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EARLY START

Protests Turn Violent Outside Trump Rally; Clinton: "We Want to Finish Strong"; Obama Wraps Up Vietnam Visit; Cosby Facing Possible 30-Year Sentence; Mystery of EgyptAir Flight 804. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired May 25, 2016 - 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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[04:30:58] ALISON KOSIK, CNN ANCHOR: Protests turned violent outside a huge Donald Trump rally overnight. Hundreds clashing with police as the presidential front runner entertained thousands inside, defending his business practices and leveling new attacks on Hillary Clinton.

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

GEORGE HOWELL, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning. I'm George Howell, 31 minutes past the hour.

Following breaking news from overnight, anti-Trump protesters in New Mexico. Hundreds of people lighting fires, throwing rocks and bottles at police officers, and smashing a door at the Albuquerque Convention Center, where Trump was holding a huge rally inside.

Police using smoke grenades and pepper spray to get control of the angry crowd.

CNN's Dan Simon was in the middle of it all.

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DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it was quite a dramatic scene in downtown Albuquerque Tuesday night as a group of anti-Donald Trump protesters clashed with police. This is one of the remnants that you find on the street. This is an empty canister of pepper spray that police used on the crowd.

This all began when you had a group breakthrough a barricade that police had set up to keep people from going into the convention center where Donald Trump was speaking. From there, things quickly descended into chaos. You had a number of people who were throwing bottles and throwing rocks at police officers. Police showed remarkable restraint, not really arresting anyone. What they tried to do was to get the crowd to thin out.

They were pushing them back in full riot gear. You had police officers on horseback. Then finally, you had police use tear gas to try to get this crowd to disperse, and ultimately, that's what seemed to work. It's quite surprising what we saw, given that throughout much of the

afternoon, this was a peaceful protest. You had well more than a thousand people assemble here in front of the convention hall, people who were criticizing Donald Trump's rhetoric when it comes to immigration, some of his comments against women. That was a peaceful protest.

Then, you had nightfall come. That's when things spun out of control. Police officers trying to get those protesters to calm down, but you had a lot of people who were just intent on causing trouble. But fortunately, things have calmed down here in downtown Albuquerque.

Dan Simon, CNN, Albuquerque, New Mexico.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KOSIK: OK. So what you just in Dan Simon's report, those were the scenes outside the convention center, with protests raging against Donald Trump. But inside, Trump was cheered by thousands. At the same time, he was declared the winner of Tuesday's lone primary in Washington state.

That victory puts Trump just eight delegates away by CNN's count of clinching the Republican nomination. In his speech in New Mexico, Trump defending his business practices against Hillary Clinton's claim he rooted for the economy to crash. And he lashed back at the Democratic front runner.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And I will never say this, but she screams. It drives me crazy. I didn't say it. I can't listen.

She goes, and Donald Trump is a terrible person! And he wanted to buy housing when it was at a low point!

Who the hell doesn't? Who doesn't?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: Mr. Donald Trump there on the campaign trail.

And on the Democratic side of things, Hillary Clinton campaigning last night in southern California, laser-focused on Trump, attacking him from every front, also acknowledging her primary opponent Bernie Sanders, only to stress that a win in California will give her vital momentum in her general election fight against Trump.

CNN's Jeff Zeleny was at Clinton's rally and has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: George and Alison, two weeks remaining before this California primary, but Hillary Clinton focusing on one man and one man alone, that is Donald Trump. As she campaigned in Riverside, California, on Tuesday night, she focused on Donald Trump from start to finish, going after him on everything from his reputation in the housing industry to climate change to immigration. Throughout her speech, she was talking only about Donald Trump.

[04:35:00] She also made clear that she still needs to win the California primary. Mathematically speaking, she may not. She has a big lead over Bernie Sanders, but she believes a win here in California and those other primaries on June 7th would send her to the general election in a much stronger position. This is her message to California voters.

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This primary on June the 7th needs to send a real signal that Donald Trump will hear, no matter where he is, that California wants a positive future.

We want to finish strong, and we want to send that message that we're going to fight every day. I will fight for you. I will fight for us every sine day.

ZELENY: So it's clear that Hillary Clinton still wants to beat Bernie Sanders and is trying to beat Bernie Sanders, but her campaign is focusing squarely on Donald Trump.

