Return to Transcripts main page

EARLY START

Obama & Putin Meet Face-to-Face; U.S. Launches Airstrike on Taliban Taken Town; Trump Unveils Tax Proposal; Aaron Rodgers Shines in Primetime. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired September 29, 2015 - 05:00   ET

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


ALISON KOSIK, CNN ANCHOR: President Obama and Vladimir Putin face-to- face. Tensions high as the two world leaders offer starkly different views at the U.N.

[05:00:02] CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking overnight. The U.S. launching a new attack on an Afghanistan city taken by the Taliban. We are live.

Good morning. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.

KOSIK: And I'm Alison Kosik. It's Tuesday, September 29th. It's 5:00 a.m. in the East.

And the White House claims it has new clarity on Russian objectives this morning after the first face-to-face sit down with President Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin in two years. But that clarity and some military coordination in Syria seem to be all the U.S. achieved.

The two leaders toasting at lunch with, hmm, an icy glare and then shaking hands stiffly before meeting in the United Nations conference room for 90 minutes in the United Nations conference room. Obama and Putin also facing off in speeches for how to fight Islamic terror. Putin calling it an enormous mistake to refuse 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 is going to be hosting a summit with leaders from dozens of countries fighting ISIS, except for Putin who is not expected to attend.

For more, let's bring in senior international correspondent Matthew Chance.

Good morning.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you as well, Alison.

Well, that meeting that President Obama is going to be hosting, Russia not attending essentially because they say, we're not going to take part in any military action in Syria unless it is mandated by the United Nations Security Council.

So, you know, the Russians trying to back up that idea that it should come from the U.N., any military action, that takes place in Syria. Of course, they have a veto on the U.N. Security Council, so they can control that more effectively.

But they clearly are, despite the agreement to cooperate over Syria, which we got yesterday from President Obama or Vladimir Putin, there clearly are poor relations between the two. They are not political friends.

And there's a difference of opinion when it comes to the future of Bashar al Assad. The Russian president saying this guy is a bulwark against Islamic terrorism in the region. President Obama having a very, very different perspective. Take a listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

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

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHANCE: President Obama making his case again that, you know, the peace process effectively in Syria cannot move forward while Bashar al Assad is still in power and still the president of the country. But it's not clear to what extent he will be able to hold that position given Russia is so engaged in Syria and it is building up its own military forces in that country as well remember, Alison.

KOSIK: You know, you think about the blame to go around with the two leaders. You've got the icy stares and stiff handshakes. But the reality is, you've got these two world leaders in the same room talking. And that's progress, at least a start of progress.

CHANCE: Yes, absolutely. I think we can make too much of the icy stare and the cold handshake thing. I mean, certainly, they're not -- they are not allies. They are not friends even. They clearly don't like each other very much.

In the end, these are representatives of two major powers in the world, the United States and of Russia, and they're practical and they will work together if they have to. They worked together, remember, on Iran and its controversial nuclear program. There is no reason why they cannot work together on Syria and solving that crisis.

KOSIK: All right. Matthew Chance, thanks for that.

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

For the latest, I want to bring in international diplomatic editor Nic Robertson.

And, Nic, you make a very good point. This is the first fall of a town to the Taliban since 2001. That is not the right direction.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: It's a great boost for them. It's a morale boost for them. And, you know, it's going to send a very negative message to other Afghan government forces around the country.

Numerically, there were more army and more police inside Kunduz, and there were the 500 fighters that move into the town. But their offensive started from several directions about 3:00 in the morning yesterday. They were able to overrun the jail inside the city, released about 500 prisoners.

The thing is this shouldn't be a surprise to anyone because the Taliban have been making gains to the north of Kunduz since spring of this year. It is clear they want to take this town. It is strategically important. It's a major highway to Tajikistan, to the north of Afghanistan. It is a relatively rich province, agriculture, it does well.

