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Corey Lewandowski Out As Trump Campaign Manager; Senate Rejects Series Of Gun Measures; FBI Releases Gunman's 911 Transcript; Record Heat Stretching Into Rockies; Brexit Vote Countdown; Jeep In Actor's Death Flagged For Safety Issue. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired June 21, 2016 - 05:30   ET

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


[05:30:00] CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Donald Trump firing his campaign manager. The drama between his family and his campaign.

RYAN NOBLES, CNN ANCHOR: The Senate failing to pass four different gun control amendments. Democrats and Republicans tearing into each other.

ROMANS: The 911 calls made by the Orlando terror gunman during the attack. What he told police.

Welcome back to EARLY START. Good morning, everyone, I'm Christine Romans.

NOBLES: Thank you so much for joining us. I'm Ryan Nobles. It is 30 minutes past the hour and happening this morning, Donald Trump set to meet with top evangelical leaders. The meeting coming just one day after Trump abruptly fired his campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski.

Trump and Lewandowski have shared a strong bond since the start of the campaign but sources within the Trump camp say the firing was a long time coming after months of tension stemming, in part, from what the sources describe as Lewandowski's struggle with Trump family members for control of the campaign. Now, sources say Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, were central to Lewandowski's downfall.

Until yesterday, Lewandowski seemed to be made of Teflon. When he was arrested for simple battery against a reporter back in March, Trump quickly waved away suggestions that he fire Lewandowski. The battery charges were later dropped. Now, Lewandowski still standing by Trump yesterday, telling CNN's Dana Bash that he will do everything he can to help Trump win in November.

Let's get more on this now from CNN's politics executive editor, Mark Preston -- Mark.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICS EXECUTIVE EDITOR: Good morning, Ryan and Christine. Trump campaign sources tell CNN the firing of Corey Lewandowski is going to be a good thing because it was time to streamline duties within the campaign.

This source adds that campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, who had been fighting with Lewandowski over control of the campaign, can now finally start making long overdue hiring decisions to begin trying to match the massive ground operation Hillary Clinton already has in place.

Sources tell CNN that Lewandowski's departure came after complaints had reached a critical mass. The family, notably Ivanka, Donald Trump's daughter, were not happy with his work. And one adviser tells CNN that Manafort told Trump it was either Lewandowski or himself, not both of them, that could stay at the top of the campaign.

In an interview Monday the presumptive GOP nominee had nothing by positive things to say about his former campaign manager.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESUMPTIVE REPUBLICAN NOMINEE: He's a good man. We've had great success. You know, I got more primary votes than anybody in the history of the Republican Party by a tremendous amount, not by a little bit. I think Corey's terrific. I watched him before. He was terrific toward me. Said I was a talented person, and he's a talented person. He's a good guy. He's a friend of mine. But, I think it's time now for a different kind of a campaign.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PRESTON: Now, Lewandowski wasn't the only departure from the campaign yesterday. Trump aide, Michael Caputo, who had been working on convention preps, tweeted out "Ding dong the witch is dead!" immediately after Lewandowski was fired. Hours later, Caputo resigned, calling the tweet an "unforced error" -- Ryan, Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: What a day. Mark Preston, thank you for that. Overnight, four different gun control amendments defeated in the U.S. Senate. Amendments spurred by the horrific terror attacks in Orlando last week but, as expected, blocked Monday by a snarl of partisan gridlock. Democrats using the defeat of the measure to attack Republicans. Hillary Clinton issuing a one-word statement, "Enough", above the names of the 49 people killed in Orlando.

Senator Chris Murphy, who led the 15-hour filibuster last week that forced Monday's vote, telling "The Washington Post", ahead of the vote, that he believes Republicans are partially responsible for the attacks like the one in Orlando. He said this, "Republicans have decided to sell weapons to ISIS."

Senator Elizabeth Warren echoing Murphy's words in a tweet of her own. The fight is not over. Moderate Republican senator, Susan Collins, expected to unveil her own compromise proposal as soon as today.

