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EARLY START

New Clues In Vegas Mass Shooting; Trump To Decertify Iran Nuclear Deal; Deadly Tropical Storm Threatens Gulf Coast; Harvey Weinstein Faces Sexual Harassment Allegations. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired October 6, 2017 - 05:30   ET

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


[05:30:15] CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: This morning, chilling new clues in the Las Vegas investigation. Authorities are still trying to determine a motive behind the massacre.

DAVE BRIGGS, CNN ANCHOR: President Trump's ominous warning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Maybe it's the calm before the storm.

REPORTER: What's the storm?

TRUMP: It could -- I don't know, the calm before the storm.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: Military leaders. The cryptic message comes as the Trump administration is preparing to decertify the Iran nuclear deal.

Welcome back to EARLY START, everybody. I'm Dave Briggs.

ROMANS: It's Friday.

BRIGGS: Extraordinary. It is Friday.

ROMANS: It's Friday, it's Friday. I'm Christine Romans. Thirty minutes past the hour.

He left no manifesto, no evidence of a motive, but investigators are now discovering disturbing clues behind Stephen Paddock's mass shooting in Las Vegas.

One law enforcement official telling CNN this chilling detail. The shooter tried to buy tracer ammunition at an Arizona gun show in recent weeks.

BRIGGS: Tracer rounds like those you see here are completely legal. They have a coding -- a charge that burns brightly when they're fired and they could have allowed the gunman to target his deadly fire much more accurately. The official says the shooter bought other ammo at the gun show but could not obtain these tracer rounds.

And there's also new details about the note in the gunman's room at the Mandalay Bay. Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo telling "The New York Times" quote, "The note contained numbers that were being analyzed for their relevance, and that it was not a manifesto or suicide note."

ROMANS: It now appears the gunman was not just targeting people as he fired from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay.

BRIGGS: A large fuel tank at nearby McCarran International Airport was hit by two bullets. One round penetrated the tank but officials say there's quote "almost zero likelihood a bullet could trigger a fire explosion in jet fuel, which is not highly flammable.

ROMANS: There's new information that may shed light on how the shooter was casing his targets.

In August, someone named Stephen Paddock reserved at room at Chicago's Blackstone hotel. That hotel with a view of the city's Lollapalooza music festival in Grant Park. Now, that person never checked in. It was not immediately clear whether it was the same man who killed 58 and injured hundreds in Las Vegas.

There's new video, too, of the moments following the attack as good samaritans jumped into action to help take several victims to the hospital. We want to warn you this video may be disturbing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where's the guy with the double shots?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He needs to go the hospital now. He has one through his arm and he has a --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ok, but --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Anybody else?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One more.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hurry.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get in the truck, get in the truck.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get behind the (expletive) wall.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's got a GSW -- GSW. Get in the truck. Get in here. Get in the truck.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not right this second. Just wait another second. What's that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You get in too, OK? This is important, OK?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You got a driver for this thing?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Gosh.

BRIGGS: Just a terrifying scene there.

Let's bring in CNN law enforcement analyst Jonathan Wackrow. He's a former Secret Service agent who served during the Obama administration.

Good morning, sir.

All right. What do you think is the most significant piece of new evidence or new reporting we've learned in the last 24 hours or so?

JONATHAN WACKROW, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST, FORMER AGENT, SECRET SERVICE: Well, it's this creep of information. It's the -- it's the piece-by-piece building blocks that we're putting together to build a profile of this individual.

So let's just take a step back. This new fact that he went out to try to ascertain tracer rounds. Again, now this starts going into, you know -- he was obviously thinking about firing in low-light situations as was reported earlier. Tracer rounds aid a shooter in low-light situations and better target acquisition.

That is dangerous and disturbing fact again, now still building into this profile of the shooter. We've come a long way from -- since Monday, trying to build this together and who this individual was. The more of this information that comes out the -- you know, the more disturbing it is.

ROMANS: Clearly. I'm sure authorities are talking to his girlfriend who's now back in the country. That will be incredibly important to help round this out because frankly, it's difficult to find any friends of Stephen Paddock.