They believe that now is the time to begin defining him. Those national polls already showing this is such a close race. They're not wasting any time.

So, it's clearly a two-front war here. Going after Bernie Sanders somewhat, but it's all in on Donald Trump -- George and Alison.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KOSIK: Our thanks to Jeff Zeleny for that.

Breaking overnight, Bernie Sanders upping the ante, rolling out a brand new $1.5 million ad campaign in California. Sanders' ads don't mention Hillary Clinton by name, but they do say the Democratic Party needs a new direction. Sanders campaigning today and last night in California, touting California's crucial role in his plan to seize an upset victory over Clinton.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If we win here big in California, if we win the other five states that are up on June 7th, we're going to go into the Democratic Convention with enormous momentum.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

We're going to go in with momentum. We're going to come out with the nomination.

(END VIDEO CLIP) KOSIK: On Tuesday, Sanders sought a recount of last week's Kentucky Democratic primary. Clinton won by less than 2,000, just one half of 1 percent. A Sanders adviser said the campaign had no reason top think there were any problems with the count. It just wanted to, quote, "make sure everything was counted."

HOWELL: President Obama is scheduled to touchdown in Tokyo for a G7 Summit in less than three hours' time after wrapping up a historic visit to Vietnam. That included normalizing ties and dropping a decades' old arms embargo. Overnight, the president hosted a town hall in Ho Chi Minh City, raising the thorny issue of human rights violations.

Let's go live to Ho Chi Minh City. CNN's Alexandra Field is live there for us.

Alexandra, good to have you with us. The president made so many headlines in Vietnam, from lifting the ban on arms sales, to pushing for stronger economic ties. Now on to Japan and plans for a historic visit to Hiroshima. All of this part of his Asia pivot.

Is it working?

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely.

Look, if you take a look at the reviews in the Vietnamese papers, in the English language papers, the quote they're headlining with is "hearts can change and a different future is possible." So, that's sort of the tone that seems to have been left with the people here in Vietnam as they watch the president over the last couple of days make his way through both Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, not just talking about how to boost economic cooperation, not just talking about how to boost security cooperation, but also reflecting a lot about the shared past between these two nations and the promise for their future together, and really acknowledging, you know, the pain of the past, these two countries that were torn apart by war, and the incredible strides that been made that have gotten us to the point where you see a U.S. president here in Vietnam for this kind of visit and being received so warmly.

Some of these notes will be struck with he makes his way to Japan because it's not just for G7 Summit or for that meeting with the prime minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe, but he will be making that historic trip to Hiroshima. He's not the first U.S. president to visit Vietnam in the post-war era, he is the first U.S. president though to go to Hiroshima, the site of that first atomic bomb attack. So, we will be waiting and watching to see what happens there. We're told there will be some reflection that's going on there and thematically, it will really tie into what we've seen here in Vietnam, which is, you know, the president's idea of acknowledging the past and then looking toward the future. So, that's some of what we're expecting to see there and certainly a lot of people will be watching it closely.

That will be an emotional moment, no doubt. And it sort of counters what we saw this morning in Ho Chi Minh City, which was a more playful side of the president. He was quite humorous, laughing a lot with the crowd when he was at this town hall with young people. They actually got the opportunity to put him on the spot. They asked him a lot of questions.

At one point, there was a young woman, a rapper, who had question for the president.

[04:40:02] And he responded by asking her to rap then decided to do a little beat boxing for her. So, a lot of laughs from the crowd on that note and some more serious business ahead in Japan, George.

HOWELL: Alexandra Field, following it all live in Ho Chi Minh City -- Alexandra, thank you so much.

KOSIK: French police raid Google's offices in Paris looking for evidence of money laundering and tax evasion. Anti-corruption officers and tech experts took part in the search. This is according to the state prosecutor.

French officials began investigating Google last June. The prosecutor's office says the preliminary inquiry is looking into aggravated financial fraud and organized money laundering. The French government reportedly believes that Google owes 1.6 billion euros in unpaid taxes. That's about $1.8 billion here in the U.S.

Google said in a statement following the raid that it complies with French law and it, quote, "is cooperating fully with the authorities to answer their questions."

You know, when you hear things like this, it brings up the chatter of all these big corporations that are accused of tax dodging. You know, companies that we recognize like Starbucks and Amazon and Apple, they're accused of dodging taxes by, you know, putting them into places like Ireland. Certainly brings up the whole conversation. It becomes a political conversation as well.

