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EARLY START
Poll: Trump's Lead Shrinking; Accused Vegas Driver Charged with Murder; Survivor Rescued Days After Landslide. Aired 4:30-5a ET
Aired December 23, 2015 - 04:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[04:30:52] CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Is the Republican race for president coming down to Donald Trump and Ted Cruz? What the front runners are saying, what the new polls are revealing, ahead.
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: The woman accused of driving into a crowd of pedestrians charged with murder, and just hours away from facing a judge him what we are learning now about the suspect.
ROMANS: Breaking overnight, 60 hours -- 60 hours, after a massive landslide, a survivor pulled from the rubble. We are live.
Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.
SANCHEZ: Happy to be here with you, Christine.
I'm Boris Sanchez. We are about 31 minutes past the hour. And we start this morning with the tiny lead in the Republican presidential race. Donald Trump now just four points ahead of Ted Cruz in the latest poll. A good reason to agree with Trump's recent statement, that the Republican race is turning into a two-man race. That is a picture that pointedly leaves out Marco Rubio who's now pulling third. It's also a matchup that Cruz says give, quote, "a good choice to the American people".
CNN's Sunlen Serfaty has the latest from the Cruz campaign.
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SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Boris and Christine.
Well, Ted Cruz feeling some momentum coming from this new national poll showing that he is chipping away at Donald Trump's dominance. Trump is still in the lead. But his lead over Ted Cruz is getting smaller. This Quinnipiac poll showing that Cruz has gained eight points in the past four weeks and is now within striking distance of Donald Trump, meaning basically that the two are the front runners.
Now, Ted Cruz here in Tennessee says that this brings him encouragement and made this interesting prediction on where he says the race going. SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I did think it was
interesting. Donald said a couple days ago that he thought the Republican race could come down just to him and me. I think he may be right. If you look at the polling numbers, we are surging in the polls. And Donald may be right this is turning more and more into a two-man race between Donald Trump and me. I think if that's the case, the decision will be made by the voters.
SERFATY: And today in Oklahoma City, Ted Cruz will wrap up his week- long tour of Super Tuesday states that vote if early March. This has been a core part of the Cruz campaign strategy to focus on the long haul. It's right now all about looking ahead -- Christine and Boris.
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ROMANS: All right. Sunlen Serfaty for us this morning -- thank you, Sunlen.
Hillary Clinton is responding indirectly to Donald Trump's harsh comments about her, saying no one should be able to bully his way into the Oval Office. Her remarks came at a town hall in Iowa, where a ten-year-old girl who said she suffers from asthma asked Hillary Clinton about what she would do with bullying. Clinton responded that bullying is more widespread now with social media, and that she, herself has faced more than her share of it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We need more love and kindness in our country. I think we are not treating each other with the respect and the --
(APPLAUSE)
And the care that we should show toward each other. And that's why it's important to stand up to bullies, wherever they are and why we shouldn't let anybody bully his way into the presidency, because that is not who we are as Americans.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Trump, meanwhile, defended his controversial description of Clinton's 2008 primary loss to President Obama in a tweet. This is what he wrote. He said, "Once again, the mainstream media is dishonest. It's, the word he used that caused such a firestorm, that word is not vulgar. When I said that word, that meant beaten badly."
SANCHEZ: Now, Jeb Bush is using a feud between Clinton and Trump to take them both on, after a New Hampshire town hall, Bush criticized the bolder language, predicting Clinton will play the controversy to her own advantage.
Listen to what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JEB BUSH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: She's great at being the victim. You know, this whole enhancer victimology status. This is what -- this is what she loves doing. Trump is not going to be president because he says these things, it turns people off. For crying out loud, we're two days before Christmas. Lighten up, man.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Bush's comments come as he and Trump embark on a Twitter war.
[04:35:00] Here's just one in a series of harsh remarks tweeted out by Trump, quote, "weak and low energy, Jeb Bush whose campaign is a disaster is now doing ads against me where he tries to look like a tough guy." Here's Bush's replay, "Based on his tweets, Donald Trump gets upset for being called out for his unserious Hillaryesque foreign policy views."
