Return to Transcripts main page

EARLY START

Serial Bomber Taking Aim At Trump Targets; Trump Targets Media After Pipe Bomb Attacks; CIA Director Haspel To Brief President Trump After Turkey Trip; Boston Red Sox Take 2-0 World Series Lead Over Dodgers. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired October 25, 2018 - 05:30   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:30:25] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The media also has a responsibility to set a civil tone and to stop the endless hostility.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DAVE BRIGGS, CNN ANCHOR: President Trump shifting blame after assassination attempts on several of his favorite political targets and us, here at CNN. It's being treated as domestic terrorism. A manhunt is underway.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Trouble in the markets. The Dow and S&P 500 erasing all the gains for the year. The Nasdaq now in official correction territory, down 10 percent from a recent high.

BRIGGS: And here we go again. No Powerball winner overnight, sending Saturday's jackpot to $750 million. A guy can dream for a couple of more days, Romans.

Good morning. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm Dave Briggs.

ROMANS: And I'm Christine Romans. It's 31 minutes past the hour this Thursday morning.

The big question now, is it over? A series of mail bombs sent to prominent Democrats and to CNN here in New York. None exploded but a source tells CNN the FBI is handling the investigation as domestic terrorism. The bureau, itself, warns more devices may have been mailed to other locations.

The New York police commissioner echoed that concern.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES O'NEILL, POLICE COMMISSIONER, NEW YORK CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT: This is open-ended, all right? Last night, we had one and then we have six. So we have to operate under the assumption that there are more out there.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BRIGGS: Law enforcement trying to track down a package addressed to former vice president Joe Biden. That package considered suspicious because of similarities to others. It was misaddressed and sent back to the same bogus return address printed on other packages, the Florida office of Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz.

The first package was hand-delivered Monday to the New York estate of Democratic mega-donor George Soros.

ROMANS: Since late Tuesday, pipe bombs were intercepted on the way to the Clinton residence in Chappaqua, the Obama residence in D.C.

A device intended for Rep. Maxine Waters was found at a Congressional mail facility.

A package for former attorney general Eric Holder was misaddressed and sent to Wasserman Schultz's Florida office.

And a package intended for former CIA chief John Brennan arrived here at CNN. For the record, he works for NBC as a national security analyst. He does not work for CNN.

BRIGGS: A source says Brennan's package contained a white substance that may have been pyrotechnic powder from the bomb itself.

Let's bring in former FBI assistant director Tom Fuentes, CNN senior law enforcement analyst. He joins us live from --

ROMANS: Hey, Tom.

BRIGGS: -- Fairfax, Virginia. Good morning, Tom.

TOM FUENTES, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST, FORMER ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, FBI (via Skype): Good morning.

BRIGGS: Where, in your mind, should this investigation be this morning?

FUENTES: Well, I think right now there are several things that will be going on a one time.

First of all, they'll be scanning social media for anybody that's possibly claiming credit for this or possibly threatened this in the last few weeks.

But as far as the devices go, they'll be sent to the FBI laboratory in Quantico and this will be a very meticulous process. Can they get DNA, maybe from the stamps? Were they licked when they were put on the package?

When the packages are opened are there hair, fibers, skin follicles from somebody that put that bomb together? DNA -- in other words, DNA trace evidence inside the packaging.

And then, the actual devices themselves. How are they wired? What was the means of detonation, power, the explosive material itself? And just the manner in which they were assembled which may reveal a certain style and a specific style that makes all of them match each other.

ROMANS: Yes.

FUENTES: So all of that will be going on.

And then, of course, the outside investigation.

Cameras in the Soros' neighborhood, in the area where Clinton's home was -- some of these other homes. They're in very relatively affluent areas so you would expect a number of homes up and down the block to have security cameras.

They'll be scouring all security cameras in the area, including traffic cameras and -- as well as cameras at postal facilities if they can determine anybody going into a facility or dropping it off and whether or not they were all mailed from the same facility or all hand-delivered or how was the means.

We know the ones mailed back and forth that ended up in Florida obviously were in the U.S. mail system.

ROMANS: And, you know, thank goodness nobody got hurt.

FUENTES: So all of those factors at once.

ROMANS: Thank goodness nobody got hurt and something didn't go wrong in the transport back and forth of some of those returned packages.

I noticed a lot of tape on the package that came to CNN, so maybe for forensic purposes that might give some clues. Also, misspellings on so many of these labels. You don't know if that was on purpose or --

BRIGGS: Florids, yes.

ROMANS: -- if there's something that they can -- that they can glean from that.

[05:35:00] John Brennan's name wrong.

FUENTES: Yes.

ROMANS: He doesn't work here but it came here.

We know that the package that came here -- you mentioned a courier. Clearly, they'll be able to figure out who got that here and potentially, who paid to have that delivered here, no?