BRIGGS: Yes.

ROMANS: His own brother when -- you know, they talked to his own brother. I mean, he painted a picture of a guy he didn't seem to know very well, quite frankly.

And, he's somebody who paid cash for properties. He seemed to like privacy. A prolific gambler, a real estate speculator, a retired accountant who had plenty of money. It just doesn't fit a profile that we've seen before in these kind of cases.

[05:35:00] WACKROW: Yes. No, absolutely.

So what investigators are looking at now is, you know, alternative personalities that he may have. Other lifestyles that he may be -- have led that, you know, aren't directly related to him.

So let's look at his activity around gambling, his activity around shooting. Again, those things there are a little bit out of the norm from what people have thought of him. So they're going to start looking at different groups, different -- start pulling on different threads through an investigative process to actually see was -- you know, he engaged with activity with other groups.

Was he living an alternative lifestyle, potentially, where close friends and family have no idea what he was doing? But, you know, he was actively engaged in other types of activity.

So this is something, again -- we'd love to come up with a motive right now for closure for all of the victims but this is going to be, obviously, a drawn-out investigative process to piece together who this individual actually was.

BRIGGS: The fact that he rented out or attempted to rent out a condo overlooking the Life is Beautiful festival, that a person named Stephen Paddock also had a room overlooking the Lollapalooza where 100,000 people visit, what does it tell you about his intention here? Was there any particular group that he was targeting or what have we learned there?

WACKROW: Well listen, this is -- you know, we've seen -- as the investigation moves forward we're seeing levels of detail in pre- attack planning, whether it was for this specific incident or potential other targets with great specificity. You know, looking an angles, looking at the selection of the hotel room, looking at events. All of this starts painting a picture of very detailed pre-attack surveillance looking at target acquisition.

Again, all of these facts -- every time something comes out --

ROMANS: Sure.

WACKROW: -- it becomes more and more disturbing.

ROMANS: Let's talk about these bump fire stocks. As a, you know, former law enforcement -- as someone who's had to protect people for a living, what's your personal view here on these bump fire stocks and whether they should even be out there?

WACKROW: Listen, the bump fire stocks are legal, first of all, so there's going to be a debate as to whether or not there should be greater restrictions. The ATF -- I believe it was reported in 2010 -- allowed them to be out in the marketplace.

Again, it goes to the person's intent. What is your intent to do with any type of firearm. I mean, this is -- this is a conversation that the country as a whole is going to have to get together on. I believe I just saw some recent information that the NRA is looking to start a positive conversation around these types of devices.

But I will say, you know, any weapon used with malicious intent is going to cause harm regardless of the modification.

ROMANS: Yes. It sure is kind of confounding though for law enforcement, I'm sure, to have a device that makes it that much easier to kill more people.

BRIGGS: Right. This certainly --

WACKROW: Absolutely. I mean, it's very difficult.

BRIGGS: This certainly added to the death toll.

The NRA putting it on the ATF though when the ATF says there should be legislation addressing it.

Jonathan Wackrow, thanks for being with us this morning.

ROMANS: Nice to see you. Thank you.

BRIGGS: Appreciate it.

Ahead, President Trump preparing to decertify the Iran nuclear deal. He says Iran has not lived up to the spirit of the deal. This, as the president warns of a "calm before the storm" in front of military leaders.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: What storm, Mr. President?

TRUMP: You'll find out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: All right, 38 minutes past the hour.

Globally, gyms are an $80 billion industry but, of course, many people pay for a sports club and rarely go. Here's how one entrepreneur reinvented that traditional gym membership.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAYAL KADAKIA, FOUNDER, CLASS PASS: It took us three to four years to get people to go to class and that was the part we had really missed was motivating people and creating like a package and product that was going to get them to say yes, especially for all the people who are scared of walking into that boot camp they had never gone into or that spin class they didn't know how to put their shoes into.

And at some point we realized people loved going to class and it was actually putting a bit of a detriment on our business. So we had to make sure that our pricing and our packaging was representing what we were able to sustainably do as a business.

