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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Hillary Clinton Responds to Report Criticizing Email Use; Trump Hits Clinton, Faces New Backlash; Donald Trump & Bernie Sanders Agree to Debate: Will It Happen?; G7 Summit Focuses on Terror; Cavs One Win Away from NBA Finals. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired May 26, 2016 - 05:00   ET

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

(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.

[05:00:01] 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)

GEORGE HOWELL, CNN ANCHOR: 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". Whatever the judge decides, Judicial Watch will be able to release a transcript of Mills' testimony.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN ANCHOR: 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: And more breaking news overnight. Signs that trouble may be 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)

HOWELL: A lot to talk about and to break it all down in this battle over Clinton's e-mail. Let's talk with our political reporter Eugene Scott live in Washington, D.C. with us.

Eugene, always good to have you.

So, let's talk about this e-mail situation. This report basically says that Hillary Clinton never got the permission to use the e-mail server that she used. How serious is this for her right now in this campaign fighting against Donald Trump and also Bernie Sanders?

EUGENE SCOTT, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Well, this is very concerning to many people who have been paying close attention to this issue I think for a while. The former secretary has maintained that she did have permission for this personal usage, and this report now brings that into question. And so, this will be concerning to some people. I don't think, though, depending on where you stand in the Clinton or

Trump camps that this is a deciding factor for you. Most people have already made up their minds whether or not they figure or believe that the e-mails will be big issue that reflects on her character and --

HOWELL: But, Eugene, pardon me for interrupting.

SCOTT: Sure.

HOWELL: But I want to ask you. I mean, when you think about Trump's branding of Clinton, you know, crooked Clinton, he just keeps putting it out there.

KOSIK: That's crooked Hillary, let's get it right.

HOWELL: Yes, there you go.

KOSIK: I'm just quoting Trump, of course.

HOWELL: Get the branding right. Trump keeps putting it out there.

When he is branding like that and you have these independent voters, people who are still trying to make up their minds and they see something like this, wouldn't that play into it?

SCOTT: Yes, it certainly will. I mean, it raises doubt. Once you say I have permission and a report comes out and says, you don't, there is integrity stuff there and there some doubts about whether you can believe you are who you say you are.

Whether or not that coming from Trump is convincing to you remains to be seen. It will affect some people. I don't know that it's going to be the deciding factor. This report regarding emails for Clinton that Trump is hoping it will be.

KOSIK: All right. Let's move on to a little bit more about Donald Trump. You know, this rally that he had in New Mexico, the governor there, .Susana Martinez not rallying around Donald Trump when he had this rally there.

[05:00:04] And so, what did he do? He took aim at her. And yet, he is supposed to be uniting the Republican Party.

Not only is he going after fiercely, going after this governor. You know, he's also going after a female governor as well. Not helping him too much, is it?

SCOTT: You would think he would want to figure out a way to not make her lack of being there with him less of a deal than it was. It spoke volumes because she is a female governor but she's Latina.

And it seems very telling and we've got signs of this before. But like, if you are not really on the Trump train and just slightly on it, that's not going to bide too well with him and his supporters. But ultimately, that could come back to hurt him. The optics of that don't look very good for some who's doing so poorly with women and Hispanics.

KOSIK: A bullying overtone. Something we have seen throughout his campaign. It is interesting to see those come to her defense, Kasich for one. John Kasich, tweeting this, "Governor Martinez is an outstanding governor who brought conservative reform to a blue state. She is exactly who our party and nominee should be, lifting up and supporting, not tearing down."

He really hits a note there, and with Trump taking aim at the governor like that, he was insulting not just to the governor, but really coming down hard on the economy there in New Mexico as well.

SCOTT: Very much so. That goes on to further the concerns that Hillary Clinton has brought up about Donald Trump regarding him just not being the best person for the economy, that he does not know how to answer the problems that are affecting Americans mostly or work with the people who are at the forefront of solving those issues, especially if they are not supportive of him.

HOWELL: Eugene, let's talk about Donald Trump the other night on Jimmy Kimmel, making some news of his own. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIMMY KIMMEL, COMEDIAN/TV HOST: Are you prepared to debate the major issues facing our largest state and the country before the California primary? Yes or no? He wants to know if you will debate him.

TRUMP: Yes, I am. How much is he going to pay me?

KIMMEL: You would do it for a price? What would the price be?

TRUMP: Yes, if I debated him, we would have such high ratings and I think I should take that money and give it to some worthy charity.