FUENTES: Yes, they'll be trying to trace back. If they can identify the courier, then go to that company and find out who raised for the package to be delivered in the first place, if they can -- if they can trace that back. If the couriers can provide any information about who gave them the package. But those are all very good points.

And to your point Christine about the misspelling, that would be something else. In social media, if somebody is writing to somebody else you -- the threats or the credit, did they misspell the names the same way or did they indicate the mistake in where Brennan worked, for example -- not working at CNN, but working at MSNBC. Things like that would also be part of the investigation.

BRIGGS: Let's talk about this device -- the device itself. At first glance, it looked like something that could have been put together by Wylie Coyote.

But how sophisticated does a device -- does that appear -- does it appear something that could have been capable of a lot of damage or just rudimentary?

FUENTES: It's very rudimentary in appearance so it could be put together by somebody with the same I.Q. as Wylie Coyote. We don't know that now.

But these devices are very easily put together. You can go on the Internet. People have gone on the Internet for a matter of hours and figured out how to do this and then go to the home supply store and buy the wires and buy some of the explosive material, which can be readily available in some cases, to put all this together.

So none of this appears to have been military-grade material where they would have to have access to that, but very easily, readily available items that could be put together by almost anybody.

ROMANS: But an obvious disruption. I mean, sometimes the point of terror is not the attack itself, but it's the disruption to either the economy or to the people or to how the fear --

BRIGGS: True, yes.

ROMANS: -- that it spreads. And one wonders if whoever did this is watching the coverage yesterday.

You must be concerned about copycats and you must also be concerned about potentially more devices.

FUENTES: Absolutely. There could be devices that are in the mail system now that haven't arrived, that didn't arrive yesterday and will be delivered today or the next day or sometime in the future.

And you're right. The person is probably relishing their 15 minutes of indirect fame, at least, that they did this, similar to somebody pulling a fire alarm at a school. Even if they don't get caught they like all the fuss that it caused.

But in this case, the terrorism doesn't require that someone actually be injured by a device or a device go off. The terror occurred yesterday when everybody was searching --

ROMANS: Yes.

FUENTES: -- and looking, and closing businesses and evacuating Time Warner building. All of those things are manners of what terror does -- cause fear in the mind of the public.

ROMANS: I've got to tell you, Tom, you were on the air when this was -- the fire alarm was pulled here at CNN -- or when the alarm went off here. It wasn't pulled. An alarm went off on purpose to tell everyone to get out of the building and I know you were -- you were on the air.

In terms of fear and terror, this was the most organized, professional evacuation I've ever seen, just from out personal standpoint.

BRIGGS: Yes, it certainly was.

ROMANS: And the NYPD -- the way they managed everyone in the street, just fantastic. Hats off to law enforcement up and down yesterday.

BRIGGS: Yes.

Tom Fuentes, thanks for being here this morning.

It was on a personal note --

FUENTES: Thank you.

BRIGGS: -- that me nor you or all of us here --

ROMANS: Thanks, Tom.

BRIGGS: -- weren't surprised at all.

ROMANS: We were in the middle of covering --

BRIGGS: We were almost expecting when we heard the alarm what this turned out to be.

ROMANS: We were in the middle of covering pipe bombs showing up and then we get --

BRIGGS: Yes.

ROMANS: -- an alert to get out of the building. It's not hard to stretch your imagination for that.

BRIGGS: No.

ROMANS: All right.

The terror threat did not change the president's schedule. He showed up for a political rally in Wisconsin last night and clearly, had the failed bomb -- pipe bombings on his mind.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: And by the way, do you see how nice I'm behaving tonight? This is like -- have you ever seen this? We're all behaving very well and hopefully, we can keep it that way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: After an early call for unity, the president did not acknowledge his own role in this heated political environment.

Kaitlin Collins was at the rally.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KAITLIN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Christine and Dave, President Trump brought up those attacks as soon as he got on stage here in Wisconsin. He denounced the attacks. He called for unity.

But one thing we did not hear from President Trump were the names of the people that those packages were addressed to.

Former President Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Maxine Waters -- any of the president's usually favorite political targets at rallies like this. He did not mention them when he got on stage nor did he mention CNN, another favorite target of his, while he was discussing these attacks today and calling for unity.

However, he did point to the media at one point, saying that they need to be the ones who make sure they are setting a civil tone.

[05:40:02] Here's what he said.

TRUMP: Any acts or threats of political violence are an attack on our democracy, itself. Those engaged in the political arena must stop treating political opponents as being morally defective.

As part of a larger national effort to bridge our divides and bring people together, the media also has a responsibility to set a civil tone and to stop the endless hostility and constant negative and, oftentimes, false attacks stories. Have to do it, have to do it.

