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Clinton Responds to Report Criticizing Email Use; Trump Hits Clinton, Faces New Backlash; Donald Trump & Bernie Sanders Agree to Debate: Will It Happen?; No End in Sight to Airport Misery; G7 Summit Focuses on Terror. Aired 4-4:30a ET
Aired May 26, 2016 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:00:13] GEORGE HOWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking overnight: Hillary Clinton on camera responding to a scathing report on how she handled her e-mail while serving as secretary of state. What's happening in the investigation today?
ALISON KOSIK, CNN ANCHOR: Donald Trump blasting Hillary Clinton overnight, but also facing new backlash from within his own party.
HOWELL: And the Donald agreeing to debate Bernie Sanders before the California primary. Will it happen?
Good morning and welcome to EARLY START. I'm George Howell.
KOSIK: Good morning. I'm Alison Kosik. Welcome as well.
It's Thursday, May 26th. It's 4:00 a.m. in the East.
And breaking overnight: Hillary Clinton responding on camera to the inspector general on her use of e-mail server while serving as secretary of state. Saying Clinton did not seek permission to use a private e-mail server and would not have received the okay if she had asked.
Last night, Clinton defended herself, saying the report's criticism is nothing new.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, there may be reports that come out, but nothing has changed. It's the same story. Just like previous secretaries of state, I used a personal e-mail. Many people did. It was not at all unprecedented.
I have turned overall my e-mails. No one else can say that. I have been incredibly open about doing that. I will continue to be open. And it's not an issue that is going to affect either the campaign or my presidency.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOSIK: Today, the State Department weighs in on a Freedom of Information lawsuit that would compel testimony about Clinton's e- mails from Hillary Clinton herself. The suit is one of several filed by the group Judicial Watch, the conservative watchdog organization.
Taking a deposition today from a top aide to Clinton when she was at the State Department, Cheryl Mills is asking the judge to prevent release of the video from the deposition. Mills says she fears it will be used in a, quote, "partisan attack against Clinton". Now, whatever the judge decides, Judicial Watch will be able to release a transcript of Mills' testimony.
HOWELL: And as sure as the sun rises, Donald Trump pouncing on that news of the inspector general's highly critical report, blasting Clinton at a rally overnight. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Crooked Hillary. She's as crooked as they come. She had bad news today, as you know, from some reports. Came down weren't so good. Not so good. The inspector general's report. Not good. But I want to run against Hillary. I just want to run against Hillary.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOWELL: And more breaking news overnight. Signs that there may be trouble brewing at the highest levels of the Trump campaign, as a top aide leaves six weeks after he was hired.
CNN's Jim Acosta has more on that.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: George and Alison, as Donald Trump is holding rallies and speeches out west, his campaign has parted ways with the top staffer. The campaign abruptly announced that former Scott Walker aide, Rick Wiley, was leaving Team Trump last night, saying his role was always a temporary one. Trump's sources dispute that, and say Wiley was fired, adding the presumptive GOP nominee was hearing complaints about Wiley from throughout the campaign.
Meanwhile, Trump kept up his attacks on his main Democratic targets these days, Hillary Clinton and Elizabeth Warren.
Here's what Trump had to say about Warren at a rally in Anaheim.
TRUMP: And I was being hit by everybody. I was being hit by the Republicans. I was being hit by Pocahontas. That's -- Pocahontas. Pocahontas, that's Elizabeth Warren. I call her goofy. She is -- no, no, goofy.
She gets less done than anybody in the United States Senate. She gets nothing done. Nothing passed. She's got a big mouth. And that's about it.
ACOSTA: There were most clashes with Trump protesters and police outside a rally in Anaheim. Trump is trying to keep thing calm into the GOP. He was scheduled to have a call with House Speaker Paul Ryan whose aides knock down reports he was on the verge of endorsing Trump. They want to give Ryan all the time he needs -- George and Alison.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KOSIK: All right. Our thanks to Jim Acosta for that.
Donald Trump's public feud with the Republican governor of New Mexico is raising new doubts about his ability to unite the GOP. Trump blasting Governor Susana Martinez for not doing the job, blaming her for New Mexico's high unemployment rate and food stamp dependency.
This after Martinez told reporters she was too busy to join Trump at his rally.
[04:05:00] Former presidential candidate John Kasich racing to Martinez defense, tweeting this, "Governor Martinez is an outstanding governor who has brought conservative reform to a blue state. She is exactly what our party and nominee should be, lifting up and supporting, not tearing down."
HOWELL: We are hearing a confession of sorts from Donald Trump. He admits his past praise of Bill and Hillary Clinton may have been just a bit insincere. Trump making an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel. Listen here as he explains why he was complimentary of the Clintons just a few short years ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIMMY KIMMEL, COMEDIAN: In 2008, I want to get this right, you said you thought Hillary would be an excellent president. And as recently as 2012, you said you thought she was terrific. What did she do? What happened?
TRUMP: Let me explain. I will tell you. When I'm a businessman, I had a story recently where they said Trump was a world class businessman. All over the world, we're doing jobs. I speak well of everybody. If people ask me about politicians, I speak well. So, when they ask me about Hillary, she's wonderful, the -- everybody's wonderful. That's how it is, including contributions. They ask for contributions. I give contributions.
