling further right now. But U.S. futures are trying to get a bit of a bounce. Commodity stocks are falling on global demand concerns.

Looking for a bounce potentially this morning, a bounce from this, the Dow dropping 313 points, the Nasdaq had the worst one-day decline since late August when the Dow took that unprecedented 1,000 point nose dive.

Declines across the board, around the world. Bio-tech stocks hit hard in the session yesterday. We are watching for a bit of a bounce back today.

A billionaire investor, Carl Icahn, is going all in for Donald Trump, Icahn releasing the video this morning. He says the country needs a leader like Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARL ICAHN, BILLIONAIRE INVESTOR: We need a president that can move Congress. I think Donald Trump could do it. I disagree with him on certain issues, but this is what this country needs, somebody to wake it up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Icahn agrees with Trump's plan to eliminate the carried interest loophole, which lets hedge funds managers be taxed at a lower rate. Trump has said he would Icahn his treasury secretary if elected -- Alison.

KOSIK: I cannot deny that I'm enjoying all the twists and turns in the early season of politics.

The U.S. launching a new attack on an Afghan city taken by the Taliban. "NEW DAY" starts now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: After attack to retake the city of Kunduz from the Taliban has begun.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The 500 Taliban prisoners were freed from the city's prison.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The biggest town they have been able to take since 2001.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST, "THE SITUATION ROOM": Their first face-to- face meeting in two years.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm amazed they came out to do that handshake at all.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Putin blamed the U.S. for the rise of ISIS.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: United States is prepared to work with any nation, including Russia and Iran, to resolve the conflict.

TRUMP: Let Syria and ISIS fight. Why do we care? Let Russia take care of ISIS. Assad to me looks better than the other side.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. Welcome to your NEW DAY. It is Tuesday, September 29th, 6:00 in the east. Chris is on assignment today. John Berman joins us. Great to have you with us.

We begin with breaking news. United States launching an air strike overnight against Taliban targets in Northern Afghanistan, one day after Taliban fighters captured a major Afghan city. This marks the first time the Taliban has gained ground there since the U.S.-led invasion of 2001.

PEREIRA: At this hour, Afghan fighters are trying to retake the northern city of Kunduz. Taliban has already done considerable damage, freeing hundreds of jailed prisoners during their surprise pre-dawn attack.

We have the story covered the way CNN can. Let's begin with CNN Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr. I know they are concerned there are Taliban among those prisoners that were freed.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: That's right. Good morning, Michaela. Some urgency to get the situation in Northern Afghanistan back under control, the U.S. launching airstrikes overnight in Kunduz.

The largest city that the Taliban has been able to control since 2001 in Northern Afghanistan, a very messy situation. Afghan security forces have arrived on the scene. We are told by Afghan authorities they are moving through the city and trying to retake the prison.

The Taliban got there and they freed hundreds of prisoners. The Taliban said they have taken control of a local hospital, posting pictures on social media to prove their case. The Afghan is trying to get the city back under their control.