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Clinton Responds to Email Report; Trump Slams Hillary on Email Probe; Donald Trump & Bernie Sanders Agree to Debate: Will It Happen?; No End in Sight to Airport Misery; G7 Summit Focuses on Terror. Aired 4:30-5a ET
Aired May 26, 2016 - 04:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[04:31:11] ALISON KOSIK, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking overnight: Hillary Clinton playing defense over a scathing new report on how she used e- mail while serving as secretary of state.
GEORGE HOWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Donald Trump blasting Clinton overnight, but facing backlash from Republicans.
KOSIK: Donald Trump agreeing to debate talking about debating Bernie Sanders before the California primary. But will it happen?
HOWELL: It's a big question.
KOSIK: Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Alison Kosik. Good morning.
HOWELL: I'm George Howell. Thirty-one minutes past the hour.
And breaking overnight: Hillary Clinton responding on camera to a scathing report from the State Department's inspector general on her use of e-mail server while serving as secretary of state. That report obtained by CNN says Clinton did not seek permission to use a private e-mail server and here's the thing, it says that had she asked to receive the okay, she wouldn't have got it.
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) HOWELL: 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.
KOSIK: Donald Trump pouncing on the news of the inspector general's highly critical report, blasting Clinton at a rally overnight.
(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)
KOSIK: More breaking news overnight. Signs that trouble may be brewing at the highest level of the Trump campaign, as a top aide leaves six weeks after hired.
CNN's Jim Acosta has more on that.
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.
[04:35:00] --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)
HOWELL: Donald Trump's feud with the governor of New Mexico is raising doubts raising doubts about his ability to unite the party. Blaming her for new Mexico's high unemployment rate and food stamp dependency. This after Martinez told reporters she was too busy to join a Trump rally in the state.
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."
KOSIK: A confession from Donald Trump. He admits his past praise of bill and Hillary Clinton may have been a little bit insincere. Trump on Jimmy Kimmel. Listen to why he was so complimentary of the Clintons just a few short years ago in 2008.
(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)
KOSIK: OK. 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." We shall see.
HOWELL: 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. The ads are one 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.
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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. Jeff Zeleny, thanks for that.
Time for an early start on your money. The bulls are back on Wall Street. The Dow jumps 145 points yesterday, add that to Tuesday's rally, an average, gained 358 points in just two days. Those gains coming after the market was pretty much flat for three straight sessions.
So, what's driving the investor optimism? Fears about the Federal Reserve, they've subsided, and there is growing confidence that the economy seems to be able to withstand a rate hike if it happens in June. We've also seen strength in the housing market this week.
[04:40:02] And we are watching oil prices go higher, getting close to $50 a barrel. And we're also seeing the relations between stocks and oil. It's not nearly as strong as it was earlier in the year, but we are seeing Wall Street continuing to keep close eye on crude oil prices.
As for today, Dow futures are up slightly. Stock markets in Europe posting slim gains. We did shares in Asia finishing mostly higher overnight. Oil still doing its darnedest to hit that $50 mark and I'm watching the gas prices slowly inch higher as I pull up my car to get a fill up.
HOWELL: That's not good news.
Well, this is not good news and there's fury on Capitol Hill. There's anger in airports across the country and there is no quick fix.
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KOSIK: If you plan to fly in the next few months, prepare for misery.
The head of the TSA, Peter Neffenger, telling a House committee, we have a challenge this summer.
[04:45:04] Translation, no end in sight to the long, agonizing lines at security checkpoints. The TSA boss assuring angry lawmakers he is meeting the challenge head on. More now from 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.
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)
HOWELL: Rene Marsh, thank you.
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 gender 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.
KOSIK: 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.
HOWELL: In 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.
KOSIK: Breaking overnight: at least one person is dead ahead of a hip hop concert. It happened back stage as T.I. was preparing to go on. A video showing people 4antically 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 four people in total, three men and one woman, were shot. Police are canvassing video for a suspect or suspects. CNN has reached out to T.I. representatives for comment.
HOWELL: Let's talk about what happened there in Kansas. Look at this, these tornadoes. The emergency operations there is certainly underway. That is where a huge tornado touched down just hours ago. Take a look. This is Dickinson County, just west of Topeka. The funnel cloud said to be a quarter mile wide at times.
Several people were hurt, 15 to 20 homes completely destroyed. A shelter has been set up for those who have been forced to flee. My goodness, the power of that storm. Yes.
KOSIK: And unfortunately, Kansas and the rest of the Plains right in the tornado bull's-eye again today. Let's bring in meteorologist Derek Van Dam for the latest.
Good morning.
DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Unfortunately, the severe weather threat continues today George and Alison. But looking back to yesterday, we had 12 reported tornado touch downs across the central U.S., with over 50 reports of hail and 35 wind damage reports. The perfect scenario for a severe weather set up across central U.S., warm and humid air from the Gulf of Mexico, and also stationary boundary across the planes that helping fire these storms, especially with the daytime heating from the sun.
