john berman in des moines, iowa. our eye on dubuque, iowa right now, just a few moments from now donald trump will land in his plane, takes stage there and address a crowd in dubuque, iowa. looking at a live picture there. someone at the lectern getting the people ready in the crowd to see donald trump. we expect to see him any minute and will take you there any second so stand by. that's dubuque. earlier in cedar rapid, governor chris christie was on the stump and he spoke to our phil mattingly there and had words, phil, for senator marco rubio not altogether nice. phil? >> reporter: not altogether nice to say the least. he said marco rubia was essentially a republican barack obama. continuing a stream of attacks that these two have had going back and forth with one another for a couple weeks. john, an interesting fact that chris christie is even on the ground here in iowa. new hampshire is the state where chris christie needs to succeed, but when i was talking to him i asked, is there a secret sauce here? he said t

let's begin with john berman. candidates are in the 11th hour. they need to make themselves more appealing than ever. >> that or make the other guy less appealing than ever, which seems to be one of the big stories in the race now. we're going to go to ames, iowa, for dana bash with ted cruz. ted cruz made a strategic shift in the campaign in the past 48 hours, from competing with donald trump for first place to fending off marco rubio with everything he has got. dana? >> reporter: that's right. one of the ads, probably surprising given the fact this is iowa and ted cruz was supposed to basically be going mono oh mono with donald trump to win caucuses here, the ads are a hard hitting one against marco rubio on the issue of immigration, saying effectively that he is for amnesty, no if, and or buts about that. why is this happening? best way to say it is an insurance policy. they want to be sure, marco rubio is surging. they want to be sure that surge doesn't take him beyond where if all things go as planned for ted cruz's campaign, would be maybe

i'm john berman here in iowa. if you like politics and drama and focused on the nation's future, you are in for a treat. speaking live this hour, donald trump, ted cruz, john kasich, marco rubio. we have some live pictures right now of marco rubio holding a rally in cedar falls. right now, the polls have him in third place. his team wants you to believe he's on the rise. donald trump, he holds his first rally of the day in just a few minutes kicking off in council bluff. he's been laser focused on evangelicals conceding nothing to ted cruz. there's his wife melania. he was with one of his prominent new supporters. and john kasich has switched his focus to new hampshire, the primary in nine days. a new poll this morning has sent politicos into a frenzy. the des moines politics poll, donald trump is up 5 points over ted cruz. this is the first time that trump has held a lead this big in this poll. as for the democrats, hillary clinton is up 3% over bernie sanders. the iowa poll shows the same thing on the democratic

i'm john berman. >> i'm christine romans. two weeks until the presidential contest votes will be cast. and a face-off with hillary clinton and bernie sanders. even martin o'malley. clinton is trying to blunt a late surge from sanders in the polls with gun care. more from jeff zeleny. >> reporter: john and christine, a lively debate on sunday night in charleston, south carolina.

i'm john berman. >> i'm christine romans.rst actual votes of the 2016 contest will be cast in iowa in two weeks. overnight, the last head-to-head face-off. hillary clinton and bernie sanders and martin o'malley. clinton is trying to blunt a late surge from sanders in the polls with her attacks on gun control and health care and embrace president obama's political legacy. more from senior washington correspondent jeff zeleny. >> reporter: john and christine, a lively debate on sunday night in charleston, south carolina. the final debate before democratic voters make choices in the primary race. two weeks from today, the iowa caucuses and new hampshire primary one week after that. bernie sanders was trying to show that he is in contention for the fight. there is no doubt he is locked in a close race with hillary clinton in iowa and new hampshire. he was on the defensive throughout the debate on health care and on guns. here are a couple of exchanges that caught my attention throughout the debate. senator sanders likes to point

. >> i'm john berman. it is monday, january 18th. it is 5:00 a.m. in the east. two weeks from today, the first actual votes of the 2016 presidential contest will be cast in iowa. overnight, the face-off with the democratic candidates. hillary clinton and bernie sanders and martin o'malley. hillary clinton is trying to blunt a late surge from sanders. she went after sanders on guns, on health care and she really embraced president obama as closely and more firmly as she ever has. more from senior correspondent jeff zeleny. >> reporter: john and christine, a lively democratic debate on