[05:05:00] And also, symbolically, it's important for the government not to lose something to the side. So, why did the government forces collapse? We don't know the reason, but we have heard that they felt that their leaders weren't good leaders.

We do know that in the past when the Taliban take a town as quickly as this, we are talking back in the old days of that Taliban, they will be able to do it because people in the town that will be sympathetic to them. That seems to be the case here, and that's going to be a deeper problem for the government as it moves militarily today to try to retake the town, Christine.

ROMANS: Moving to retake the town with the help of the U.S. airstrike. How involved will the U.S. with the Afghan army to try to reverse this advance?

ROBERTSON: You know, realistically. It is hands off and it has been since, you know, we stepped back from actually going in and helping Afghan forces and lead them on the ground and we passed over to let the Afghan forces take the lead, NATO, U.S. with great support for the Afghans previously, helping with the heavy lift capacity and helping to rush large members of troops and food, water, ammunition, that sort of thing.

The airstrikes, they're going to be in assistance, but only up to a point. This is a town. There are civilians who live there. There were about 250 casualties we know about so far yesterday.

No one is going to want to endanger the civilians. Taliban made it clear to their fighters, don't kill the civilians. The Afghan government won't want to do that because that's going to send the wrong message. So, there's going to be a limit to what the U.S. can do on the ground. Perhaps some satellite imagery and other assistance may be useful to the Afghans. But, really, it's down to the Afghans to lead the fight with training they had from the U.S. to lead that fight to retake the town.

ROMANS: All right. Nic Robertson, thank you for that, Nic.

KOSIK: ISIS is proving to be a recruiting machine. U.S. intelligence experts believe 30,000 foreign fighters have traveled to Iraq and Syria to join the terror organization since 2011. That's double last year's assessment, and as many as 250 Americans are among those recruits, according to "The New York Times".

Later this morning, a homeland security task force will release a report citing gaping security holes in Europe that make it easier for foreign fighters to join ISIS and for jihadists to travel to the West.

ROMANS: Planned Parenthood Cecile Richards testifies before the House committee today. She is expected to tell lawmakers defunding the organization will leave 650,000 women with reduced or no preventive health care in the first year alone. Richard says other government approved health care facilities cannot pick up the slack if Congress strips Planned Parenthood of federal funding.

KOSIK: OK. It looks like Congress could pass legislation averting a government shutdown this week. A stopgap bill to keep government funding at its current levels through December 11th cleared a key procedural hurdle in the Senate on Monday. The measure could be approved in the House tomorrow, preventing a shutdown with only hours to spare. 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.

ROMANS: All right. The number two Republican in the House making it official. He wants to be number one. Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy 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's elected to that post.

KOSIK: OK, we know what is in Donald Trump's tax plan. The Republican frontrunner sitting down with CNN to explain why he thinks everyone wins with his plan.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:11:46] KOSIK: Welcome back.

After weeks of vaguely sketching the outlines of the tax plan, Donald Trump has finally lifted the veil. He is promising drastic cuts for rich, middle income and poor Americans, while closing some tax. But now that experts can actually look at the details in this, some are saying there is no way Trump can actually keep his other promise to not run up the deficit.

CNN's Sara Murray has details. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Good morning, Christine and Alison. Trump has faced plenty of criticism for being a substance- free candidate. But he changed his tune yesterday at a press conference here in New York where he unveiled his tax plan. Now, he teased it as a plan to benefit the middle class. And while it certainly does that, it also offers a hefty tax break for high income individuals.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The economy will just be absolutely like a rocket. It's going to go up. This is my prediction. This is what I'm good at. This is really my wheelhouse.

And I think you're going to create tremendous numbers of jobs. I'm also going to bring a lot of jobs back into the country, because so many other countries have taken our jobs, they've taken our base, they've taken our manufacturing. So, we're going to couple that with this tax plan. But we're going to have a country that really is going to rocket again. And we haven't had that for a long time.