To another political standoff now, "The Washington Post" waving a white flag after a battle with Ted Cruz over an editorial cartoon. It started with a political ad that Cruz ran during "Saturday Night Live", showing him reading satirical Christmas stories to his daughters. It sparked an editorial cartoon from "The Post's" Ann Telnaes, depicting the kids as organ grinders monkeys doing their father's bidding.
An outraged Cruz tweeted, quote, "Classy, 'The Washington Post' makes fun of my girls. Stick with attacking me."
Telnaes replied, "Ted Cruz has put his children in a political ad. Don't start screaming when editorial cartoonists draw them as well." But in the end, "The Post" pulled the cartoon off its Web site, replacing it with a note from the editor saying, quote, "It's generally been the policy of our editorial section to leave children out of it. I understand why Ann thought an exception to the policy was warranted, but I do not agree."
ROMANS: All right. Thirty-six minutes past the hour. There are big changes ahead for the next Republican debate. Host Fox Business Network changing the criteria for the main stage and the undercard debate. Based on new thresholds candidates must meet in national or early state polling.
This is how things would shake out based on current trends. Just six candidates on the main stage, Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Ben Carson, Jeb Bush and Chris Christie. The others in the race sent to the undercard, Rand Paul, John Kasich, Carly Fiorina, Mike Huckabee, Rick Santorum, and George Pataki.
The FOX Business debate is set for January 14th in South Carolina.
Happening now: U.S. commandos are in Syria working against ISIS. CNN has learned a small contingent of Special Operation troops are there advising local fighters. U.S. officials declining to say exactly how many or where they are. But this contingent is among up to 50 Special Operation Forces President Obama has approved to advise Syrian fighters.
SANCHEZ: Battles are raging this morning in the key Iraqi city of Ramadi, as Iraqi forces fight to retake the devastated capital of Anbar province from ISIS. ISIS fighters captured that city back in May. It was a key propaganda victory and a strategic foothold, just 70 miles from Baghdad.
CNN'S Robyn Kriel is following developments for us from London.
Robyn, in May, when ISIS took the city, U.S. secretary of defense said that the Iraqi army didn't seem like it had the will to fight. Ash Carter questioning whether or not Iraqis have the will to fight. If they were to retake the city, this would be a key strategic victory, but also a major boost for moral as well.
ROBYN KRIEL, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, from what we understand, Boris, the Iraqis took umbrage to Secretary Ash Carter's comments, saying that they had -- at least the people in Ramadi had tried to hold out fighting until they ran out of ammunition against ISIS fighters. They said they did not have the support from the central government in Baghdad and the United States, and it does seem that both the United States and Baghdad, having spent a number of its troops down to, sending Iraqi troops to fight, including the elite counterterrorism force to fight for this new war that they do have some kind of renewed vigor, towards this war, taking it much more seriously than they did, the dire warnings that Ramadi was falling.
Now, here's what we know that just happened in the last 24 hour hours, Boris. The Iraqi government forces claim to have regained some areas of the city. They did already hold, have recaptured some of the strategic areas of the city. But they are aiming for the government buildings in the city center. They launched a daring overnight raid.
The United States built a bridge, a temporary bridge in which the Iraqis used to cross over one of the canals into the southeastern Humira district of Ramadi. They sent their commandos across the bridge. That's when the fighting started. Fierce crashes throughout Tuesday and we understand this morning as well. Twenty ISIS fighters according to the Iraqi defense force have been killed thus far. And a number of key strategic points happened here as well.
The U.S.-led coalition, airstrikes have been continuing throughout since this assault was raised. It is the second big really largest launch to Tikrit as well as Sinjar, which also earlier this year. So, as I said, renewed vigor, especially coming off the back of the Paris attacks in November 13th attacks in which ISIS claimed responsibility.