john berman in des moines.live pictures here of an event for hillary clinton in council bluffs, iowa. she'll be speaking to voters in a half hour. she'll be picking up an endorsement from a key state representative in iowa right there. he will be joining hillary clinton on stage. that event kicks off in just a few minutes. meanwhile, here the clintons are taking on the issue of her e-mails. dick cheney is an interview with cnn, he said that the e-mails raise very serious questions about hillary clinton's judgment and her ability to be president of the united states. >> i think it's very serious. i understand why she had the separate server she did in the garage or wherever it was. why would you want to do that? why not use the regular system that is set up there and established for everybody and certainly senior officials of the state department and all of these requirements. when you get your clearances. we used to have, when we were there, it wasn't quite as up to date as it is today in terms of technology bu

i'm john berman. >> i'm christine romans. as many as 65 million people in the country are bracing for a nor'easter set to start friday with high winds and heavy snowfall and potentially record-breaking snow totals. the storm barrelling down in washington, d.c. a light snow made for a treacherous commute last night with hundreds of accidents and pedestrian slip and falls. joining us with the latest is meteorologist pedram javaheri in the weather center. how far north of washington will get hit? >> it is a fine cut off line here. we are trying to get the modes s together. model run after model run has put the bull's-eye over washington and baltimore. break that down for you here. you see the area indicated in green here. a blizzard watch for baltimore and washington right now for friday night and saturday morning. it's about 8 million people in line here. you think about this. blizzards are most prone and common across the northern plains and state of wyoming. population of 5,000 people statewide. in north dakota, 800,000 peopl

i'm john berman. >> i'm christine romans. breaking news this morning. one of the world's great music performers has died. david bowie. a true legend has died of cancer. his publicist released a statement hours ago saying bowie had been battling an unspecified issue of the disease. just friday, brian, he dropped his -- i don't know. 20 something album. >> "blackstar." >> no one, his fans did not know he had been suffering from cancer. >> not only the album came out last friday, a carnegie hall event celebrating him. last night, it was announced it would take place in march. his son said i'm sorry and sad to say it is true. i'll be offline for a while. prime minister david cameron tweeted i grew up watching david bowie. he kept getting it right. a huge loss. and ricky gervais wrote, i just lost a hero. rest in peace. he was in just one word, cool. in every definition of the world cool. everyone wanted to have some of that cool factor that david bowie had over the decades. always reinventing himself. one described him as the picasso of pop. >> so cool and

john berman in for jake today.ad, troubling new developments in the domestic terror front. federal authorities have arrested two refugees, one living in california and the other in texas, on terror related charges. we have new video of the suspect from houston. you can see him right there. both of these men, the one right there and the one in california accused of lying to immigration officials about ties to terrorist organizations. and we are now learning more about their alleged activities once they arrived here in the united states. once again for us cnn justice correspondent pamela brown, pamela, you're very busy. what do we know about these two men? >> well, these two men were here in the u.s. they were born in iraq, came here as refugees. one of them is 24-year-old omar al harden from houston and the other of sacramento. they had been living in the u.s. for several years and had apparently communicated with one another according to the fbi about linking up with terrorists in syria. now, both men are from iraq

trump's town hall is about to get underway, and john berman is in des moines. k with john in a few minutes, but i want to start with jim in new hampshire. good morning. >> good morning, even in his answer sense last night at the gop debate, his presence was felt. nearly all the candidates on that stage talked about donald trump, and he's going to be out here in a few moments in new hampshire. it gives you a sense of the confidence inside the trump campaign right now, about 72 hours before the iowa caucuses. he's in new hampshire, not in iowa right now. as it was put at last night's debate, he was sort of the elephant not in the room. there were probably a lot of republicans out there using the flash back or previous channels button on their remote control switching back and forth between the debate and donald trump's event across town in des moines. while donald trump said this event was dedicated to raising money for veterans and he said that about $6 million was raised over all, there was really about teaching fox news a lesson. the campaign manager for donald

a better banquet. >>> john berman live in >> john berman live in des moines, iowa.ke saying whichever baseball team scores the most runs will win. it is something we say in political coverage. here to discuss who has the best turnout operation and best ground game, cnn political reporter sarah murphy and editor in chief of the iowa republican -- craig robinson. in 2012 when 21,000 voters showed up. 121,000. not exactly a lot. in 2008118,000 voters showed up to caucus. i think mike huckabee got about 40,000, which is a high water mark for any republican candidate ever. you are of iowa and here watching. who has the best ground game? >> i don't know if anyone has a top notch ground game. there is plenty of excitement out there. ted cruz has a lot of ground game. he has a lot of volunteers knocking on a lot of doors and making phone calls. i think that matters. i think the trump campaign is better organized than people think. it's a little unorthodoxed maybe so to speak. he knows all the tricks and the things to look for. i think that kind of experience really matters.