KIMMEL: If it was done for charity.

TRUMP: If he paid a nice sum, I would love to do that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: So, who is the he? Bernie Sanders.

So, Trump saying he would debate Sanders. Now, no date has been set. This is Bernie Sanders's response, "Game on. I look forward to debating Donald Trump in California before the June 7th primary." But again, no debate date has been set, don't know if these two campaigns have talked.

Eugene, where do we start here? Let's talk about, what would this do? This would raise Bernie Sanders profile and my goodness. What would it be like in the Clinton war room right now if this happens?

SCOTT: Sure. I'm not surprised at all that Bernie Sanders is interested in this. This keeps us talking about him. He, in many ways, is hanging on by a thread. I know many of his supporters would not like to acknowledge that.

But any attention at this point is good attention, especially with a debate like most believe Sanders will handle Trump in a debate. So, this doesn't work against him at all.

What I'm surprised by is that Donald Trump would bring up let's donate this to charity, considering he has the issues he does with the last time he suggested let's do something instead and donate that to charity. On top of the fact we don't have his tax forms. We don't know he has been as philanthropic as he says he is, period. So, that's just really suprising.

KOSIK: All right. Eugene Scott, thanks so much for your analysis this morning. We'll try to you later in the show.

SCOTT: Sure.

HOWELL: Thank you.

SCOTT: Thank you.

KOSIK: Disney's CEO Bob Iger firing back to Bernie Sanders overnight. At a rally in Anaheim on 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.

This is 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 jobs in the U.S.

So, Disney's CEO Bob Iger, well, 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 Jeffrey Immelt, yes, they got into a tiff over similar accusations with Bernie Sanders basically saying that G.E. is ruining the fabric of America because it's shipping jobs overseas.

Interesting to see these CEOs really getting out there on social media, firing back, writing op-ed.

[05:10:01] HOWELL: Yes. They are taking a lot of heat this campaign cycle.

KOSIK: They have.

HOWELL: President Obama is in Japan meeting with world leaders at the G7 Summit, the focus there, terrorism. CNN is live there, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KOSIK: President Obama joining other world powers at the G7 Summit focusing on terrorism. The president expected to address the media at any moment now.

White House correspondent Michelle Kosinski traveling with the president, joining us live from Japan.

So, what is the president expected to talk about?

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Alison.

Yes, this was unexpected, too. I mean, this kind of suddenly popped up on the schedule. Even though it was just yesterday that the president held a press conference with Japan's Prime Minister Abe.

[05:15:02] That, though, was largely overshadowed by the prime minister's anger over an American civilian contractor in Okinawa charged with the murder of a young woman. President Obama had to address that.

So, today, in just a few minutes, I think President Obama is going to want to hit on the points that he did not get to yesterday or highlight progress that was made in all of these G7 meetings today, likely on terror. They have been getting more aggressive on terror financing. Possibly something new in the fight against ISIS.

I think the president will want to reinforce the collaboration that's been going on among these nations. But he's also going to take some questions from reporters and that's when things get interesting, Alison.

KOSIK: Let's talk more about the pressure from Abe on President Obama about this murder that may have involved a U.S. military member. How much pressure is President Obama facing with the U.S. military presence in Japan as they talked about this incident?

KOSINSKI: Yes, this is a subject unfortunately keeps coming up every couple of years. Every time there is an involvement either a service member that's on the base, or in this case, it was a civilian contractor. But it tends to just stir up the anger of the people in that area of Okinawa about the U.S. presence there.

So, it's a very touchy subject. There's talk about will there be revisions to the status of forces agreement here. There is unlikely to be any changes.

But President Obama in this case really felt the need to express his deep regret over this incident. I mean, vowing to follow through with the investigation and make sure if the individual is guilty is brought to justice.

So, in that venue, the pressure was very much on him, and in a sense, the eyes of the world. I mean, this is the one press conference he will do in Japan with the prime minister. The prime minister brought that up right out of the gate.

Not the most comfortable situation for the president to be in. But all that's going to change. He's going to talk to the press again today and tomorrow, the historic visit to Hiroshima, where he's really going to be front and center than be able to make his speech and his point about peace in the world and security and getting away from war -- Alison.

KOSIK: All right. CNN's Michelle Kosinski live from Japan. Of course, we will come back to you when the president stands before the mics.

HOWELL: Eleven different 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, they face jail time. Governor Haley has not commented publicly since signing that bill to law.