SANCHEZ: Now, Robin, CNN has heard from Iraqi officials, they may have to slow the operation down for fear that civilians may be put at risk.
[04:40:01] Why, specifically?
SANCHEZ: Boris, there is estimates of up to 10,000 civilians that remain inside Ramadi city. They were warned by the Iraqi government to try to leave the city. This assault was coming. They were given warning.
However, ISIS stopped them from leaving and prevented them from leaving. We are hearing ISIS will use them as a human shield, 250 to 300 ISIS fighters remaining in the city center, likely to the death. So, obviously, these troops going in are having to take this very, very slowly to try to minimize civilian casualties to got get them killed in the cross fire.
Also, it's moving slowly because ISIS had the last seven months to rig the city for this exact type of assaults. It's likely to be booby traps. In fact, we've heard that suicide bombers, vehicle born IEDs as well, sniper fire. These are all the reasons why this is not going incredibly quickly. They are taking it slowly to minimize civilian casualties as the number one really exactly what they're trying to do.
Now, we are also hearing, this is such a strategic location, Boris, because of the proximity to Baghdad. It is within striking distance. There is nothing on the major highway between Ramadi and Baghdad. It's also going to be a tremendous amount of popular movement for the Iraqi psyche ki if they can get this through.
SANCHEZ: A very delicate but very important operation ongoing in Ramadi.
Robyn Kriel, thank you.
ROMANS: All right. Forty-one minutes past the hour. Another black eye for the U.S. Secret Service, another one. An agent's gun, his badge, radio, handcuff and a flash drive stolen right out of his personal vehicle near Secret Service headquarters in downtown Washington if broad daylight t. Agent has not been identified. The secret service declined to comment. Over the last few years, the agency has been hit by a string of scandals related to agent behavior and security lapses.
SANCHEZ: The Obama administration touting encouraging news about Obamacare. A few report says it's a mid-way point, more people are getting coverage through the health care website. Federal figures show 8.2 million people signed up or were renewed by December 19th. Among the problems revealed in the report, ongoing challenges verifying the citizenship and income of applicants for subsidized coverage.
ROMANS: All right. Forty-two minutes past the hour. Time for an early on your money.
Markets are mostly up around the world, stocks are, Asian shares closed mostly lower. European markets are higher right now, so are U.S. stock futures.
You know, yesterday, Boris, it was a good day for the do you. It gained 166 points. That makes eight straight days of triple digit moves for the Dow. The S&P 500, the NASDAQ climbed about 1 percent. The key to that rally in the stock market, the increase in
oil prices. Crude oil about $36.50 a barrel right now. Energy has been the worst
performer this year. Stocks are still down for the year. The Dow is down 2.3 percent, putting it on track for the first negative year since 2006.
A lot of people wondering, Boris, if there's some sort of Santa Claus rally in the works, we are running out of time. You know, trading -- abbreviated trading this week.
SANCHEZ: Some thought the enthusiasm would last after the Fed raise rates, but oil prices just --
ROMANS: There'll be oil stories that will be see there. But I got to tell you, it's been double digit gains for the S&P 500 every year, but one since 2008. So, no one is crying about their performance over the past six or seven years.
Forty-three past the hour. New information about that woman accused of driving into a crowd of plans on the Las Vegas strip. She gets ready to face a judge this morning. We got that next.
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[04:46:43] ROMANS: Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.
The 24-year-old woman accused of intentionally ramming her car into a crowded pedestrians on the Las Vegas Strip. She will face a judge today Lakeisha Holloway charged with killing a young mom in Arizona and injuring more than 30 others.
CNN correspondent Stephanie Elam has the very latest for us -- Stephanie.
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STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Christine and Boris.
The woman who police say intentionally plowed her car into a packed sidewalk on the Las Vegas Strip Sunday evening, killing one and injuring more than 30 others is now facing three felony charges. Those charges include one count of murder with a deadly weapon, one count of child abuse, neglect or endangerment, that one because her three-year-old daughter was in the backseat of the car during the incident, and one count of leaving the scene of an accident.