COLLINS: For the rest of the night we did see a slightly more subdued tone from President Trump. Now, whether or not the president moves forward with this subdued tone and stops calling out Hillary Clinton at the few rallies that he does have before those voters go to the polls in less than two weeks for the midterms, that's an open question.

But what we did see tonight was President Trump call for civility but made no points about anything he said the critics have said was uncivil -- Christine and Dave.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRIGGS: All right. Kaitlin Collins, thank you.

White House officials rejecting calls for President Trump to tone down the rhetoric, insisting he should not be blamed for crazy things that violent people want to do.

Here's, though, what the president has said about the people targeted by these bombs.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Fake as hell, CNN -- the worst.

Don't worry, I don't like them either.

Hillary's a very dishonest person. If you look at the things she says -- I mean, they're so dishonest.

I think Brennan's a very bad guy and if you look at it, a lot of things happened under his watch. I think he's a very bad person.

And, of course, the legendary low I.Q. Maxine Waters. A low I.Q. person.

It was very polarized under President Obama -- unbelievably polarized under President Obama.

They'll go to a person holding a sign who gets paid by Soros or somebody.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: You hear the president refer to John Brennan, the former CIA director, as a quote "very bad person."

Last night, Brennan said this about the pipe bomb addressed to him that was sent to CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN BRENNAN, FORMER DIRECTOR, CIA: Donald Trump has not helped to encourage the type of civil discourse and engagement -- public engagement. And his rhetoric, too frequently I think, fuels these feelings and sentiments that now are bleeding over into potentially, acts of violence.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: The White House did not reach out to President Obama, the Clintons or any of the other officials who received those pipe bombs.

BRIGGS: All right.

Coming up, being gay is "God's greatest gift." Candid words from Apple CEO Tim Cook. More of what he told CNN, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:47:15] BRIGGS: While you were sleeping, late-night comedians found the lighter side of a very serious day here in America.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SETH MEYERS, NBC HOST, "LATE NIGHT WITH SETH MEYERS": The White House issued a statement today condemning the suspicious packages sent to the homes of the Clintons, former President Obama, and CNN's New York City headquarters. Trump has ordered the FBI to look at several suspects, including the Clintons, Obama, and CNN.

STEPHEN COLBERT, CBS HOST, "THE LATE SHOW WITH STEPHEN COLBERT": CNN evacuated everybody from their offices. I assume Wolf Blitzer did his show from the Situation Bodega.

When news breaks like this, everyone's rushing to get information out and mistakes can happen, like this tweet from Fox News. "Suspicious package sent to CNN contained some kind of 'white power'."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wow. It did, though.

COLBERT: Yes, it did a little bit -- a little bit -- a little bit.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A little bit.

COLBERT: Well, but an honest mistake.

Fox has since tweeted out another unfortunate error. "White House committed to finding perpetrator. Vows to do everything they Klan."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Ooh, I don't know if I -- I don't know.

BRIGGS: Yeesh.

ROMANS: That one maybe goes too far.

BRIGGS: Yes.

ROMANS: Let's get a check on "CNN Business" this morning.

This is what it looked like on Wall Street yesterday, a 608-point rout -- ugly for the Dow. Blue-chip stocks now down for the year.

And that bad mood spread to Asia. Japanese stocks and the Hang Seng Index both picking up where the U.S. left off.

It was all about the U.S. rout -- worst day for the Nasdaq since August 2011. The Dow down 2.4 percent. The S&P 500 down for the sixth day in a row, more than three percent -- but why?

Well, investors are coming to grips with something being called peak earnings. That the golden days of a booming economy, rich tax cuts for companies, and low interest rates -- that's right now and that will likely begin to fade next year.

As big companies report their big profits, they're beginning to note higher costs from trade disputes and higher wages. That's good for employees but it's bad for profits.

The damage report for tech stocks -- Netflix down nine percent, Facebook down six percent, and Amazon lost five percent. All right. Four years ago, Apple CEO Tim Cook became the first CEO of a major company to come out as gay. He told CNN he went public because of stories he received from kids.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TIM COOK, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, APPLE, INC: I was public because I began to receive stories from kids who read something online that I was gay. And they were going through being bullied, feeling like their family didn't love them, were being pushed out of their home, very close to suicide. I mean, just things that really just pulled my heart.

[05:50:00] And I started saying you know, I am a private person and so I've kept me to my small circle. And I started thinking -- you know, that is a selfish thing to do at this point. I need to be bigger than that. I need to do something for them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Cook said being gay is, quote, "God's greatest gift to me," adding he was surprised but proud to be the first out CEO of a Fortune 500 company.

Also in that interview, he said, "Our own information is being weaponized against us with military efficiency." That's exactly what he said. He said privacy is the issue that will define this century and the data industrial complex, as he called it, needs government regulation.