The vision is actually broader than fitness and so, yes, we've gotten people to work out and it's amazing. But we want people to do all the things that are soul-nurturing in their life, from cooking classes, art classes, concerts. All those things that are inspiring to them.

I never thought I could do some of these classes. It's been amazing to see how just confident I've become in being someone who's going to go to any city and walk into a class and feel strong.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:44:28] BRIGGS: President Trump plans to decertify the Iran nuclear deal next week. Once the president announces the move, Congress has 60 days to figure out a way forward.

Sources also tell CNN National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster is not sold on the idea and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is working behind the scenes with Congress to head off a possible international crisis as the October 15th certification deadline for the Iran nuclear deal draws closer.

Let's go live to Washington and bring in Chris Deaton, deputy online editor of "The Weekly Standard." Chris, good to see you.

[05:45:00] ROMANS: Good morning.

CHRIS DEATON, DEPUTY ONLINE EDITOR, THE WEEKLY STANDARD: Good morning.

BRIGGS: So the axis of adults, as some call the three of them -- James Mattis, he also said it is not in our national security interest to get out of this deal.

What does it mean for our standing with our allies and what does Congress do to this if, in fact, he gets out of the Iran deal?

DEATON: Sure. So this is kind of the fine line of what decertification actually is because of the legal implications of it. I mean, effectively, by doing this you're just punting to it and punting the issue to Congress to give them a couple of months to potentially act.

And there a certain sanctions that they can reimpose. They can take some certain actions as it relates to some non-nuclear stuff. And you talk to Republicans around Capitol Hill and, you know, is there a lot of appetite for reimposing a new sanctions regime? I mean, it's a very, very, very messy situation.

But to your point, Dave, as it relates to our standing with our European allies, I mean, you have to think about the Paris Climate Accords, this particular thing, you know.

ROMANS: Yes.

DEATON: Where is -- where is the United States' standing with respect to all of this stuff around the world right now.

ROMANS: Well, the Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, we're told, is working hard behind the scenes to try to -- you know, try to contain all this. But the question is how much -- how much support is Rex -- is Rex Tillerson able to his job if the rest of the world thinks that he and Donald Trump aren't speaking with one voice? DEATON: That's a very difficult issue, Christine because we have, you know, one example recently of the stuff about Rex Tillerson talking about -- you know, getting some diplomatic stuff done with North Korea and the president coming out on Twitter and saying Rex, don't worry about it. We'll have that taken of.

You know, you have to wonder how much latitude does Rex Tillerson actually have to do something like this when the president seems pretty avowed that he doesn't want to have anything to do with this deal any longer.

BRIGGS: And there's the all too real reality show going on in the Oval Office with President Trump in front of military leaders with this ominous warning last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: You guys know what this represents? It is the calm before the storm.

REPORTER: What's the storm?

TRUMP: It could be the calm before the storm.

REPORTER: What storm, Mr. President?

TRUMP: You'll find out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: This is right before dinner. I don't think he meant they were going to have a karaoke throw down. What did he --

BRIGGS: Not sure.

ROMANS: What did he -- what did he mean?

DEATON: Yes. I -- the way that he repeated it, too, the calm before the storm. I mean, it kind of sounded a little like a grandfatherly thing telling a scary bedtime story to the kids around Christmastime. I mean, it was really kind of a strange tone.

I think sometimes we have to remember the president just riffs on things and sometimes they can be apropos of nothing. We have to remember his style. We've gotten to know it quite well. This is one of the most ubiquitously covered individuals in the history, if not the most in the history of American politics, certainly in modern times.

And as a result of us getting familiarized with what he does, speaking off the cuff, I mean, it's just -- it's his very nature so sometimes I think we have to keep in mind maybe the calm before the storm is a reference to absolutely nothing. Could be dinner, could be a general reference to policy around the world as it relates to diplomacy. Who knows? ROMANS: My grandfather also used to tell me a story about a little boy who cried wolf, you know, when at some point his words didn't mean anything anymore because he had said so many things that weren't true, you know.

BRIGGS: Man, I --

ROMANS: If we could go back.

