Sanders Stormed on Stage; Donald Trump's Big Revelations
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: New this morning: the Secret Service forced to act as protesters try to storm Bernie Sanders on stage. He is campaigning hard ahead of the California primary. Now, Hillary Clinton is set to head West as well.</s>JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Happening today. Big revelations from Donald Trump. How much he really raised for the veterans and the behind-the-scenes operations of Trump University. They're both to set to go public this morning. Big, big day for the Trump campaign.</s>ROMANS: The Cincinnati Zoo offering sympathy, but no apologies for killing a gorilla to save a little boy. Hear what officials are now saying forced them to take action. Good morning. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.</s>BERMAN: Nice to see you this morning. It is Tuesday, May 31st. It is 4:00 a.m. in the East. And new this morning, the Secret Service springs into action to protect Bernie Sanders, as he was campaigning in California. Overnight, at least four protesters tried to storm the stage at a Sanders rally. It's happened in Oakland. Secret Service agents immediately stepped in to protect the candidate. Watch here.</s>SECRET SERVICE AGENT: Step away. Right there. Right there.</s>SECRET SERVICE AGENT: We're good here.</s>SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We don't get intimidated easily.</s>BERMAN: One of the protesters was picked up and carried off with the hands cuffed behind his back. Bernie Sanders was fine. He carried on with his stump speech. It is unclear who the protesters were or motivated them. This is always scary at a campaign event. As for the campaign itself, just one week left until the California primary where Bernie Sanders hopes a strong showing against Hillary Clinton will prove he is still a viable candidate.</s>ROMANS: This isn't the first time in just this election cycle that candidates have faced security threats. Last Friday, Trump's motorcade sped off after protesters threw things at it, leaving a rally in Fresno, California. In March, Secret Service agents surrounded Trump when a jumped a barricade trying to rush the stage at a rally in Ohio. Back in August 2014, before Bernie Sanders had Secret Service protection, Black Lives Matter activists took over the stage and Bernie Sanders microphone at a rally in Seattle. And in April, 2014, someone threw a shoe at Hillary Clinton as she gave a speech in Las Vegas.</s>BERMAN: And a noteworthy change this morning in Hillary Clinton's campaign schedule with polls in California tightening. One shows a two-point lead for Clinton there. She has now decided to make a big, multi-stop five-day swings through the states starting Thursday. She canceled stops and said California full-time starting Thursday. Bernie Sanders has been there nonstop putting all of his resources in the state. He calls it the whole enchilada. You know, he's even at the Golden State Warriors game last night.</s>ROMANS: Did that ever game, that game?</s>BERMAN: Never ends, still going on as we speak.</s>ROMANS: All right. Today is a big day for Donald Trump with two big revelations ahead. At noon Eastern, the so-called playbooks for running Trump University will be unsealed. A lawsuit against the university claims it was a scam that defrauded students, some up to $35,000 each. Trump himself already trashing the case and the judge who Trump calls, quote, "a hater of Donald Trump who happens to be Mexican." Those are his words. Trump tweeted last night, "I should have easily won the Trump University case on summary judgment, but have a judge, Gonzalo Curiel, who is totally bias against me." The other disclosures are supposed to come this morning at a news conference where Trump says he will settle all those questions about his January fund-raiser benefitting veterans. Questions like how much money did they really raise? How much did Trump give himself and which groups receive the money? CNN's Phil Mattingly has the latest.</s>PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John and Christine. It has been four months since Trump decided to skip a Republican debate and instead host his own event in Iowa, an event he said was a fund-raiser for veterans group. Now, Trump at a time claimed that he raised more than $6 million for the event. Yet, here we are just a day after Memorial Day, and where that money went and how much he actually raised still open questions, until today. An interesting of this is that Donald Trump's standing amongst veterans organizations or at least veterans in general hasn't appeared to suffer through all of this. Rolling Thunder, the event he attended this weekend in Washington, D.C., veterans are very supportive of Trump as he showed throughout that event. Still, this an issue that has dogged him. Media organizations, CNN among them, have dug in on this, trying to get answers. Trump has responded, criticizing those organizations on the campaign trail on Twitter, on Instagram trying to really settle all of this at that conference today at Trump Tower -- John and Christine.</s>BERMAN: Thanks, Phil. All right. New details this morning on magazine editor Bill Kristol and his efforts to find or fund a third party candidate for president. Sources familiar with the plan being developed by Kristol and other Never Trump Republicans tell CNN they have done extensive polling and talked to potential candidates and backers. A third party campaign, it would be a steep climate this point. Look at the calendar right there. The deadline for getting on the ballot in Texas has already passed. The deadline for North Carolina is June 9th. Kristol would only tell CNN that his plan is still in the works. Now, several names have been floated as people independent candidates, Mitt Romney, Nebraska Senator Ben Sasse, Illinois Congressman Adam Kinzinger. But they have one thing in common all three of these candidates, they all say no way, they are not running.</s>ROMANS: All right. Things are back to normal at the White House this morning, after a brief partial lockdown on Monday. Secret Service ordered the lockdown after someone threw a metal object over the north fence. President Obama was inside at the time. Now, this object was tested and determined not to be dangerous. An unidentified suspect is in custody this morning.</s>BERMAN: Former Attorney General Eric Holder is praising Edward Snowden. He tells CNN analyst David Axelrod that the ex-NSA contractor performed a public service by starting a national debate over government surveillance operations. The former attorney general does have issues with the way Snowden illegally leaked classified documents and insists he must be held accountable.</s>ERIC HOLDER, FORMER ATTORNEY GENERAL: I think there has to be a consequence for what he has done. But I think, you know, in deciding what an appropriate sentence should be, I think a judge could take into account the usefulness of having had that national debate.</s>DAVID AXELROD, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: But you think he will still serve time?</s>HOLDER: Well, I think he should. I mean, I think he harmed American interests. I mean, I know, I can't go into it.</s>AXELROD: He would say he didn't.</s>HOLDER: No, that's not true. That's simply not true. I mean, I know that there are ways in which certain of our agents were put at risk. Relationships with other countries were harmed. Our ability to keep the American people safe was compromised.</s>BERMAN: Snowden spent the last few years in exile in Russia. Holder says he should return to the U.S. to deal with the consequences of what he has done.</s>ROMANS: Bad news for filmmaker Roman Polanski, who has managed for decades to avoid extradition to the U.S. to face sentencing for a 1977 child sexual abuse conviction. The government of Poland says it will appeal to the country's Supreme Court. A lower court has decided not to extradite Polanski. There's no expiration date on the sentencing for statutory rape and according to an agreement between the U.S. and Poland, Polanski is still eligible for extradition. Polanski is best known as the director of "Rosemary's Baby" and "The Pianist". All right. Seven, eight minutes past the hour. Time for an early start in your money. Global markets are higher this morning, especially in Asia. The U.S. investors return from the Memorial Day holiday to a week jam-packed with economic data, including a jobs report Friday that could be key to a Fed interest rate hike this summer. Right now, U.S. futures are higher. If you are hoping to fly to Venezuela this summer, you may be out of luck. Two more major airlines, Latin America-based LATAM, and European carrier Lufthansa announcing they are suspending flights to Venezuela. The two joined Delta, American Airlines and Air Canada in reducing or suspending service. What's going on here? Venezuela's economy heavily reliant on oil, low crude prices have strangled finances. The airline cited not enough demand from business travelers as the major reason for cutting service.</s>BERMAN: All right. Officials at the Cincinnati Zoo now defending their call to shoot and kill a gorilla. They say they were trying to protect that little boy. Just terrifying pictures. Hear why they say they would do the same thing again if they had to. That's next.