NOBLES: And let's sort through all of this now -- all of the morning's big political stories. We're joined now by CNN politics reporter, Eugene Scott, and he is here on set with us in New York. Eugene, piggy-backing off of what Christine just said about Hillary Clinton reacting to the gun vote in Washington, and then let's also show exactly where she stands in terms of fundraising and campaign staff.

[05:35:00] And you can see she's got a lot more money than Donald Trump has right now. She has a lot more staffers, and she has seemed to have systematically gone through a number of these issues and tried to show that she is more prepared to handle them. She did it with national security and today she's going to do it with the economy.

Is this kind of a death by a thousand cuts, if you will, of the Trump campaign to show that she's the more serious candidate and, as a result, will be a more serious commander in chief?

EUGENE SCOTT, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Well, that's certainly what the secretary is hoping. I think what all of this actually shows is this is not here first time doing something like this and she's hoping to let people know that experience really matters and expertise matters. And she's going to communicate that, she hopes, with them -- this speech that she's going to give regarding the economy.

She's been very critical toward Donald Trump who campaigns primarily on having been a successful businessman. She wants people to know that actually he is not the best person for the economy. But there are quite a few questions about whether she actually is as great for the economy as she has said.

ROMANS: I'm sure she's going to try to paint him as someone who takes in a lot of debt, highlyleveraged. Someone who has used the bankruptcy code to wash away his failures and move forward. I'm sure she's going to try to say if he reneges on his agreement -- that negotiating to him is not paying the little guy what he deserves -- what they deserve to be paid.

But, will she spend much time talking about what she will do? Infrastructure spending, making sure that people have the right education for the workplace. I mean, what is the balance for her there, do you think?

SCOTT: What she really needs to do, especially in terms of getting support from Bernie Sander's camp --

ROMANS: Right.

SCOTT: -- is go more left. She's been very vocal about wanting to see the minimum wage raised to $12. There are people who want to see it higher at $15. She needs to produce more plans for tax credits that will help more middle-class families.

She needs to be very aggressive on addressing issues of inequality, especially, given her recent criticism regarding whether or not she is in touch with the middle-class Americans as much as she says she does. And so, she can be aggressive with Donald Trump but she really has to focus on what she will do.

NOBLES: And does she go far enough for the Sanders camp in this speech? Does she talk about Wall Street? Does she talk about breaking up the big banks, especially when you're starting to see some polls now starting to show her pulling away from Donald Trump? Does she need to make that the olive branch to Sander's supporters as much as she did maybe three weeks ago?

SCOTT: Well, that's what some Sanders supporters are saying, but the thing that's really interesting is the people who voted for Hillary Clinton -- quite a few of them voted for her because she didn't go as far left as Bernie Sanders. So, while she may want to pick those people up, she does risk losing some people, as well. Obviously, not losing them to Donald Trump but she still needs to keep the lane of support that has got her this far.

ROMANS: Let's talk about discipline in these campaigns. You know, a lot of people in the Hillary Clinton campaign -- she's got a lot of surrogates. They've got teams in every state, right?

SCOTT: Yes.

ROMANS: A strategy for every state. Donald Trump has been sort of embroiled in who's managing the campaign?

SCOTT: Sure.

ROMANS: You know, what are his statements? Is he walking back a statement or does he not. His son, Donald Trump, Jr., spoke to Bloomberg. Listen to what he said about the Lewandowski situation.

SCOTT: Sure.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, JR.: Were we involved in talking about this with him, sure, but he's always going to come up with his own mind. And again, I think we left him in a good way with Corey. We had a great relationship with Corey. He has done something that's incredible and, you know, I wish all separations of this nature went that well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: And, you know, we're hearing from insiders that there was pressure from Donald Trump's family to get rid of Corey Lewandowski -- to fire Corey Lewandowski. What does this say -- what does this mean about the discipline in the campaign going forward for the next 140 days against Hillary Clinton in the general?

SCOTT: It means that there's going to have to be a major shift if Donald Trump wants to close the gap between him and Hillary Clinton. One of the big criticisms against Corey was that there was a style issue and we see that's a current -- a common, excuse me, attack toward the Donald Trump campaign, usually towards Donald Trump himself, not necessarily to Corey. But it will be interesting to see if he can become more measured, more temperate, more disciplined.