We'll see more thunderstorms develop. In fact, we have a moderate risk of isolated tornadoes, damaging winds and large hail. This from central Nebraska through portions of Kansas and central portions of Texas. Be on the lookout for a strong thunderstorm or two near Chicago.
Look at these temperatures really starting to soar. Nashville will hit 90 today, 85 for St. Louis, 86 for the Windy City.
[04:50:02] Temperatures along the East Coast for the most part in the upper 80s as well.
And the heat remains in central park this weekend. Get outside and enjoy. Back to you.
HOWELL: Derek, thank you.
KOSIK: All right. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg just submitted plans for a big construction project. We're going to tell you why he is tearing down homes in his neighborhood when we get an early start on your money, next.
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HOWELL: Welcome back. President Obama is joining other world powers at the G7 summit focusing on terrorism. Leaders vowing to aggressively crackdown on terror financing.
White House correspondent Michelle Kosinski is live for us in Japan.
Michelle, good morning.
MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, George.
Right. Yes, basically, how can these countries work together better, share more information and just be part of this collaboration in a deeper way, to fight the terror financing network, to try to prevent the terrorism in the first place, to try to share information to try to get at terror suspect.
[04:55:09] But also looking at other threats that are a part of terrorism like cyberattacks for example. That's another thing that they want to work together on, basically be more aggressive in going after the perpetrators and try to prevent it, George.
HOWELL: And, Michelle, this is the president's tenth trip now to Asia. But this one is very different than others.
KOSINSKI: Yes. I mean, he has been trying to make this pivot, this rebalance to Asia, to strengthen ties out here, as well as kind of create this counter-balance to the ever growing influence of China in this region. There have been plenty of conflicts on that front. So, the U.S. has been trying to shore up ties with some other
countries and try to sort of, you know, push for the rules of trade to be dictated more by the U.S. than by China ultimately.
So, to see the president normalize relations with Vietnam, lift the arms embargo against Vietnam, that's been in place for 50 years. I mean, this is something that would have been unthinkable a couple of decades ago. And, you know, back to World War II, to visit Hiroshima tomorrow, the place where the U.S. dropped a nuclear bomb, not to apologize, but to highlight the human cost of war and to push for denuclearization around the world -- George.
HOWELL: It is indeed a historic moment, traveling with the president.
CNN White House correspondent Michelle Kosinski live for us in Japan -- Michelle, thank you for your reporting.
KOSIK: All right. Let's get an early start on your money. Dow futures point higher after a nice rally the past two days. Stocks markets in Europe and Asia, they are mixed. We're seeing crude oil prices sitting just below $50 a barrel.
And crude oil actually making an impressive comeback. At this time last year, oil was trading close to $60 a barrel. Then prices crashed. There's a supply glut and fears about the health of the global economy.
All that cut prices in half. Well, crude oil wound up hitting a low of $26.21 in February. Well, guess what? Prices have almost doubled. But experts are saying they should stick around, right around $50 a barrel for the rest of the year.
So, what does that mean for us? What does it mean for you? Higher gas prices, what else? The national average hitting $2.31 overnight, still less than a year. Even with the recent increase, drives will see the cheapest Memorial Day weekend gas prices in more than ten years. At least that's good news.
Mark Zuckerberg planning to do major construction. The Facebook CEO just submitted plans to tear down and rebuild four houses surrounding his Palo Alto home. Zuckerberg bought the homes in 2012 and 2013 for about $44 million. That's according to Zillow estimates. The construction plans show that Zuckerberg wants to make the new smaller than the original size.
Now, the plans are saying the goal is to update the homes, but maintain the character of the neighborhood. Zuckerberg purchased his current home in 2011 for $7 million. He has done major renovations on his home since.
Some reports saying the construction plans are for privacy and security reasons. Interestingly enough, interesting point on this, when he bought up one of the homes around him, one of the homes was apparently going to be built tall enough where the people in it could look down in his master bedroom. So, he thought, probably thought, hmm, I'm going to buy these homes to make sure that doesn't happen. HOWELL: That's the way to change the scenario entirely, isn't it?
EARLY START continues right now.
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KOSIK: 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?
HOWELL: Donald Trump blasting Hillary Clinton overnight, but also facing new backlash from within his party.
KOSIK: Also breaking overnight: Donald Trump agreeing to debate Bernie Sanders before the California primary. But will it happen? Good morning and welcome to EARLY START. I'm Alison Kosik.
HOWELL: And I'm George Howell, 4:59 on the East Coast.
And happening now, breaking news from overnight. Hillary Clinton responding on camera to a scathing report from the State Department's inspector general about her use of e-mail while serving as secretary of state. That report obtained by CNN says Clinton did not seek permission to use a private e-mail server and here's the thing, it says she would not received the OK had she asked.
Last night, Clinton defended herself, saying the report's criticism is nothing new. Listen.
(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)