LeBron James and the Cavaliers now just one win away from a return trip to the NBA finals. Coy Wire is live this morning with the bleacher report, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:23:26] KOSIK: LeBron James and the Cavaliers are just one win away from their second trip to the NBA Finals.

HOWELL: And Coy Wire has this all this morning in the bleacher report.

Coy, good morning.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Top of the morning to you, George and Alison. These teams played eight times. The home team has won every single time.

Last night, King James. On the verge to returning to the sixth consecutive finals.

And on the other side, the Toronto Raptors and Demar Derozen hot last game, colder than man eating a milkshake in a middle of a snowstorm last night.

Second quarter, Kevin Love with the 20-yard strike to the open receiver, LeBron James. Love, James and Kylie Irving with more than 20 points. Cavaliers win by 40. Game six heads back to Toronto tomorrow.

Tonight, 9:00 Eastern, TNT, Warriors and Thunder. Golden State hoping they're staying alive, staying alive. Down two games to three against OKC. If the Thunder wins, they'll be rumbling on to the finals this season.

It's not just the Warriors. The Bay Area has another team. San Jose Sharks going to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time in the team's 25-year history. They beat the St. Louis Blues 5-2 on the home ice in the shark tank last night. The western conference champs. Next up, winner of tonight's decisive game seven between the Penguins and Lightning.

Finally, some of the world's best pro gamers battle out in the e- league debut.

[05:25:00] We got Turner Studios in Atlanta. One of the biggest college conferences will hold its own video game championships.

Home to schools like USC, UCLA, Oregon, Stanford. Go Cardinal. The PAC 12 will be the first conference to back competitive gaming. It's going to be sweet stuff. We'll see if they offer scholarships some day.

But if you want to catch ELeague, log on to the live web stream on Twitch this afternoon and watch TBS on Fridays all season long at 10:00 p.m.

These guys with the best players around the world playing "Counterstrike" for a pool of $1.4 million.

HOWELL: Coy, thank you.

Breaking news: we are following President Obama live in Japan as he is at the G7 summit. Let's listen.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: A press conference after, and so I thought I'd give you guys a chance to fire off some questions.

Just a quick comment G7 meeting so far. It's been productive. I think one of the benefits of the g7 is you have like minded countries are committed to democracy and free markets and international law and international norms.

So, for us to be able to get together and focus on critical issues not only affect individual countries, but the order is vitally important. We very much appreciate the work that the Japanese, and Prime Minister Abe have done in organizing the meeting.

So far, we discussed issues of the global economy and need to continue to accelerate growth. To use all the tools at our disposal to make sure we are not only putting people back to work, but also helping to lift wages and helping to make sure we can sustain the momentum of the recovery that's taking place in the United States most prominently, but also, we're starting to see some progress in Europe.

The fact the Greek debt crisis has been resolved for a reasonable length of time, I think, should help. But we all got a lot of work to do and we continue to focus on making sure that each country based on its particular needs and capacities are taking steps to accelerate growth. We had a chance to talk about trade, not only TPP and our involvement in that, but also TTIP. And making sure we finish negotiations before the end of the year and emphasize the importance of pushing back against protectionism and competitive currency devaluation or the kinds of beggar thy neighbor's strategies that all too often end up leaving everybody worse off.

We began to touch on some of the key security issues that are important to all of us. South China Sea, and maritime security, touched on issues surrounding Ukraine there we are starting to see progress in the negotiation, but still seeing too much violence. We need to get that resolved. We're going to spend some time tackling some of the major international hot spots.

So, that gives you an update of where we're at so far. With that, I'm just going to dive in and you guys can ask some questions. We're going to start with Garner.

REPORTER: Mr. President, 11 of your presidents decided against going to Hiroshima. What do you know that they didn't? What are they worried about that you aren't?

And just sort of generally on nonproliferation, because I think that's your focus and that's obviously a priority for you. How do you communicate risks and concerns about this in a way that would do more to get it resolved? Because it seems to be getting worse.

I mean, Americans worry a lot with terrorists with suicide vests, which are unlikely events that can kill dozens. Do they worry enough about the risk of nuclear mishaps and attacks that could potentially kill millions instead of dozens? In short, are we paying enough attention to Kim Jong-un and Pakistani tactical nuclear weapons, these sorts of these things that you know are going on?

OBAMA: Well, it's a terrific question. First of all, I won't characterize how other presidents were thinking about these issues. I can tell you how I'm thinking about it. And that is the dropping of the atomic bomb, the ushering in of nuclear weapons was an inflection point in modern history.