. >> i'm john berman. it is monday, january 25th, 2016. millions digging out this morning after the biggest storm the east coast have ever seen. people facing a daunting commute with icy roads and reduced bus, plane and train service. 1,200 flights canceled so far. at least 16 people have died so far. the snowfall totals came in at record levels or close up and down east coast. new york, 26.8 inches. you know what? new york wasn't expecting nearly that much. washington with 22.4 inches. commuters in new york are looking at a tough morning. the mta will have service restored on the seven busiest branches of the railroad. we have more from ryan young in new york. >> reporter: you look around the city and you can see the big piles of snow. one place we are standing is here outside penn station. that is where the long island rail was shutdown for some time. we know 80% of the service will resume. 300,000 people use the rail line. it is all about the city getting back to normal. we drove in from new jersey. one thing we noticed most of the road

i'm john berman. >> i'm christine romans. two weeks until the presidential contest votes will be cast. and a face-off with hillary clinton and bernie sanders. even martin o'malley. clinton is trying to blunt a late surge from sanders in the polls with gun care. more from jeff zeleny. >> reporter: john and christine, a lively debate on sunday night in charleston, south carolina. democratic voters make their choices in the primary race. two weeks today is the iowa caucuses. new hampshire primary one week after that. bernie sanders was trying to show he is in contention for the fight. there's no doubt he is launching a close race with hillary clinton in new hampshire. he is on the defensive throughout the debate. on health care, on guns. here are a couple of exchanges that caught my attention. bernie sanders likes to point out that hillary clinton is too close to wall street. >> i don't take money from big banks. i don't get personal speaking fees from goldman sachs. what i would do -- [ applause ] >> -- what i would do is under

. >> and i'm john berman. it is tuesday, january 19th. the battle for votes and souls. donald trump with the an aggressive push, maybe too aggressive for evangelicals in iowa. speaking to students at the university of virginia, he tried to give verse from the bible when he said it was 2 corinthians and not corinthians. >> where the spirit of the lord, right? where the spirit of the lord is, there is liberty. >> trump seemed to be adjusting his message to evangelicals with whatnot to say. cnn's dana bash has more. >> reporter: john and christine, when we are reporting from trump rallies, or this case, the remnant of a trump rally, talking about what he said, things that are controversial or making waves across the conservative movement or country, but this time i'm going to tell you the news is what trump didn't say. after the weekend, he spent going after ted cruz calling him nasty and twitter tirade on issues. here in new hampshire, early near the day in virginia, not one word about ted cruz at all. we don't know why. i asked his campaign manager and i didn't get an an

. >> i'm john berman. it is tuesday, january 12th. 4:00 a.m. in the east. a democratic face-off in iowa. hillary clinton and bernie sanders. the polls are surprisingly close this morning. clinton with the tiny lead in the latest survey. which explains why she is going directly after her opponent on gun violence to electability. we have brianna keilar with the latest from iowa. >> reporter: good morning. hillary clinton and bernie sanders both here in the hawkeye state as the race tightens. they are at a statistical tie. something bernie sanders is thrilled about and the clinton campaign is not. both candidates trying to draw differences at each other in the black and brown forum. >> as you know, secretary clinton has been criticizing you. have you noticed lately she is getting more aggressive with you? >> yes. >> why is that? >> i don't know. it could be -- >> you tell me. >> it could be the inevitable candidate for the democratic nomination may not be so inevitable today. >> can you say that bernie sanders cannot win the nomination? >> anybody can win. who

i'm john berman. >> i'm christine romans. the race for 2016. the iowa caucuses are four weeks from today. the big news, donald trump unleashing his first television ad of the campaign. we should get our first look at this any moment. he has new attacks on bill clinton and hillary clinton's. >> i think she's a flawed candidate. you see what's happened recently and it hasn't been a very pretty picture for her or bill. i'm the only one that's willing to talk about his problems. what he did and what he has gone through, i think is frankly terrible, especially if she wants to play the woman card. >> the rest of the republican field launching the final push. ted cruz and chris christie have multiple events today. marco rubio set to appear in both early voting states. jeb bush needs a comeback. after pulling ads from iowa and south carolina, he will rely on handshaking politics and keeping up the sharper attacks on donald trump. >> donald trump, i don't believe is going to be the party's nominee. if he is, he will be beaten by hillary clinton. he said