HOWELL: You hear it a lot on the campaign trail. Donald Trump talking about it a lot. His voters, you know, they're serious about that.

KOSIK: Going for it.

HOWELL: Yes.

A story we're following, Bill Cosby now facing a trial in a decades old sex assault case. How he got here and what's next for the disgraced comedian, next.

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[04:45:51] KOSIK: Welcome back.

Bill Cosby now set to go on trial more than ten years after first being accused of sexual misconduct. A Pennsylvania judge ruling there is enough evidence to move forward with a criminal case against the disgraced entertainer. Cosby faces three counts of felony aggravated indecent assault. If found guilty, he could face 30 years in prison. More now from our Jean Casarez.

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JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Alison and George, we can say with certainty that the criminal case against Bill Cosby is now proceeding to trial. That decision was made yesterday by a magistrate judge here in Pennsylvania.

And the preliminary hearing is extremely important because it's the first time that we see the prosecution really show their evidence. The defense can cross-examine, but the point is, is there probable cause that Bill Cosby committed a sexual assault against Andrea Constand, the accuser?

The defense was extremely aggressive yesterday. They wanted Andrea Constand to take the stand. They believe by cross-examining her, they would be able to show this was consensual, so there wouldn't be probable cause. But in Pennsylvania, at this point, you don't have to do that. So, the prosecution put the detective on the stand that took her statement back in 2005.

And the case involved one incident at the home of Bill Cosby. Prosecutors say that Andrea Constand said she went over there one night, January or February in 2004. She was not feeling well because she was changing careers. She couldn't sleep at night. Bill Cosby said, "I can help you take the edge off."

He went upstairs, came down with blue pills. She said in her statement that he gave them to her, she took them because he said they were herbal, had her drink some wine.

And about 20 minutes later, she couldn't even stand up. Her vision was blurred. She had to lay on the sofa. She said she remembers enough to know that she was sexually assaulted.

The defense and cross-examination made a very big point that Andrea Constand had gotten together with Bill Cosby before. She'd gone to his home before. She'd gone out to dinner with him. She went to Foxwoods Casino to meet him after a performance and actually went to his room.

They were really trying to show this was consensual. Bill Cosby, when he walked into the courtroom yesterday, I was sitting in the second row. He was being led in. He stumbled right into my court bench, and it really rocked the bench.

They say he's legally blind. The defense does. This really showed he couldn't see where he was going. But once he was seated, he was extremely professional. Not the comedian this country has grown to know, but very serious, spoke with his attorneys just a little bit, listened to the judge.

Now he has waived his formal arraignment to take place on July 20th. He signed the waiver. The judge said to him, "You voluntarily have signed this." He said, "Yes, thank you, judge, I'm waiving the formal arraignment." And with that, this case proceeds now to trial (AUDIO GAP)

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOWELL: Jean Casarez, thank you.

The head of the TSA in the hot seat on Capitol Hill this morning. Peter Neffenger set to be grilled by the House Homeland Security Committee about three-hour wait times at airport security check points. Thousands of passengers complaining about missing flights and connections. The TSA is expected to offer up a couple of near-term solutions like an automated baggage bin system and real-time data to keep air travelers informed out wait times at security.

But those ideas are not expected to have an impact any time soon. The House Committee is considering legislation to correct the problem.

KOSIK: Federal prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against Dylann Roof. That's the man accused of killing nine parishioners last year at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina. Attorney General Loretta Lynch says the nature of the crime and the resulting harm compelled her to make the decision. Federal prosecutors urge Lynch to okay capital charges, saying that Roof has shown a lack of remorse for the murder.

HOWELL: Got to talk about Kansas.

[04:50:01] Breaking from overnight, tornadoes tearing through parts of that state. Look at this.

KOSIK: That's incredible.

HOWELL: Look at that huge twister. I mean, the power of mother nature. One of three twisters that touched down simultaneously near Dodge City, Kansas. There are reports of several injuries, along with the damaged homes and overturned cars. As many as nine tornadoes were reported from this storm that ripped through that state.

KOSIK: Those storm chasers so close to that storm. It's incredible. I don't know how they do it.