We are learning more about the woman who we have known as Lakeisha Holloway. She legally changed her name in October to Paris Paradise Morton. Not clear why the police are charging her under her former name instead of her current name. But we do know she is expected to make her first court appearance later this morning and we understands that some of her family members are expected to attend -- Christine and Boris.
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SANCHEZ: All right. Stephanie, thank you.
We are getting our first look at the visa application used by the female San Bernardino shooter that gave her access to the United States. The 21-page document filmed out by Syed Rizwan Farook gave no hint of violent jihad.
On the application, the U.S. citizen born in Chicago claimed that he and his fiance met in person in Saudi Arabia after chatting online. House Republicans now questioning whether red flags were missed on the application, pointing to passport dates that cast doubt on whether Farook and Malik actually did meet in Saudi Arabia.
ROMANS: Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl entered no plea during his arraignment Tuesday. The 29-year-old officer did not indicate a preference for a jury or a bench trial. He is facing two serious charges for deserting his base back in 2009. Bergdahl was held by the Taliban for five years. He was finally released last year in a controversial prisoner swap for five Guantanamo Bay detainees. His next hearing is set for January 12th.
SANCHEZ: This is an unsettling story, especially as millions of Americans get set to travel. Police scrambling to determine how an unidentified man managed to sneak onto a taxiway at one of New York City's largest airports. He apparently told a cargo worker at JFK International not to say a word. Now authorities can't find him.
CNN aviation correspondent Rene Marsh has the latest -- Rene.
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RENE MARSH, CNN AVIATION CORRESPNDENT: Christine and Boris, a major airport security breach at one of the busiest airports in the country during peak travel times. A man made it over airport perimeter fencing and onto the taxiway, bringing operations at JFK to a halt.
Investigators still aren't sure who or where the man is. He was able get away before police even got on scene. Now investigators are going through under surveillance video frame by frame. There are no clear shots of the man's face. But CNN is told the video shows him from behind as he scales a fence at the airport.
It was a cargo airline worker who spotted and questioned the intruder who didn't have the required ID. That's when the trespasser warned, quote, "You better not say expletive."
[04:50:00] This all happened about week ago. And it demonstrates a hole in airport security post-9/11. Perimeter security is the airport's responsibility.
Christine, Boris, back to you.
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ROMANS: You know, it's just shocking to think that someone could just like --
SANCHEZ: Especially in a climate we are in nowadays, terrorism.
ROMANS: Really.
All right. Fifty minutes past the hour.
How does more time off with your new child sound? Wah! An early start on your money, next.
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ROMANS: The heroic efforts of thousands of rescue workers digging at this deadly landslide in Shenzhen, China, rewarded with this. The discovery of a survivor buried under tons of garbage and debris. The 19-year-old trapped beneath this rubble for more than 60 hours. He was badly weakened, he was dehydrated, but he was alive.
This is what rescuers have been hoping for him they have been hoping for. They have been hoping to find someone alive in that pile of junk.
For the very latest, I want to bring in CNN's Matt Rivers. He is live for us this morning in Shenzhen.
What can you tell us?
MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that it is highly improbable that rescuers were able find someone alive after nearly three days of searching. There were a handful of rescues in the very beginning of their search effort, but it had been over 36 hours since someone had been found, so truly miraculous.
This 19-year-old survived by falling luckily into an air pocket and beyond that, he fell next to a back of snacks, believe it or fought, that according to Chinese state media. So he is survived by munching on snacks a few days. When he heard rescuers, he actually took a piece of metal, knocked on a rock.
That alerted them to sound of life, and a few hours later, he was freed. That said, as joyous as that was, once he was taken to the hospital, the difficult reality of the situation here set back in as dozens of people remain unaccounted for.
[04:55:03] ROMANS: They level needed a miracle. They needed a rescue to lift spirits. No question.