BRIGGS: I just miss the time that words mattered.

But let's move on to the potential for gun legislation in the United States. Albeit minor, the NRA coming out and at least opening the door for restricting these bump slide stocks, but they want to put it on the ATF, not on new legislation.

The cover here of "The Daily News" says "Yes, Pigs Fly" referring to the NRA actually opening the door to some type of legislation.

If you're a betting man would you say there's any chance of anything happening on guns?

DEATON: It depends on how ambitious. Let's just take the legislative portion of this and keep the regulatory part out of it because I think there's some clarity that I certainly still need to do with respect to that and I don't think it's been made clearly publicly.

On the legislative end, I mean, you hear Republicans talk. You have John Cornyn, you know, the Senate number two. You've John Thune, number three for the Republican leadership.

You have Carlos Curbelo, Florida Republican in the House. A lot of other Republicans who are standing with them saying that yes, we need to look into this.

Representative Adam Kinzinger, an Illinois representative, wants to put it on the ATF. He inquired with them with a couple of other Republicans potentially regulating these bump stock.

When you have that type of push and you hear the NRA itself come out and explore this type of thing, yes, I do think it's absolutely possible. But you wonder when it comes to legislation like this, you don't get many cracks at it and you have to imagine that Democrats are going to want to be more ambitious than just regulating this one thing.

ROMANS: Sure.

DEATON: And at that point, what are Republicans going to do? How much will they give? And that, I think, is the thing you have to keep an eye on.

ROMANS: All right, Chris Deaton. Thank you so much. Deputy online editor at "The Weekly Standard."

Nice to see you this morning. Thank you. DEATON: All right. Thanks, guys.

BRIGGS: Enjoy the baseball.

DEATON: Thank you. Thank you. You, too.

ROMANS: He's a baseball fan?

BRIGGS: He's a big baseball fan.

ROMANS: Is he?

BRIGGS: A lot of games tonight.

ROMANS: Can Elon Musk fix Puerto Rico's power grid? The Tesla founder thinks so. His plan on "CNN Money Stream," next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:54:06] BRIGGS: All right. All eyes on the Caribbean this morning, tracking tropical storm Nate. Already, it's killed 20 people in Central American and prompted states of emergency along the East Coast.

ROMANS: Let's bring in meteorologist Derek Van Dam for the very latest -- Derek.

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Dave and Christine.

We have the latest 5:00 a.m. advisory from the National Hurricane Center. Current sustained winds from tropical storm Nate still at 45 miles per hour. So no official strengthening, although the latest satellite loop showing some organization as the center of circulation has now exited just off the coast of Honduras into the warm, open waters of the northwestern Caribbean Sea.

Now, it's got the Yucatan Peninsula in its eyes over the next 24 hours, so places like Cancun and Cozumel will likely see heavy rain and tropical storm-forced winds.

But after that, it's got nowhere to go but north and that means the Gulf of Mexico, across Louisiana, into Mississippi and Alabama, as well as the Florida Panhandle could see impacts from at least a tropical storm, if not a category one hurricane.

[05:55:13] The details still need to be ironed out but one thing's for sure. The National Hurricane Center has hoisted hurricane watches from central Louisiana all the way to the border of Mississippi and Alabama, with tropical storm watches across parts of the Florida Panhandle.

We also have storm surge watches for Biloxi, all the way to New Orleans and Lake Pontchartrain. That continues as this approaching tropical storm moves closer and closer.

In terms of time frame in the next 24 hours, conditions will deteriorate across the northeastern Yucatan Peninsula. But then, Saturday night into early Sunday morning, that's when we expect conditions to be felt across the Gulf Coast states.

Back to you.

ROMANS: All right, Derek. Thanks for that.

Happening today, Vice President Mike Pence travels to the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. He'll be briefed on recovery efforts. He'll meet with Hurricane Maria victims, with governors, and he will take aerial tours.

The Puerto Rican government announcing just nine percent of customers have electricity. Fifty-four percent have running water, a slight improvement from last week but still just over half. We're also told more than 8,000 people are staying in shelters across the island.