i'm john berman. >> i'm christine romans. it is thursday, january 14th. let's begin with the breaking news. a series of coordinated gun and bomb attacks in the heart of the indonesia capital of jakarta overnight. at least seven people dead. officials say they include five attackers, one police officer and foreigner. ten others were injured. so far, there has been no claim of responsibility, but suspicion is naturally falling on isis. a terror group that has long sought indonesia for expansion. i want to get to cnn's kathy quintara. >> reporter: we heard less than an hour ago near the site of the explosion, as you said, five suspects were killed in the operation and two civilians killed. he clarified the police reported killed earlier was injured in the attack that was launched by the suspects at a police post at a busy intersection at the heart of the city. across from that is a starbucks cafe and office building. he said there were five explosions that happened and a gun fight. there was one armed suspect that fled into the building, armed men, heavily a

john berman, i have to know who you want your team to not face in the playoffs? >> i think the steelers are the hottest team in the afc right now. i'm glad the way it shapes up. patriots may not have to face them for some time. we shall see. >> good luck to you. >> thank you, coy. >>> white house hopeful starting to ramp up operations. clock ticking. donald trump and hillary clinton hit the trail today. hillary clinton has bill clinton on the stump with her. donald trump unveils a new campaign ad. we will see it this morning. >>> the final search for the 2016 white house hopefuls making one more push in iowa. can donald trump keep his frontrunner status by insulting the clintons? >>> president obama set for executive action on gun control. announcement within days. a live town hall on cnn on thursday. republican presidential candidates already pounce. >>> dangerous tension in the middle east. saudi arabia severing ties with iran. kicking out diplomats. welcome back to "early start." i'm christine romans. >> i'm john berman. it is all very real in iowa and new ham

i'm christine romans. >> i'm john berman.lary clinton and bernie sanders at a candidate forum in a state where the polls are surprisingly close this morning. hillary clinton with just the tiny three-point lead in the latest survey which explains why she is going directly after her opponent on issues of gun violence and electiability. cnn's brianna keilar has more. >> reporter: hillary clinton and sanders here in the hawkeye state as the race tightens. in the polls, they are at a statistical tie. bernie sanders is happy about it and the clinton campaign is not. the candidates answered questions at the brown and black forum where they faced issues for african-americans and latino-americans. >> clinton has been criticizing you. have you noticed she is getting more aggressive with you? >> yes. >> why is that? >> i don't know. it could be -- >> you tell me. >> -- it could be the inevitable candidate for the democratic nomination may not be so inevitable today. >> final question. can you say categorically tonight that bernie sander

john berman joins us. great to have you here.orgiveness after a biblical flub. bungling the book of corinthians. >> donald trump's competition is ted cruz. brushing aside the conservative credentials with other comparisons to ronald reagan. more questions about cruz's eligibility to be president. the 2016 race is heating up. let's start our coverage with >> reporter: they are saying that more and more this race is coming down to a two-man race, this intense feud that has emerged between them, fueling both candidates' fire. >> where the spirit of the lord is, there is liberty. >> reporter: donald trump trumpeting his faith. >> i've wrote many best sellers. >> i always say a deep, deep second to the bible. the bible is the best. the bible. the bible blows it away. >> reporter: given the convocation at liberty university in an attempt to connect with evangelical students, quoting from scripture. >> two corinthians, right? two corinthians 3:17. that's the whole ball game. >> wrongly referring to it as two corinthians instead of secon

realize your buying power at open.com >>> john berman in des moines, iowa.ead of the iowa caucuses, just two days article are away. monday night, president democratic candidates are making their final push, all over this state. where all signs are this race is close. secretary of state hillary clinton is thanking voters in her final tv spot. >> i really wanted to start with a thank-you. i want you to know how much it has meant to me as i've travel across the state to hear about people's hopes and struggles, and i know that because of that, i will be a better president if i'm elected. if you go to the caucus on monday night and stand up for me there, i will work meyer heart out to give you and our country the future we deserve tole. i'm hillary clinton and i approved this message. >>> all right. hillary clinton her last campaign spot. jeff zeleny is with us. hillary clinton thanking iowa voters, she could say thank you to new yorkers right now "new york times" just moments ago endorsed hillary clinton in her race for president. so that happens, you can see it

i'm john berman. >> i'm christine romans. welcome back.t with millions of you digging out of the biggest snowstorm in the east coast you have seen. officials warning of icy roads and reduced bus, plane and train service. so far.an 1,200 flights canceled check before you go anywhere. at least 16 people died due to the storm. a figure likely to rise. snowfall totals come at record levels or close up and down the east coast. >> glengary, west virginia with the worst of it at 42 inches and new york city got 26.8 inches. washington got 22.4 inches. commuters in the new york region looking at a tough morning. seven busiest branches of the long island railroad will be in service today. we have cnn's ryan young with more on the clean up. >> reporter: john and christine, 26.8 inches fell in new york city. you look around the city and you can see the big mounds of snow everywhere. one of the places i'm standing is here outside penn station. where the long island rail was shutdown for some time. we know 80% of the service will resume monday morning f