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

ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: 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'll make it up that way. But I will probably end up paying more money. I believe in the end, I might do better because I really believe the economy is going to go boom, beautiful.

BURNETT: Betting on growth.

MURRAY: So, there's a little something for everyone in this. If you are at the bottom of the scale, your new rate is zero. If you are a middle class family, you might be getting a tax cut, but it seems that the big winner here might be the wealthy.

Back to you, Christine and Alison.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right. Sara Murray, thanks for that.

Fourteen minutes past the hour. Time for an early start on your money.

Asian shares closed lower. European shares mixed. Volkswagen falling further right now. Commodity stocks leading the decline today around the world, down on those global demand concerns.

Look at the Dow yesterday, ugly, down 313 points. The NASDAQ had its worst one-day decline since August 24th. That's when the Dow took the 1,000 point nosedive. Bio-techs still getting crushed here. Stocks falling since Hillary Clinton tweeted outrage over price gouging by drug makers. Valeant Pharmaceuticals dove 17 percent. Congress wants answers about big price hikes for two heart drugs, previously calling the information highly confidential.

All right. Attorneys for six Baltimore police officers facing charges in the death of Freddie Gray. They are scheduled to appear in court this afternoon. They are expected to argue for a postponement of the first trial date in the case set for next month, claiming new evidence has created some discovery issues.

[05:15:06] We get more this morning from CNN national correspondent Miguel Marquez.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Christine, Alison, the pace really started to quicken here in Baltimore for the six officers involved in the death of Freddie Gray. We have a hearing later on today and that will involve scheduling for the first trial of the first officers. Remember, we have six different trials the judge ordered for this case.

The first trial is right now going to start October 13th. I suspect that the defense lawyers will try to push that back several weeks or months. We will see what the judge says about that.

All of this following the reporting from the "Baltimore Sun" with partial statements from officers that appears to implicate officers in not seeking medical attention for Mr. Gray although he specifically asked for it. Now, the judge later this afternoon will not be happy this information is out there. This is the leak he did not want out there. The way the "Baltimore Sun" got it, it was given the information by the police department while it was, quote/unquote, "embedded" in the investigation and they decided to report it now.

Defense lawyers will make hay of this as well, perhaps asking for dismissal, perhaps again asking for the entire trial, all of them, to be moved out of Baltimore -- Alison, Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KOSIK: OK, Miguel, thanks for that.

And a weeping Joyce Mitchell sentenced up to seven years for helping two convicts break out of prison in Upstate New York. The former prison seamstress telling a judge she lives every day with regret for providing inmates David Sweat and Richard Matt with a drill bit and hacksaws hidden in hamburger meat to help them escape. Mitchell pleading for mercy before hearing her sentence.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOYCE MITCHELL, CONVICTED OF HELPING INMATES ESCAPE: If I could take it all back, I would. I can't begin to explain how sorry I am for all this -- to the community, to my coworkers, to my family, to all the families of the officers that were involved in having to be taken away from their families in the search.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSIK: Mitchell telling the judge she only helped the inmates because she feared they would harm her family. She got the maximum sentence anyway. Prosecutors are also seeking $120,000 in restitution to repair the prison cell walls damaged in the breakout.

ROMANS: Another fugitive captured by police thanks to CNN show, "THE HUNT WITH JOHN WALSH." Paul Jackson arrested in Guadalajara, Mexico, where he was living under an assumed name. Jackson was indicted on rape and kidnapping charges in Oregon in 1990, but he fled after he was released on bond.

The U.S. Marshal Service is actually coming out and crediting "THE HUNT" for playing a significant role in Jackson's capture.

KOSIK: 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 "grossly inconsistent" with Brown's values. Fordham and Marquette Universities already rescinded Cosby's honorary degrees last week.

KOSIK: "Fast and Furious" actor Paul Walker's daughter is filing a 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 riding in the passenger seat of Porsche Carrera GT when it collided with a power pole and several trees back in 2013. He and a friend were killed in the accident.