And over all of this, hanging over all of this is the fact that the rapid, rapid economic development in China has led to all kind of really dangerous man-made disasters that have hurt and killed thousands and thousands of people.
What's the latest into the investigation of how this landslide happened?
RIVERS: Well, here in Shenzhen, you see large piles of waste, debris from that development. Construction sites create waste. It has to go somewhere. And that's what this pile was. In terms of the investigation figuring out who is at fault here, state media reporting a senior manager in the company that was in charge of this pile has been detained by local police. Whether he will face criminal charges or not remains to be seen. But the Chinese usually dole out pretty swift punishment to the people they think are responsible for this industrial accidents -- Christine.
ROMANS: All right. Matt Rivers for us this morning in Shenzhen, China -- thank you for that, Matt.
SANCHEZ: We are learning this morning about an awe inspiring act of courage in Eastern Africa, where Kenyan Muslims put their lives on the line for Christians traveling with them, when their bus was ambushed by al Shabaab terrorists.
CNN's David McKenzie joins us now live with the details of this amazing story.
David, I understand it was mostly women who stood up on the bus, they said, either kill us all or leave them alone, incredibly brave of them.
DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Boris. And the stakes couldn't have been higher him because attacks like this in the past, they have killed Christians that they've identified and the Muslims banning towing helping some dozen Christian on board that bus. One survivor described how the ambush unfolded.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There were two groups, one group, the other group. So, I immediately see people running to the road to stop us and they told us to get to those who are Muslims to come out, go back. Go back to the bus.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCKENZIE: They stood up to those gunmen from al Shabaab, the al Qaeda-linked group, which operates from Somalia, and certainly, their action, their brave actions have been praised in Kenya and around the world.
Two people who were critically injured as well in that attack were air-lifted to the capital Nairobi late yesterday. It is hoped they will make a full recovery -- Boris.
SANCHEZ: Now, David, despite their heroic efforts. Al Shabaab had a string of attacks like this in the past two years. What kind of effect does this have and why are they doing it?
MCKENZIE: Well, Boris, the aim is to sow division. A lot of people in that region, on that border of Kenya and Somalia, are of Somali ethnic origin though they are Kenyan. They have gone in and separated people out, sow terror, and try to get some kind of support through fear of the border community. In this case, it's clear that they stood up with much bravery and in my experience in that region, very few people are directly wanting to support al Shabaab, this hideous terror group from next door.
But it does show that there are people willing to say, enough is enough, division and religious differences don't matter. What matters is solidarity and facing up to the fears -- Boris.
SANCHEZ: Such an inspiring story. David McKenzie from Johannesburg -- thanks to you.
ROMANS: All right. Fifty-eight minutes past the hour. Time for an early start on your Monday this Wednesday morning.
Can stocks make a turnaround by the end of the year? U.S. stock futures slightly higher right now. Yesterday, the Dow gained 156 points. That makes it eight straight days of triple digit moves for the Dow. Now, the Dow is down for the year, down 2.3 percent for the year. It's on track for the first negative year for the Dow since 2008.
The key in the recent rally in stocks, though, the increase in oil prices. Crude above $36.50 a barrel right now.
It is a record breaking year for Starbucks. The coffee company expecting to sell more gift cards than ever before. Last year, Starbucks sold 1,700 gift cards every minute on Christmas Eve. And one in every seven adults got one as a gift.
Gift cards of all kind are the most requested gifts the year, according to the National Retail Federation.
And New York City upping its relief policy for non-union workers. Now there is a good gift for the holidays, right? Starting next year, new parents will get six weeks of fully paid leave. They can combine it with six days in vacation time for a maximum of 12 weeks. Portland, San Francisco and Cincinnati expanded their parental lead for city workers. Seattle, and Washington, D.C. are also considering those proposals.
SANCHEZ: Yes, the U.S. kind of becoming more like Europe. Netflix and some companies expanding.
ROMANS: In some cases. But there are some, a lot of people, millions of people I would say who work retail who do not get it.
SANCHEZ: EARLY START continues right now.
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