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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Trump to Accuse Clinton of Corruption in New Speech; Clinton Calls Trump "Dangerous" for the Economy; Orlando Gunman Visited Club Hours Before Attacking; North Korea Test Fires Two Missiles; Brexit Vote in Britian. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired June 22, 2016 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:23] RYAN NOBLES, CNN ANCHOR: Donald Trump just hours from unleashing new attacks on Hillary Clinton, accusing the former secretary of state of corruption while on the job. Where will he hit the hardest?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESUMPTIVE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: He's written a lot of books about business. They all seem to end at Chapter 11.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Hillary Clinton calls Donald Trump dangerous for the economy, making dire predictions of an economy rigged for Wall Street.

NOBLES: And new information about what the gunman in the Orlando gay club shooting was doing hours before the massacre.

Good morning. Thank you for joining us. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm Ryan Nobles.

ROMANS: Nice to see you again this morning, Ryan.

I'm Christine Romans. It's Wednesday, June 22nd. It is 4:00 a.m. in the East.

In just hours, Donald Trump will deliver what is expected to be a scathing speech blasting Hillary Clinton's foreign policy. Overnight, a source telling CNN, Trump will try to use his speech to retake control of the political narrative, something Republicans have been praying for. Among other things, he'll accuse Clinton of pay for play corruption while she was secretary of state, attack's Clinton use of a private email server and slam her support for countries with shoddy human rights records toward women and gay people.

On Tuesday, Trump leveled a new line of attack against Clinton. Speaking to evangelical leaders, he questioned her faith and also promised to appoint anti-abortion judges if elected.

CNN's Jim Acosta has more. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Christine and Ryan, Donald Trump is trying to pivot away from some of the recent troubles hampering his campaign. He's got a speech set for tomorrow aimed at attacking Hillary Clinton here in New York City. And as Trump has been brushing off concerns about his poll numbers and recent fund- raising totals, the presumptive GOP nominee has been attempting to turn up the heat on Hillary Clinton. At a meeting with evangelical leaders here in New York, Trump questioned Clinton's faith.

Here's what he had to say.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESUMPTIVE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: About Hillary in terms of religion. She's been in the public eye for years and years, and yet there's no -- there's nothing out there. There's like nothing out there. It's going to be an extension of Obama, but it's going to be worse, because with Obama, you had your guard up. With Hillary, you don't.

ACOSTA: And as part of the Trump campaign's full-on assault on Hillary Clinton, he's created a new website called LyingCrookedHillary.com. But the campaign says it's not ready yet and will be up and running in the coming days -- Ryan and Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBLES: Trump also on the offensive against his own party this morning as he defends a stunningly low start to his election fundraising. The Trump campaign reporting just $1.3 million cash on hand at the start of June. That's only $41 million behind Hillary Clinton. It's a gap that has many Republican leaders alarmed.

But Trump is pinning some of the blame on Republican fundraisers for failing to line up in support. Now, at the same time, Trump suggests Clinton earned her big fund-raising lead by accepting, quote, "blood money".

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: When she raises this money, every time she raises money, she's making deals. Can I be the ambassador to this, can I do that? Make sure my business is taken care of. I mean, give me a break. All of the money she's raising, that's blood money. That's blood money.

Look, she's getting tremendous amounts of money from Wall Street. She's going to take care of Wall Street. She's getting tremendous amounts of money from lots of people. She's going to take care of all those people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBLES: And we will ask Trump's attorney Michael Cohen about fund- raising and more later this morning during "NEW DAY's" 7:00 hour.

ROMANS: All right. Looking forward to that. Today, Hillary Clinton moves in to round two of her new attacks on Donald Trump as a menace to the U.S. economy. On Tuesday in Columbus, Ohio, Clinton gave her first general campaign speech on the economy. Following the pattern of reform policy speech earlier this month, Clinton painted the billionaire mogul as a danger to America.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINTON: You might think that because he has spent his life as a businessman, he'd be better prepared to handle the economy. Well, it turns out he's dangerous there too. Just like he shouldn't have his finger on the button, he shouldn't have his hands on our economy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: CNN's Jeff Zeleny is with the Clinton campaign. He has more from Ohio.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Christine and Ryan, Hillary Clinton delivering the second part of her economic message today in Raleigh, North Carolina, on the heels of a speech Tuesday in Columbus, Ohio. This was a blistering take down of Donald Trump's economic policies, going at his -- heart of his economic success, his financial success, how he has in fact made his money.