ROMANS: So, Corey Lewandowski was sort of like a mirror of Donald Trump's own style --

SCOTT: Right, right, right.

ROMANS: -- and maybe he needs someone who tempers that. SCOTT: Well, they did have a very close relationship and some may say they're peas in a pod, but one of the reasons that Paul Manafort was brought on earlier is because he had so much experience -- experience in places that Donald Trump did not have that could help direct Mr. Trump towards where he hopes to go ultimately.

NOBLES: Is there a risk there because we've seen the teleprompters brought out now --

SCOTT: Sure.

NOBLES: -- for Donald Trump. He's clearly not nearly as comfortable when he has to read a script as he is when he's just winging it from behind a podium.

SCOTT: Sure.

NOBLES: Lewandowski is famous for saying let Trump be Trump, stealing the "WEST WING" line. Is there a danger if he tracks too far away from what got him this far?

SCOTT: I would imagine so, but letting Trump be Trump got him this far. He wants to go further and maybe he has to be less Trumpy to get to the place that he wants to go ultimately, and that's why he's hoping to bring people on who were not going to come on when Corey was on that can hopefully get him there.

ROMANS: Less Trumpy. I think you've coined a phrase, less Trumpy. Eugene, nice to see you.

SCOTT: You, as well.

ROMANS: Glad you're here. Time for an EARLY START on your money. Stock markets are mixed around the world. Asian markets closed higher. European stocks are slightly higher. London still down a bit. U.S. stock futures are up.

[05:40:00] Wall Street's Brexit headache got a dose of relief yesterday. You can see the Dow gained 130 points. Voters in the U.K. will decide Thursday whether the country will leave or remain in the European Union. Now, polls suggest the vote is still too close to call. Investors fear a Brexit would lead to global financial turbulence.

The billionaire investor, George Soros, coming out saying a vote to leave the E.U. would trigger a market crash leading to a Black Friday.

NOBLES: Horrifying details about the Orlando terror attack. The gunman pledging allegiance to ISIS, calling 911 in the middle of his rampage. That's next.

[05:40:45]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[5:44:50] ROMANS: A full transcript of the Orlando terrorist's 911 call to police has now been released by the FBI without redactions. The chilling conversation lasted less than a minute. The killer referring to himself as an Islamic soldier. And when asked his name by the 911 dispatcher, the gunman replied "My name is: I pledge of allegiance to Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi of the Islamic State."

[05:45:00] More now from CNN's Ed Lavendera in Orlando.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED LAVENDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christine and Ryan, controversy swirling around the release of a partial transcript of phone conversations that Omar Mateen had with investigators and a 911 dispatcher during the deadly rampage here at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida.

In that 911 call, which lasted about 50 seconds, the original transcript omitted any reference to ISIS andits leader, Abu Bakr Al- Baghdadi. Many Republicans in Washington very critical of the FBI for doing that. They called for the full release in transparency in that, and then a few hours after releasing that transcript the FBI included those references to ISIS and its leader.

Those phone calls also included three different phone calls that Mateen had with the Orlando police crisis negotiators. Those calls added up to about 28 minutes' worth of conversation where Mateen threatened that there was a bomb in a car outside. He would ignite if it if "anybody did anything stupid", but those calls not fully released.

The audio of that was not released, but just simply partial transcripts of the phone conversations that Mateen had during his three hours inside of the Pulse nightclub before he was gunned down just after 5:00 a.m. last Sunday -- Christine and Ryan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBLES: Thank you, Ed. The Supreme Court has decided not to hear a challenge to Connecticut's ban on assault weapons. That ban was enacted after the Sandy Hook massacres in 2012. Gun rights activists challenged it, calling it a violation of the Second Amendment. They say they intend to resurrect that challenge once the high court has nine justices again. Connecticut's law bans the sale of all military- style semi-automatic weapons and magazines that hold ten rounds or more.