we have john berman joining us now with a look at the key moments of the debate. and hear? >> less than three weeks to iowa. nearly two weeks to iowa which is not nearly enough time to stay friends, if you're ted cruz and donald trump. that's what we saw on stage last night. energy and not good energy between these two front-runners. in the race between donald trump and ted cruz, the current republican front-runners, two things abundantly clear, truce off and game on. >> back in september my friend donald said he had his lawyers look at this from every which way. there was nothing to the birther issue. >> reporter: cruz mocked questions trump is now raising about the fact he was born in canada and whether he is even eligible to run for president. >> since september, the constitution hasn't changed, but the poll numbers have. >> reporter: trump acknowledged yes, that is part of it. >> because now he's doing a little bit better. no, i didn't care before. >> reporter: in their most pointed exchange in this race so far, he said there is more. >> here's the problem. we'

. >> i'm john berman. the breaking news this morning. so sad. one of the world's great musical innovators and singers has died. david bowie has died of cancer. his publicist released a statement saying he battled the disease for some time. let's get the latest from phil black from london this morning. phil, it was three days ago that david bowie had his 69th birthday and released his album. >> reporter: not many have seen this. this is a man who exploded on the music scene in the '70s as a glam rock star. drawing boundaries and defying genres and exploring other mediums. film, theater, fashion. all of this extraordinary time and career made him what many believed to be one of the most influential figures in modern music. just among the top few. were you right. it was just last week that he turned 69 and released his 27th studio album. one receiving good reviews. his fans loyal. following him closely. they wanted to see him live, but hadn't been able to do so. he was keeping a low profile. they will learn for the last 18 months he has been battli

i'm john berman. >> i'm christine romans. let's start with the breaking news. turmoil in china. the trading day stopped as soon as it began. plunged at the open for shanghai. the shenzhen market is down 8.3%. some are saying the circuit breakers are causing more unease. the second time this week trading has been halted. china issued new regulations limiting the number of shares traders can share every quarter. the report of china's economy is slowing down and the currency. the european markets are lower. they are concerned about what is happening in the chinese markets and economy. those are big moves. frankfu frankfurt, 3%. futures here in the u.s., a brutal open coming off a selloff yesterday. the dow plunged 1.5% yesterday. this is the worst start since 2008. the nasdaq and s&p 500 down more than 1% yesterday. north korea's bomb and all adding to the cauldron of fear. a barrel of crude oil is just about $32 a barrel. that is on the global growth concerns. >> for the second time in a week, the chinese market down more than 7%. today it happened in less than 30 minutes. the mar

i'm christina romans. >> and i'm john berman.ess than a week before the crucial iowa cause wass he's pulled out accusing co-moderator megyn kelly of bias against him. it says lewin down ski stated that megyn had a rough couple of days after that last debate and he would hate to have her go through that again. fox newsa adds we can't give in to tearizations toward any of our employees. here's the lineup. and back on the main stage rand paul. cn sara murray has more from iowa. sara? >> good morning. donald trump managed to trump himself. his big news was supposed to be his high-profile endorsements. instead trump said he's skipping the fox news debate. >> fox is playing games, yeah. fox is going to make a fortune. i told fox they should give money to the wounded warriors. i'm not a fan of meagan kelly. she's a third rate reporter. they can do a lot better. i'm going to make a decision but i probably won't bother doing the debate. i see they picked me as number one. not only number one, but number one by far. i'm probably not doing

he told john berman they were different negotiations. do you believe that?e. >> right. >> if you're finding -- look, let me give you an example. the american journalist held in iran in that prison for the longest time before jason rezaian was bahari. i was the news week international editor at the time. we tried hard to figure out whom to talk to. it was very difficult because the united states had no relations with iran. i talked to hillary clinton, secretary of state, and she really wanted to help. there was no path in. she couldn't pick up the phone and talk to anybody. he had a canadian passport, so i talked to the canadian prime minister. they tried but canada doesn't have the influence the united states has. >> right. >> so the fact that you have ca kerry, who developed a relationship with his counterpart zarif, means when something like this happens, it can get resolved. there is a path. when these people were leaving in a scene almost out of "argo," jason rezaian's mother and wife are not allowed to leave. at the airport, they literally stop them. ke