Hillary Clinton made clear that all Donald Trump's products are not made in America.

CLINTON: And interestingly, Trump's own products are made in a lot of countries that aren't named America.

Trump ties are made in China. Trump suits in Mexico. Trump furniture in Turkey. Trump picture frames in India. Trump bar wear in Slovenia -- and I could go on and on. But you get the idea. And I'd love for him to explain how all that fits with his talk about "America first".

ZELENY: Now, politically speaking, that could be a problem for Donald Trump here in Ohio where the eighteen electoral votes of the state are critical for the general election race with Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.

But moreover, Hillary Clinton gave a complete take down of Donald Trump on the economy but she used historical perspective, saying he would be a disaster here and she also tied in this foreign policy speech she made some three weeks ago in San Diego, another installment here of how she's trying to define him before he can define himself. Today, she continues that in North Carolina -- Christine and Ryan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBLES: Jeff, thank you.

Hillary Clinton is narrowing her list of possible running mates with a final decision expected in the next several weeks. Clinton meets privately behind closed with Democratic Party leaders today in Washington. California Congressman Xavier Becerra will be there. He's considered by Democratic leaders to be a leading choice for V.P.

Also said to be on Clinton's short list, HUD Secretary Julian Castro, Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, and Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia.

You can get to know Congressman Becerra when he joins us live on "NEW DAY" at 8:00 Eastern.

ROMANS: All right. A last guest effort to get a gun control bill to the Senate appears to be dead on arrival, a measure floated by Maine Republican Susan Collins looks like it may be gaining traction on both sides of the aisle. But now, Democrats claim it doesn't go far enough.

The NRA blasts it as unconstitutional. Here we go. We get more from CNN senior political reporter, Manu Raju.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: Now, Ryan and Christine, Susan Collins trying to push forward a bipartisan deal, actually having some influential senators on her side about this issue trying to close the so-called terror loophole.

In other words, people who are on that no-fly list, preventing them from getting guns. She has some influential senators, like Lindsey Graham of South Carolina on the right, and people on the left like Tim Kaine of Virginia.

But what Susan Collins does not have are numbers, because Republicans have a lot of concerns over this bill, particularly leadership, Republican leaders do not believe it goes far enough in addressing constitutional concerns, due process concerns. And Democratic leaders are worried that it does not have teeth. That it would not do enough to crackdown on suspected terrorists.

And then you have the issue of politics. The NRA, of course, as we know, very powerful, is quietly lobbying against this, we are told.

And separately, Democrats don't want to lose a potent issue on gun control, heading into a critical election year. So, a lot is happening right here. There's a big, strong push. But chances for enacting this bill into law are rather slim -- Ryan and Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBLES: All right. Manu, thank you for that update.

House Republicans will not vote to block the new Harriet Tubman $20 bill. GOP Congressman Steve King of Iowa did try to amend the Treasury Department funding bill with a proposal prohibiting the redesign, but the House rules committee decided not to consider it on the House floor. Representative King claims adding the abolitionist icon to the $20

bill is nothing more than liberal activism on the part of the president.

ROMANS: Interesting.

All right. New information on what the Orlando club gunman was doing just hours before the massacre. We've got that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:12:53] NOBLES: Some new details this morning emerging about the Orlando gunman. A man who attended the same Florida mosque as Omar Mateen tells CNN he notified the FBI back in 2014 of his suspicions because of radical comments Mateen had made. Mateen's father says his son received a proper Islamic burial in Florida but gave no other details. All this as we learn Mateen was at the Pulse nightclub hours before the massacre.

We get more from CNN's Ed Lavandera.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christine and Ryan, investigators are trying to piece together the hours leading up to the deadly shooting at the Pulse nightclub here in Orlando. Investigators are focused on building a timeline in those hours leading up to it. Law enforcement sources tell us that Omar Mateen had come to the Pulse nightclub several hours before the shooting, had actually purchased a ticket to get in and had a wristband and then left two hours before the shooting.