HOWELL: I've been near those storms, and it's so dangerous in the sense that you just have to make sure you're going the opposite direction, that you can get the pictures.

KOSIK: Well, I would say don't try this at home.

HOWELL: No, no, don't do that.

KOSIK: All right. A big change coming to Twitter, but will it be enough to turn the company around? We're going to get an early start on your money, next.

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[04:55:00] HOWELL: The mystery deepens in the disappearance of EgyptAir Flight 804. This morning there are conflicting reports about the doomed jet's final moments. This as time ticks down to find the plane's black boxes before the locator signal that those boxes give off goes silent.

CNN's Ian Lee is following it all live in Cairo, Egypt, for us.

Ian, good morning to you.

Where does the investigation stand now?

IAN LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: George, we did get some new information that really confirms what we already know about the final moments of the flight, that there was a problem with the co-pilot's window, with the heating mechanism, that there was smoke in the lavatory, as well as the avionics. There's 11 electronic messages that were sent from the plane to the ground before it crashed.

The first messages indicated that everything was normal with the engines. We're also hearing that the pilot also signed off on everything, that he didn't see anything abnormal before the flight took off. Investigators are still, as you said, searching the Mediterranean for those black boxes, trying to get to them before that signal runs out, which will run out in about 30 days. So that is the ticking clock there. If they can't find it, it will be far more difficult to find it.

With these conflicting reports that we're hearing, this is coming from the final moments, first from the Greeks who said the plane descended thousands of feet, swerved 90 degrees, then 360 degrees. The Egyptians are saying that isn't the case. That in fact, this plane was cruising at 37,000 feet and then it disappeared from radar.

We're also hearing from morgue officials today about the remains that they've recovered. They've recovered 15 bags of what they say are body parts. Not one single piece, they say, is over two pound. So, quite a gruesome search and a gruesome look into what actually happened. They're going to be testing them for any sort of residue from an explosion. Also doing DNA testing, because they ultimately want to get those who died to their loved ones.

HOWELL: Following the investigation, Ian Lee live for us in Cairo, Egypt. Ian, thank you for your reporting today.

The Afghan Taliban is wasting no time appointing a new leader. Just days after President Obama confirmed Muhammad Mansour was killed by a drone strike, the leadership council announced Mawlawi Akhundzada to replace him. One of his deputies will be the son of Mullah Omar, who led the Taliban before his death in 2013. The group marking Mansour's death with three days of mourning.

KOSIK: All right. Let's get an early start on your money. Dow futures are higher. Stock markets in Europe and Asia posting nice gains overnight. Oil prices climbing near $50 a barrel.

One stock we're watching today, Hewlett-Packard enterprises. Shares are up 11 percent in premarket trading. The company is spinning off its enterprise services unit and merging it with Computer Sciences Corporation. That stock is actually up 21 percent in premarket trading.

One interesting note here: both companies were formed by spinoffs last year.

Shares of GoPro are getting a big boost from Red Bull. GoPro shares jumped almost 5 percent yesterday after it announced a deal with the energy drink company, but the stock is down 45 percent this year and 90 percent below its all-time high.

The two will partner on content distribution and international events. Red Bull will score some GoPro stock as part of the deal. GoPro needs a comeback. Sales have actually spiraled and the company lost more money than expected last year.

Still, many think the deal makes sense. Red bull has an online video network focused on action sports, and many of them are shot with GoPro cameras. That's an adrenaline deal if it ever was.

HOWELL: Yes.

KOSIK: If you use Twitter, the change you've been waiting for is here. The social media site is changing the 140-character limit on tweet. It will still apply to text, but now, when users add pictures, video, polls, and handles, those things aren't going to count against that 140-character limit.

Twitter says it will make conversations easier and is also looking at making additional changes in the coming months. Twitter has 300 million users, but its growth has stagnated and its stock is getting crushed this year, down almost 40 percent. In attempt to boost Twitter's popularity, the company has been looking for ways to make its service simpler to be use while also matching some of the richer features offered by many of its competitors.

So, by expanding the amount of little points you can make on Twitter, you can insult people longer.

HOWELL: Oh, boy. How about that? When you look at Facebook, they're doing this. Twitter, ugh.

EARLY START continues right now.

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KOSIK: Breaking news now. Violent protests rage outside a huge Donald Trump rally. Officers injured, at least one arrest. The race for president turning very tense this morning.