this is "early start." >> i'm john berman.series of coordinated gun and bomb attacks in the heart of the indonesian capital. jakarta. it happened overnight. seven people are dead. latest information we had from officials is of those seven people killed, five of them were attackers. two civilians. so far, no claim of responsibility, but a lot of questions this morning if there was any isis involvement. cnn's kathy quiano joins us from jakarta. kathy, what's the latest? >> reporter: well, john, police have confirmed that five attackers were killed in the attacks and two civilians. including a dutch national also killed in the attack. more details of the shocking terror attack in jakarta. the first major one in six years in the capital from the police. the police said the first happened at 10:55 a.m. in a starbucks coffee shop in an office building with a commercial establishment attached to it. there were two other attackers who then drawinged two foreigners. dutch national and algerian. they were brought to a parking lot and sh

>> i asked john berman if he wanted to go in on an office pool. he has done stories about the lawyers who litigate office pools. >>> "early start" continues right now. imaginary fiction. president obama in the live town hall. did he make his case for tighter regulations of guns and convince law abiding americans he will not take your guns an away. >>> south korea taking actions against north korea after the regime claims it tested a hydrogen bomb. >>> new terror fears in paris this morning. a knife wielding man found with an isis flag is filled outside a police station. important new evidence just uncovered in a brussels apartment. welcome to "early start." i'm christine romans. >> i'm alison kosik in for john berman. it is 5:00 a.m. in the east. >> president obama taking on gun control opponents face-to-face at a town hall here on cnn last night. the president answering questions from a gun executive and sheriff and rape survivor and widow who all oppose his executive actions on gun violence announced this week. the president pushed back against

i'm christine romans. >> i'm john berman. as many as 65 million americans in eastern half of the country brace for a humongous winter storm. it is a nor'easter. it is set to hit friday. high winds and heavy snowfall. potentially record-breaking snow totals. right now, it sure looks like washington, d.c. is in the bull's-eye. already icy and untreated roads. that poor woman. light snow in the d.c. area made for a treacherous commute last night. it was tough walking on the streets if you are walking and on your cell phone. >> or stilettos. >> or both. we have meteorologist pedram javaheri with the latest. >> we have an incredible storm with the amount of coverage for the intensity of the storm here as winter storm watches and warnings with 30 million people in line for that. you look at blizzard watch with 8 million people in line for this. this is from friday night into saturday morning. really only question remains is the exact track offshore and parallels the eastern seaboard. if it is farther north, we have snowfall to the

i'm john berman. >> i'm christine romans. it is 30 minutes past the hour.e start with the breaking news. turmoil in china's stock market. questions about its economy and pain spreading around the globe. the trading day in china endsed as soon as it began. the shanghai closed down 7%. the shenzhen down 8%. it triggered the circuit breaker. it shutdown designed to give investors a chance to calm down. this is the second time this week trading in china has been halted. trying to calm investors and trying to issue new regulations. china will limit the number of shares traders sell every quarter, but that raises more fear and anxiety. here is what is behind the selloff. two separate reports that the chinese economy is slowing down. the second largest economy in the world. when china sneezes, the rest of the world catches a cold. china devaluing its currency. european markets down among the chinese concerns. paris down 2.8%. fran for the down 3.2%. dow futures pointing to a bigger selloff today than yesterday. 2.6% decline. yesterday, the dow was down 1.5%. that

welcome back to "early start" i'm john berman. >> christine romans. it is 32 minutes past the hour. >>. >>> breaking overnight, north korea says it exploded a hydrogen bomb. this is the very first time north korea made a claim. yes. it has done nuclear tests before. a hydrogen bomb, a fusion device, would be a huge eggs kalation, presenting new challenges for global security and certainly for the united states. this apparent underground test set off political tremors around the world all night. there has been an emergency session of the u.n. city council set for a few hours from now. joining us now with the latest. cnn's will ripley live from beijing. good morning, will. >> reporter: good morning, john. this is truly alarm, here in china. we're on the border, right now, we know government investigators are testing for radiation. japan sent planes in the air no monitor for radiation as well as a result of this test. the fourth nuclear test north korea conducted in 15 years t. first in 2006. it was 2009, 2013 and today. we do know it created a invisible