KIMMEL: So, you were full of (EXPLETIVE DELETED) when you said that?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOWELL: Jimmy and Donald Trump there.
Kimmel also asked on that show if Trump would be willing to debate Bernie Sanders in California after Clinton refused. Trump said he would do it for charity. Just a few hours ago, Trump had his answer. As Sanders tweeted this, "Game on. I look forward to debating Donald Trump in California before the June 7th primary."
But, Alison, here's the question, you know, will that happen? There are no dates on the books. Have the campaigns talk? We'll see.
KOSIK: Well, the question is certainly out there now.
HOWELL: Yes.
KOSIK: All right. First on CNN, news that Hillary Clinton plans to launch her TV ad battle for California on Friday. Campaign aides tell CNN the relatively modest TV buy under a million dollars will target mainly Latino and Asian-American voters. That is a sign that Hillary Clinton is taking Bernie Sanders' challenge for California seriously.
On the other hand, Clinton spent Wednesday stumping hard not against Sanders, but against Donald Trump.
CNN's Jeff Zeleny has more on that.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: George and Alison, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders fighting hard again in California. Hillary Clinton campaigning in northern California today. Bernie Sanders in southern California. They're competing for the June 7th primary.
But it sounds more and more like the general election every day. Hillary Clinton was going hard after Donald Trump on immigration.
CLINTON: When Donald Trump talks about deporting, forcibly deporting 11 million immigrants, he's not only talking about ripping families apart, is he? He is talking about deporting more than one half of the 2.4 million farm workers who help feed our country.
ZELENY: Of course, that is just a preview to the general election message she hopes to carry against Donald Trump particularly in those key swing states like Nevada, Colorado, other states with significant Hispanic populations.
Now, Bernie Sanders is focusing on Donald Trump as well. He is saying that he is the Democrat who can beat Donald Trump.
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If we win the Democratic primary in California and other five states that are up on June 7th, we're going to have enormous momentum going in to the Democratic Convention. When we leave the Democratic Convention with the nomination, Donald Trump is toast.
ZELENY: But at the end of the day, only one of these Democrats will actually take on Donald Trump. Hillary Clinton has a significant lead still in delegates. Bernie Sanders is still trying to fight to the finish line, trying to make it 50/50 at least in pledged delegates. Unlikely he will do that. But he is still trying to make the argument Democrats should give him one last look -- George and Alison.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KOSIK: All right. Thanks to Jeff Zeleny for that. And Disney CEO Bob Iger firing back at Bernie Sanders overnight. At the rally in Anaheim Tuesday, Sanders asked the crowd if anyone was making a working wage at Disney. He then said the company is an example of how the economy is rigged.
It's not the first time Sanders has been critical of Disney. He previously accused the media company of exploiting people in China and called on Disney to keep the jobs in the U.S. So, Disney CEO Bob Iger, he took to Facebook posting this, quote, "To Bernie Sanders, we created 11,000 new jobs at Disneyland in the past decade and our company has created 18,000 in the U.S. in the last five years. How many jobs have you created? What have you contributed to the U.S. economy?", end quote.
You may remember that Sanders and G.E. CEO Jeffery Immelt, they got into a big tiff over similar accusations with Sanders saying G.E. is destroying the moral fabric of America. So, it is interesting to see these CEOs really get out there and punch back at some of these comments that politicians are making.
[04:10:03] HOWELL: You know, they are taking a lot of heat this campaign cycle.
KOSIK: They really are.
HOWELL: Yes.
Well, passengers stuck in lines for hours at airports across the country. And here's the thing: it is not going to get any better. Look at that. There in Hartsfield-Jackson in Atlanta. What the security officials are saying, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOWELL: If you plan on flying in the next few months, bad news for you. You have to prepare for a great deal of misery. The head of the TSA, Peter Neffenger, telling a House committee, quote, "We have a challenge this summer", he says. Translation: no end in sight to those long lines, those agonizing lines at security check points. The TSA boss assuring angry lawmakers he is meeting the challenge head on.
More now from CNN aviation correspondent Rene Marsh.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RENE MARSH, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Alison and George, the head of TSA under pressure on Capitol Hill Wednesday due to the painfully long wait times at the nation's airports. Now, the agency already increased overtime for screeners.
[04:15:03] An additional 768 TSA officers will be on the job by mid- June. They set up a command center to monitor wait times across the country. That way, they know where officers need to be.
They are also making more part-time workers full-time. But these actions likely won't drastically change things at airports right now. Passengers should still be prepared to wait.
And it just isn't about convenience, it's a security issue. We saw what happened at Brussels airport. Terrorists targeted a soft area of the airport. And so, there is a concern about a high volume of people stuck in lines in that soft part of any airport.
Now, we are expecting a record number of people flying this summer, about 231 million. And the bottom line is, TSA does not have enough screeners to match that need. When asked how many screeners the agency does need, TSA could not immediately tell Congress -- Alison, George.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KOSIK: All right. Rene Marsh, thanks for that.