ROMANS: Three New York City police commanders arrested as part of a wide-ranging federal corruption investigation. Prosecutors allege the police officers acted as a "private police force" in exchange for gifts, bribes, and perks worth more than $100,000. Two of the high- ranking NYPD officers are part of a federal investigation into fundraising by New York City mayor, Bill de Blasio.

NOBLES: Record-setting heat is spreading into the Rockies. Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri has the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Christine and Ryan, good morning to you both. Watching these temperatures -- another day here with record temps expected across portions of the intermountain west. The bulk of the heat wants to be displaced a little farther to the east.

You take a look at what we have in store potentially for Tuesday. Places like Colorado Springs, mid and upper 90's. Record temperatures expected there. Cheyenne, Wyoming same story, same score. Work your way out towards Casper, Wyoming, temps just shy of 100 degrees there. Records dating back to 1988 and, of course, Las Vegas expecting another toasty day at 114 degrees.

And pretty widespread 100 plus temperatures still around the desert southwest. Some areas could get up into the 120's. In fact, look what happened in Death Valley on Monday afternoon. Global high temperature right there, 126. That was a daily record. Needles, California had 125. Set their June all-time record, as well, with these temperatures.

So, here's how it looks. Pick your choice. Just about everyone going to be toasty here. Denver into the upper 90's, Washington around 90 degrees. Here around New York City, temps into the upper 80's. And again, the bulk of the heat centered across the middle portion of the country and parts of the intermountain west, with the 100's coming back into the middle portion of the week, guys.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right, Pedram, thank you for that. Let's take a look at what's coming up on "NEW DAY". Chris Cuomo joins us now. Hey, Chris.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR, "NEW DAY": Hello, my friends, good to see you. So, we all know the big story coming out the Trump campaign. He led Donald Trump to the Republican nomination, but now Corey Lewandowski is out of a job. The man on your screen was the campaign's chief manager but fired in some kind of coup by the Trump family.

We're going to take a look at how real this is -- this rationale for why it happened. We're going to hear from Lewandowski, himself, and Trump. We're also going to debut some new poll numbers, which will you give the context for this kind of tumult within the Trump campaign right now. What's going on between Clinton and Trump, and why?

Now, despite public outcry, four votes on gun control go nowhere in the Senate. What were the bills about, what's the politics behind them, is there any compromise that could come out of this situation -- anything that would be called progress? We're going to speak with the White House press secretary, Josh Earnest, about the efforts to curb gun violence, my friends.

ROMANS: All right, thanks, Chris. Looking forward to that.

NOBLES: Thanks, Chris.

ROMANS: Breaking overnight, Boeing saying it has signed a deal -- a big deal -- with Iran. This would make it Iran's first major contract with a U.S. company since sanctions were lifted. An EARLY START on your money, next.

[05:49:55]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:54:00] ROMANS: Emotions are raw right now in the U.K. The British are just two days away now from a critical Brexit vote, and everyone is still reeling from the shocking murder of lawmaker Jo Cox. Roses adorning the seat she once occupied in Parliament. Cox's colleagues preparing to make their final case whether Britain should either exit the European Union or stay -- the Brexit. Polls show the vote too close to call but a big debate in Wembley Arena could affect the outcome.

I want to go live to London and bring in CNN's Phil Black. And, Phil, George Soros, a legendary investor, out this morning with these really kind of dramatic comments, saying if you have Britain leaving the E.U. it would cause like a Black Friday event in global markets.

PHIL BLACK, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, this is an interesting intervention, Christine. Certainly, George Soros, a very famous currency speculator, a man who has made a lot of money in the past by betting against the British pound, has written an Op-Ed piece today warning that Britain's currency will plummet by at least 15, possibly more than 20 percent in the event of a Brexit, and that will impact the financial well-being of people across the country.

[05:55:00] So, it's a very credible intervention there and certainly matches what the British government, led by Prime Minister David Cameron, the leader of the remain camp have been saying, stressing throughout and especially in these final days, that Brexit is for life and could damage the British economy enormously.

At the same time, you've got those campaigning for Brexit, doubling down on their core messages of controlling immigration, returning sovereignty to Britain. They say the only way to do that is to vote for Britain to exit the European Union.