i'm christine romans. >> i'm john berman. that so many of us woke up to. so sad. david bowie. one of the most influential performers in the last 50 years. a true legend. passed away overnight at the age of 69. friends and fans and performers offering up thoughts and tributes. joining us to discuss is brian stelter. since the '60s, david bowie was on the cutting edge. >> it was 1969 with "ziggy stardust" came out. i was listening to "young americans." three seconds and you know that song. >> it is not just the sound. the soupnd and images. he changed the genre. the way he looked. he sounded. the cool factor for him was so high. >> kanye west was tweeting this morning as so many artists have been. he was fearless and creative. he gave us magic for a lifetime. magic and for a lifetime. he was reinventing himself so many times. in the most recent album came out last week. this album, don't know if he perceived it to be his last or not, because we now know he was battling cancer. that was not known until this morning. this is one

i'm christine romans. >> i'm john berman. 30 minutes past the hour.resident obama will announce on executive actions on guns. we know the general shape of the plans after meeting with the fbi director and attorney general, the president pre-viewed ideas to reporters. the significant part is sellers and sales are subjected to background checks. he said the gun lobby may be holding the congress hostage. we cannot accept this carnage in our communities. for this part, the plans are hardly expansive. some bypass capitol hill, but many require funding and approv approval. many republicans are vowing to fight this in court and in the oval office if they win it. we have cnn's michelle kosinski with more. >> reporter: you see the administration trying to make every change they can because these are executive actions and not acts of congress. immediately you see those limits that they're up against. they are presented as proposals or guidance or encouragements, by no means are these new laws. the biggest deal is background checks. the white house says if you a

. >> john berman is in des moines, iowa, and we got the early overnight ratings in, which tell us that the event had a bigger audience. the republican debate or the donald trump event that was trumpheted as an alternative viewing experience. the debate really slammed. 8.4 household rating. that's effectively four times the audience for the trump event, which was carried on two networks simultaneously here at cnn and also on msnbc. john berman, still this is the second lowest rated debate of the season, and i'm only guessing that donald trump will seize on that and use it to his benefit. >> oh, no question. i mean, it's about half as many people likely who watched it in the first debate that was on fox, and donald trump claimed credit for that absence. i am sure he will claim credit for absolutely anything and everything he can. now, as you just mentioned, donald trump, he is not here in iowa. is he in new hampshire today. he was in a rally in nashua just a few minutes ago. he said he is glad that he skipped the debate last night. listen. >> cruz is in second place. he got really pummel

in fact, let's go out to des moines, iowa now and find john berman. it is a busy day on the trail for all of the candidates who are trying to if they haven't turned heads already, trying to make it happen at least today and tomorrow before the caucusing. >> yeah. they sure are. they're all out today. we've seen so many events, so many still to come. we're getting a lot of great interviews. the candidates are talking to cnn. why? they want to send a last minute message to voters here. cnn just caught up with hillary clinton. hillary clinton about to take the stage in ames, iowa, home of iowa state university. she spoke to dan merica about the e-mail controversy, 22 e-mails held saying they contain top secret information. the producer asked could e-mails provide political fodder for the republicans. listen. >> changes anything. so if there's some motivation it is not going to effect the fundamental facts because they remain the same. there have been as others have pointed out some constant leaking but my view on this, dan, is i didn't send or receive an

. >>> hello, everyone, i'm john berman. >> i'm kate bolduan. we begin with breaking news right now. we've got a race, folks. brand-new poll numbers just out from monmouth university show that bernie sanders, with his biggest lead yet, over hillary clinton. this is in new hampshire. a 14-point lead. take a look. sanders is now at 53%, clinton 39%. back in november, the same poll had clinton leading by three points. >> leads just about every group you can imagine, registered democrats, 50 to 42. two months ago clinton was in front. independents it's 58 to 34. seniors, 50 to 44. take a look at this, women, bernie sanders leads hillary clinton with women 50% to 44%. how will hillary clinton respond today? we're about to find out? she's set to speak to iowa state university. you're looking at live pictures right now. this event scheduled to begin any minute. cnn political correspondent brianna keilar is there. you know, trailing in new hampshire now by a lot, hillary clinton is, barely out in front in iowa. this campaign is getting very tough for hillary clinton. >> reporter: it certainl