Eleven states are suing the Obama administration over its school bathroom guidance for transgender students. The federal suit filed in Texas claiming the White House is overstepping its reach.
Schools have been told to allow transgender students to use facilities corresponding with their identity and they fear losing federal funding if they don't comply. A lawsuit maintains the administration's guidance has no bases in law and could cause seismic changes in school operations.
HOWELL: An about-face by the House on the contentious LGBT amendment. The measure passing last night after failing by a single vote in a divisive session last week. The amendment upholds President Obama's 2014 executive order banning federal contractors from discriminating based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
KOSIK: South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley signing a new law making it illegal for a woman to get an abortion once her pregnancy reaches 20 weeks. The measure makes no exception for rape or incest, and only allows doctors to perform the procedure after 20 weeks if the fetus has a fatal anomaly or the life of the mother is threatened. Doctors who disobey the law face jail time.
Governor Haley has not commented publicly since signing the bills.
HOWELL: Breaking overnight. At least one person is dead following a shooting ahead of a hip hop concert here in New York. It happened backstage. The rapper T.I. was preparing to go and in video apparently taking inside the venue. People, it shows, frantically scrambling to leave the dance floor.
Authorities say T.I. was in the building, but two other people were performing at the time of the shooting. An NYPD detective says three men and one woman were shot. Video for a suspect or suspects in this case. CNN has reached out to T.I. representatives for comment.
KOSIK: Emergency operations under way right now in northern Kansas. That's where a huge tornado touched down hours ago. Look at this. You are looking at Dickinson County, west of Topeka. The funnel cloud amazing there, said to be unbelievable, a quarter mile wide at times. Several people were hurt in the storm, 15 to 20 homes destroyed. A shelter has been set up for those forced to flee their homes. God, such a destructive storm.
HOWELL: And here is the thing: Kansas and other areas in the bull's- eye today.
Our meteorologist Derek Van Dam has the very latest -- Derek.
DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Another day and another round of severe weather, George and Alison. This time, 12 tornadoes touched down across the central U.S. the potential for severe thunderstorms this afternoon.
In fact, a modest risk from Missouri to Nebraska and central Texas, large hail and isolated tornadoes, marginal risk for portions of Iowa and even stretching towards Chicago, something we'll monitor very closely. With temperatures reaching 90 degrees in New York, yesterday, our quality of our air has actually reduced.
That's why we have an air quality alert for many of the major cities along the New England coastline. So, do take care as you step outside. Temperatures in the upper 80s, once again for the nation's capital, as well as Central Park, still monitoring the potential of tropical storm development. This off the coast of the Carolinas into the course of the weekend.
Back to you.
KOSIK: Tropical storm developing, you know, June 1st is hurricane season. Here we go.
HOWELL: Here we go. Wow.
KOSIK: President Obama in Japan meeting with world leaders at the G7 Summit. The focus: terrorism. We're live, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[04:24:17] KOSIK: President Obama joining other world powers at the G7 Summit focusing on terrorism. Leaders vowing to aggressively crackdown on terror financing.
White House correspondent Michelle Kosinski live for us from Japan.
So, Michelle, are any specifics being discussed on how to actually crackdown on the financing of terrorism, specifically ISIS?
MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Alison.
Yes, you know, this is something that's been talked about for a very long time. And there has been some progress made in this area, but now, they want to look at sharing more financial information, a couple of other specifics on how basically these countries can work together.
Sharing information is a big deal to prevent terror itself, not just the financing of it, too. Remember, Belgium was criticized for not reacting as quickly to information that they already had.
[04:25:05] There were some mistakes in the process. And as these countries leaders are meeting here today and talking about terror, right now in Belgium, raids are going on to try and hunt down more suspects.
So, yes, even this is really, I guess you could say overarchingly an economic meeting, terrorism and other threats are going to play a role in what's talked about. I mean, we are also talking about cybersecurity that these countries are going to agree to basically look at cyberattacks as similar to an act of war, to an armed attack. And that they would take appropriate action after something like that happens.
I mean, the U.S. has been the victim of cyber attacks many, many times. We have been seeing these hackings over and over. The threat of North Korea, I mean, that's kind of a constant. They're going to talk about that, too.
One interesting thing as the unknowns and the question marks and the risks in the world go. I mean, one big question mark is who is the next U.S. president and how is American foreign policy going to change as a result?
And during one of the little breaks, as we saw the leaders speaking together, we could hear President Obama and Renzi of Italy talking about Donald Trump. We actually heard his name mentioned. It sounded like Obama was talking about his mistake. We don't know what they were talking about.
But the White House said it is a problem whenever the president sits down with world leaders. The American election is a hot topic if not the first thing they want to hear about and discuss because their question is what happens next after President Obama leaves office? Alison and George?
KOSIK: U.S. -- I was going to say, U.S. politics not the on official agenda, but, of course, a huge conversation point there.
All right. CNN's Michelle Kosinski following the G7 Summit -- thanks so much.
HOWELL: Well, when it comes to the election, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, she is defending herself against a scathing report on her use of e-mail while serving as secretary of state. We'll have that, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