Both sides really trying to go after the wavers, the undecided, which are so important because the opinion polls are still so close. The country is split. It could still go either way according to the latest data. And so both sides will be looking to score a big win in the final television debate tonight before a live audience of some 6,000 people at London's Wembley Arena.

Now, the potential for a Brexit can perhaps be measured by the fact that what you've got now are lots of high-profile people coming out pleading with British voters to go the other way. The latest one is the soccer star, David Beckham, who, in a statement just this morning, has asked people or said to voters we really should be for the sake of our children, our children's children -- be dealing with the problems of the world together in a very outward way, Christine.

ROMANS: David Beckham, George Soros, two people unlikely comrades in this. All right, thank you so much for that, Phil Black. Let's get an early start on your money this morning. Asian markets closed higher, European stocks slightly higher. U.S. stock futures, they're up too right now. Wall Street's Brexit headache -- a bit of relief yesterday. The Dow gained 130 points.

Fed Chief Janet Yellen likely to face questions about the so-called Brexit when she testifies in front of the Senate Banking Committee today. Her testimony will also be closely watched for any signs when the Fed will raise interest rates.

Breaking overnight, Boeing signing a deal with Iran. It is the country's first contract with a major U.S. company since nuclear sanctions were lifted. Boeing would not comment on the specifics of this deal but tells "CNN Money" it negotiated the deal under the authorization of the U.S. government.

Iranian media -- state media -- says the country purchased 100 passenger airliners. The deal will help Iran modernize a fleet that is among the oldest and the most dangerous in the world. It still needs to be approved by the U.S. government. One official there telling state media of the 250 planes in the air in Iran, 230 need to be replaced.

The Jeep involved in the accident that killed Star Trek actor, Anton Yelchin, had been flagged by the automaker for a safety issue. Yelchin died over the weekend in Los Angeles, police say, when the SUV rolled down his driveway and pinned him against a brick post. Fiat Chrysler issued a warning on the 2015 Grand Cherokee in April. It says more than 100 crashes have been reported because of a problem with the gear selector that causes confusion about whether the vehicle is in park.

NOBLES: A major shakeup in Donald Trump's campaign. "NEW DAY" starts right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Why were you fired?

COREY LEWANDOSKI, FORMER TRUMP CAMPAIGN MANAGER: I don't know the answer to that.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: His children were very forceful in saying it's time for Corey Lewandowski to leave.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's the right and appropriate decision to make.

TRUMP: It's time now for a different kind of a campaign.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Trump is being massively outdone by Clinton.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're talking about 700 staffers for Hillary versus 70.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He does need to put a ground game in place.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're not going to propagate their violent rhetoric.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Backlash on Capitol Hill. The Justice Department released the full transcript.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm in Orlando and I did the shootings.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The killer made these murderous statements in a chilling, calm, and deliberate manner.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh my God, the bounce house. Is everybody accounted for? Oh (bleep).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo and Alisyn Camerota.

CUOMO: No kids in that bouncy castle.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Near the power lines like that?

CUOMO: That's good.

BALDWIN: What is up with bounce houses?

CUOMO: You know, I don't think people know that you need to tie them down and how much they fly around, you know. We see it all the time.

BALDWIN: Yes, too many times. We'll talk about that on this Tuesday, my goodness.

CUOMO: But there are a lot of things flying around this morning. Good morning to you. Welcome to your new day. It's Tuesday, June 21st, 6:00 in the east. Alisyn is off, Brooke Baldwin is in. You've got B.B. and C.C. for you here this morning.

And talking about bouncing around, how about the Trump campaign? A seismic shakeup there. Campaign manager Corey Lewandowski out. Trump's children said to be behind this firing. In an extensive interview with CNN, Lewandowski talks about his abrupt departure and the campaign's fundraising troubles. Now, can Trump reset his campaign just weeks before the convention, and if so, how?

BALDWIN: All of this, as CNN has new national polling out this morning on the 2016 race. How do the two presumptive nominees stack up, and who do Americans think is best to handle the issues after the Orlando terror attack?