I encourage you -- we tweeted it out -- we'll push it out again. But I encourage you to watch all of Christiane's --

BRIGGS: Yes.

ROMANS: -- interview with Tim Cook. He's a real visionary.

BRIGGS: He's talking about Google and Facebook but he's not naming --

ROMANS: Right.

BRIGGS: -- Google. He didn't have to.

ROMANS: It's worth -- it's worth a look.

BRIGGS: Yes, all right.

Ahead, it looks like the Megyn Kelly controversy could be the last straw for NBC.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:55:29] BRIGGS: President Trump will be briefed today by CIA Dir. Gina Haspel on her trip to Turkey. "The Washington Post" reporting Haspel listened to the audio of Jamal Khashoggi's murder during her trip. Today, we may learn more about what happened to the journalist. CNN's Nic Robertson live in Istanbul with the latest. Nic, good morning. A pivotal day here.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: A pivotal day, indeed. We heard from President Erdogan here, saying that he has shared important information with trusted partners -- verified information.

And a lot of people here in Turkey looking at the Saudi consul general's residence with new eyes this morning. Why? Because this building here was a central part of the investigation of Turkish authorities into the disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi.

This was the -- this was the place that the so-called hit team that came from Saudi Arabia that killed him in the consulate -- they came here within a -- within a couple of hours of Khashoggi's murder and that's led Turkish investigators to believe that there may be key evidence inside this building.

Well, they got in here a week ago but we just learned yesterday that the Saudi officials inside the building wouldn't let Turkish investigators go into the well into the basement of the building. So despite Saudi officials saying that they're fully cooperating and helping Turkish authorities here, that doesn't seem to be the case on the ground.

Speculation here in Turkey that investigators will finally get into the residence here and will be allowed into the well. And, of course, key for them at the moment is finding Jamal Khashoggi's body, Dave.

BRIGGS: Hopefully, some answers coming soon.

Nic Robertson live for us in Istanbul. Thank you.

ROMANS: All right.

"The New York Times" reports Russia and China are listening in on the president's private cell phone conversations, raising new security concerns. The "Time" says the president's phone is not secure. He refuses to stop using it.

Government officials tell the "Times" China is trying to use intel from the president's calls -- again, they're listening -- to develop a winning strategy in its trade dispute with the U.S.

China is also trying to use its own business leaders to influence people with connections to the president's inner circle. Remember, they're listening to the president talk to his inner circle.

Mr. Trump told "The Wall Street Journal" this week he uses discretion when talking on his cell phone.

BRIGGS: Megyn Kelly will not be appearing live on her NBC show this morning and there are doubts she'll ever be back. Kelly is in hot water with the network for her controversial comments about blackface costumes at Halloween. A source familiar with the situation telling CNN her show will be ending and confirms she's in talks about a new role at NBC.

Kelly started her show Wednesday by apologizing for her remarks.

NBC News chairman Andy Lack condemned her racially-insensitive comments during a previously scheduled town hall meeting.

ROMANS: No winner in Wednesday night's Powerball drawing. The estimated jackpot for Saturday's winning is $750 million.

Last night's winning numbers were 3, 21, 45, 53, 56. The Powerball was 22.

So far, no sign of the $1.6 billion Mega Millions jackpot winner. That ticket was sold in Simpsonville, South Carolina. The owner of KC Mart gets a $50,000 payoff when the winner collects.

What would you do? You'd be in hiding, right?

BRIGGS: Oh, I'd be out of here, man. I'm on a private island.

ROMANS: You'd be watching baseball. You'd be watching baseball.

BRIGGS: The Boston Red Sox two wins away from the World Series title.

A 2-run single there by J.D. Martinez, the difference-maker, leading the Sox to a 4-2 victory over the Dodgers and that 2-0 lead.

David Price winning his second-straight post-season start.

Game three in L.A. tomorrow night. We go from 40 degrees to 70 degrees --

ROMANS: All right.

BRIGGS: -- in Los Angeles. It should be nice.

ROMANS: All right, 59 minutes past the hour. That's it for us.

Thanks for joining us. I'm Christine Romans.

BRIGGS: I'm Dave Briggs. "NEW DAY" starts right now. We'll see you tomorrow.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. This is NEW DAY. It is Thursday, October 25th, 6:00 here in New York and we are here.

We have breaking news on a nationwide search for a serial bomber -- a domestic terrorist. Someone who wanted to perhaps kill or at least silence or at least scare a number of people with one thing in common. As "The Washington Post" puts it, "Targets of Trump's words become targets of bombs." As you know, one of the bombs was sent here to CNN and if the goal was to silence or scare us, I'm happy to report this morning it did not work. We are here with you live to deliver the news and the facts, so here they are.

There is a nationwide manhunt this morning and a search for more pipe bombs that may have been sent.