. >>> all right, john berman here in iowa. just one day to go until the actual voting.aucuses, 7:00 p.m., monday night, cnn covering every last minute of it. we have been looking at the polls. showing a very tight race on both sides. want to talk more about this, specifically the republican side. i'm joined by a jeb bush supporters, ana navarro. senior political journalist, ron brown. ana, i want to start with you wbt republican side. everyone talking about the des moines register, bloomberg poll, with donald trump out in front. if i had said to you back when jeb bush announced, back when there was shock and awe, raising tens of millions for the super pac, that we would be sitting here at the iowa caucuses and trump, pro choice and obama supporters in past, leading going into caucus night, what would you have told me? >> to seek medical attention. to go see a therapist. i would have been very concerned about your sanity. listen, there is no doubt that donald trump has surpassed all expectations. has brought nothing but one surprise after another. i think most of us have

let's bring back john berman as well and errol lewis.he debate does not have donald trump in it so he's not relevant in terms of the issues. help us understand from your perspective. on immigration, who is guilty of changing a position for political motives? is it rubio because of the shift from earlier from what he wanted to achieve with the gang of eight, or is it ted cruz in what he said in hearings versus what he is saying now. >> rubio is back pedaling as fast as he can. if you hear what he wants it's a modified gang of eight bill. he's in favor of some path to legalization. ted cruz is trying to recast and he cited a couple of radio commentators. oh, they agree with me. they're partisans. they're doing something completely different. he shifted from a texas senator saying i support some kind of path. we want to bring people out of the shadows to this new position. the new position is essentially nobody at any time will make it into this country. both of them have changed their position. they have changed with the politics. unfortun

. >> and i'm john berman.

i'm john berman. >> i'm christine romans. two weeks until the presidential

. >> you kind of look like john berman. >> only. it is thursday, january 28th. 5:00 a.m. in the east. tonight, seven republican candidates debate each other in iowa. minus donald trump. for the first time, donald trump pulling out of the fox debate. citing issues with megyn kelly. bill o'reilly spoke to trump. >> they will have terrorists coming at

i'm john berman. >> and i'm christina romans. nice to see you. it's 4:00

john berman is inside. to life after being completely shutdown on saturday. new york got 26.8 inches. it was 0.1 inch away from making history. that was the biggest snow storm ever. this one almost broke that record. there was a travel ban in new york city. that is almost unheard of on saturday but it did allow snow plows to get out and make the streets here passable today. so this morning we are seeing commuters come back. if you want to join me live back here i'm going to come down from my snow mound to show you what is going on here. you can see everybody on the sidewalks and it looks like the winter wonderland over there at central park. this is very icy. it is below freezing here. all of this is very slippery. look at the yellow tape. this signifies how dangerous it is. it says falling ice. the skyscrapers have huge icicles. if you walk too closely to the building you could get pelted with one. lots of danger even though it does look like the winter wonderland here. let's see how people are coming into

i'm john berman here in iowa. d drama and focused on the nation's future, you are in for a treat. speaking live this hour, donald trump, ted cruz, john kasich, marco rubio. we have some live pictures right now of marco rubio holding a rally in cedar falls. right now, the polls have him in third place. his team wants you to believe he's on

john berman is live in iowa with all the highlights and lowlights. >> reporter: hi, alisyn.hat you wish for. everyone has been waiting and praying for a moment when donald trump would exit well. they got it to an extent last night. he was not on that stage. but the atmosphere for not being there, one of peril. for debate stage absent donald trump, incident was hardly a debate absent donald trump. from the very first question. >> let's address the elephant not in the room tonight. >> reporter: to the very first joke. >> let me say i'm a maniac and everyone on this stage is stupid, fat, and ugly. ben, you're a terrible surgeon. now that we have gotten the donald trump on out of the way -- >> reporter: to a completely changed dynamic. with no trump lightning rod, other candidates had tood

. >> john berman claimed the establishment strikes back. how did that go over? >> strikes back. >> wasn't that fascinating? that was i think the really turned off a lot of conservatives. people on the far. on twitter it was harsh. laura gram let nikki haley have it sort of accusing her of trying to tamp down enthusiasm that a lot of conservatives see as good for the party. but yeah, this is a republican senator, a republican governor of south carolina bashing the republican presidential front runner in her state. it might make the debate the republican debate there later this week a little bit awkward, especially if governor haley is in the audience. 83, it's fascinating to see. it offers a little insight into where the heads of senate majority leader mitch mcconnell and house speaker ryan are at. those are the two who decides who gives the republican response. >> ye. >> very interesting to see eric bradner in iowa. of course that, debate is in iowa on thursday night. great to see you. thank you so much. >>> on the democratic side of the race, a lot going on the

i'm john berman in for jake tapper. we are following two big breaking stories.ost wanted men captured today in mexico. drug kingpin "el chapo," juan guzman, now in police custody. you will see him being transferred to an airplane here. he walks out of that car, moving into an airplane. there he is. that is our first sight of him since he was captured in a dramatic raid. we are waiting for a news conference from the mexican president, that is expected to begin any minute. but first, breaking news in our national lead. an urgent warning going out to law enforcement after a gunman tried to