Meantime, composer Lin-Manuel Miranda and 22 of his friends releasing a new song to raise money for hurricane relief in Puerto Rico. A lot of celebrities have really been stepping out to raise money, write songs, and try to keep the awareness going here of what's happening on the island.

BRIGGS: He's doing great stuff.

All right, another celebrity. Harvey Weinstein planning to sue "The New York Times" over what he calls faulty reporting in a story detailing decades of sexual harassment claims against the powerful movie producer.

The "Times" piece identifies several of Weinstein's accusers, including actress Ashley Judd. He reportedly reach private legal settlements with at least eight women over accusations of sexual misconduct.

In a statement he apologized for his behavior saying he plans to take a leave of absence from the Weinstein Company -- that he's committed to changing his ways.

Republicans, meanwhile, calling for Democrats to give back political donations from Weinstein.

ROMANS: It --

BRIGGS: There are many.

ROMANS: If he is saying he had bad behavior and he's pledging to change his ways --

BRIGGS: How's he sue?

ROMANS: -- why is he suing? He's suing because he says they didn't give him enough time to respond?

BRIGGS: That should be a tough --

ROMANS: Interesting because he's acknowledging --

BRIGGS: -- case to fight.

ROMANS: -- that there was bad behavior. Yes.

BRIGGS: And settlements, yes.

ROMANS: All right. Let's get a check on "CNN Money Stream" this morning -- this Friday morning. Let me say that again. This Friday morning.

Global stocks are mixed. Wall Street's winning streak endures here. Four days in a row the Dow and the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 have hit record highs. Never before have these major averages been this high.

And here's a new flash. Six days of records for the S&P. That hasn't happened in 20 years. Six days of record highs, one after the other.

Stocks current record run is fueled by hope for tax reform.

Even the president's celebrating, tweeting about the all-time highs, seeming to take credit for them. He's tweeting about the low jobless rate. A nice reminder before what should be a lousy jobs number.

By the way, the president can see the jobs number the day before it comes out --

BRIGGS: Wow.

ROMANS: So likely, when he tweeted that it's possible he already knew what that September report was going to say.

It is due out at 8:30 eastern time and we think the hurricanes should cause big job losses. But I've got to tell you, the spread of expectations -- some economists think you'll some jobs, some think you'll gain up to 100,00 or so -- maybe a little more than that, so who knows what that number's going to be.

Netflix is raising its prices for the first time in two years. Its standard and premium services will rise one dollars and two dollars each. Its basic service stays the same. Current users will get 30 days' notice before that price hike.

That extra cash will help Netflix play for all of its new programming. The company's going to spend $15.7 billion on content, $6 billion this year alone.

Finally, can Elon Musk fix Puerto Rico's broken power grid? He thinks he can.

Millions of Puerto Ricans without power, so the Tesla founder is suggesting solar as Puerto Rico's long-term solution. The Tesla team has done for many smaller islands so it can be done for Puerto Rico, he tweeted.

The decision is up to Puerto Rican officials, of course. They responded quickly. Puerto Rico's governor says the island could be a flagship project for Tesla.

The company has built solar grids for islands before but on a much, much smaller scale.

BRIGGS: his latest tweet says it all. "I believe I can fly."

ROMANS: I believe I can fly.

BRIGGS: He can do it all, Elon Musk.

ROMANS: That's it for this morning. I'm Christine Romans.

BRIGGS: I'm Dave Briggs. Have a great weekend. "NEW DAY" right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Someone by that same name as the shooter rented a hotel room overlooking Chicago's Grant Park in August.

ROMANS: "The New York Times" reports authorities are analyzing a note the shooter left in the hotel room.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Every day, it becomes more confusing.

ERIC CHURCH, SINGER, SONGWRITER: That moment in time, it was frozen. There's no amount of bullets that can take it away.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She lived life like it was her last.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is a really great guy a lot of people are never going to get to know.

TRUMP: You guys know what this represents?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.

TRUMP: Maybe it's the calm before the storm.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It could be nothing, it could be something.