KOSIK: Looking into the forecast. Some heavy rains and flash flooding. Let's go to meteorologist Pedram Javaheri for more.

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Alison and Christine, good morning. We start you around the Gulf Coast, where you have some areas with 1 foot of rain. You look at the precipital water. If you look at this from the clouds and bring it down to the surface, it squeezes out the rainfall we have seen. About twice the amount of what is considered normal for this time of year for the Gulf Coast. That is why we are seeing the heavy rainfall. Destin and Pensacola, we know up around 6 to 10 inches and some areas with 1 foot of rainfall in the past two days.

The storm system off to the north and east and it will meet up with a cold front that will bring down some of the coolest temperatures we have seen in some time. A couple of inches in Alabama and western Georgia potentially up to 4 inches. Look at this tropical moisture and we are getting flooding rains across the northeast, upwards around 6 inches in Massachusetts. A drought issue that was in place may be alleviated, a little bit in the coming days.

[05:20:03] ROMANS: All right. Pedram Javaheri, thanks for that, Pedram.

An amazing discovery that has the science world talking this morning. NASA confirming for the first time that liquid water flows on or near the surface of Mars. Scientists speculated the dark streaks were caused by water, but now NASA has evidence the streaks are in fact seasonal flows of briny water. Could this salty water support life? That will be the object of further study.

KOSIK: Could there be life lurking in the shadows on mars?

ROMANS: What does this mean for having a colony on Mars? Having a colony on Mars. So many space geeks who'd like to see --

KOSIK: Next to your imagine run wild, Christi9ne.

All right. Let's talk Monday night football. Green Bay Packers hosting Kansas City hoping to keep the perfect record intact. Could the Chiefs figure out a way to shutdown Aaron Rodgers? Andy Scholes has this morning's bleacher report, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KOSIK: The amazing Aaron Rodgers at it again as the Packers beat the Chiefs on Monday night football.

ROMANS: Andy Scholes has more in this morning's bleacher report.

Hey, Andy.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, guys.

Aaron Rodgers statistically is the best quarterback in NFL history and did nothing but add to his amazing numbers last night against the Chiefs.

Picking up in the second quarter, Jamal Charles gets in the end zone for Kansas City. He does Rodgers signature discount double check celebration.

[05:25:01] Rodgers makes him pay for that, ends up with five touchdowns for the game, making his fantasy owners happy this morning. Packers remain undefeated winning this one, 38-28.

We had a frightening inclusion in the Cardinals-Pirates game last night. Stephen Piscotty and Peter Bourjos were both going after this fly ball and Piscotty dives and gets kneed in the head by Bourjos. He lays on the ground motionless for several minutes. Piscotty did wave to the Pittsburgh crowd as he was carted off. All tests came back negative, and Piscotty luckily only has a bruised head. He remained in the hospital overnight for observation.

The 2015 season is over for Nationals closer Jonathan Papelbon. He was suspended by the team for four games for fighting Bryce Harper in the dugout on Sunday. Papelbon is also suspended three games by major league for throwing high and inside at a batter. He was appealing that suspension but decided to drop the appeal, effectively ending his season.

All right. Finally, I have to show you this funny video from the road course race in Spain over the weekend. Earlier in the race, several cars get tangled up. That's a Porsche sitting on top of another Porsche. Not something you see every day.

Luckily, no injuries reported. Guys, I think by law, those Porsches have to get married now.

KOSIK: I can't believe how perfectly they are situated on top of each other.

SCHOLES: Yes. You will never see that happen again probably.

ROMANS: It looks like a animated cars movie. I believe Pixar could do that.

KOSIK: Totally orchestrated.

ROMANS: All right. Thanks so much. Nice to see you, Andy.

SCHOLES: All right. Have a good one.

ROMANS: All right. President Obama and Vladimir Putin face-to-face, tensions are high and a long list of disagreements.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)