Now, what he was doing during those two hours, investigators weren't aren't sure, but that's one of the things they're looking at, but he did return to the club and begun the shooting spree. Investigators suspect that perhaps Mateen had come here to the club to check out the security situation inside. All of this happening several hours after Mateen had to abruptly lift and stormed out of his house which is about two hours away.

According to law enforcement sources, the say Mateen's wife has told investigators three was angry, had packed a bag full of his guns and made the drive up here to Orlando. So, that timeline of that day Saturday into early Sunday morning is something that investigators are taking a much closer look at -- Christine and Ryan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBLES: Thank you, Ed.

More fallout from controversial anti-gay remarks by a Baptist preacher in Sacramento, California, following the Pulse nightclub massacre. The business park where Pastor Roger Jimenez's church is located now wants them to move before their lease expires next March. Jimenez has described victims of the gay club shooting as, quote, "pedophiles" and said Orlando was safer after their deaths. [04:15:01] The pastor says he has no regrets for his sermon.

ROMANS: All right. Three suspects on an alleged vigilante mission arrested with an arsenal of weapons during a routine traffic stop at the Holland Tunnel between New York City and New Jersey. Police say two men and a woman were stopped on a Jersey side in a brightly colored pick up truck loaded with drugs, rifles, thousands of rounds of ammunition. They told police they were heading to New York to rescue a girl being held against her will in a drug den. All three are facing weapons charges.

NOBLES: Two Anaheim, California, men found guilty of conspiring to support ISIS. It took a federal jury just over one hour to convict them, during the two trial, jurors heard a detail account of the defendant's efforts to fight with the terror group in Iraq and Syria. One of them was arrested trying to board a plane to the Middle East. Both face decades behind bars when they're sentenced in September.

ROMANS: Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert reports to prison this afternoon in Rochester, Minnesota. He was sentenced to 15 months behind bars in April for making illegal payoffs to cover up acts of sexual abuse. The 70-year-old Hastert has publicly admitted abusing several wrestlers when he was a coach decades ago.

NOBLES: Two large wildfires burning out of control in the San Gabriel Mountains near Los Angeles have forced the evacuation of nearly 800 homes. More than a thousand firefighters are on the line, battling the so-called reservoirs and fish fires. Triple digit temperatures are not hampering their efforts. The cause of both fires is still under investigation.

ROMANS: Those pictures are something.

All right. There's no relief from all this heat in sight. Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri has a latest on that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Ryan and Christine.

Yes, you know, the problem is just being placed a little farther to the east, so the temperature is still pretty toasty across the southwestern U.S. and across the central states. But parts of coastal California at least seen some marine influence, but you look at the perspective just from Tuesday and among the hottest temperatures on our planet yet again coming in across eastern California and Death Valley at 123 degrees.

And then you look at the expansive area of fires scattered throughout the region, the vast majority of which remain uncontained, zero percent containment actually, with the exception there of the Sherpa Fire, we think containment sometime in the next couple of days across that region. But a lot of these fires we know are human started, in fact, human causes are typically accounting for about 90 percent of all fires when you look at this and some of the issues here, we know a car went off the road across southern California potentially sparked one of those many fires that we touched on.

But look at this, the big weather story, the atmosphere really going to be heating up here too when it comes to thunderstorm activity by this afternoon, and to portions of the Midwest, Chicago, Indianapolis, and to Cleveland, major threat for damaging wind and large hail and isolated tornados as well this afternoon, guys.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right. Good to watch. Thank you so much for that, Pedram.

Breaking news overnight, North Korea launching new missiles. We are live with details, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:22:21] NOBLES: Breaking overnight: North Korea firing two more missiles from its eastern coast. According to U.S. military officials, both are believed to be intermediate missiles. The South Koreans calling the launches a clear provocation, and they say one of the test missiles failed but the other traveled nearly 250 miles and that data is still being analyzed.

Let's go live now to Seoul and bring in CNN's Paula Hancocks.

And, Paula, leaders from both South Korea and Japan, they are clearly concerned about this latest development from North Korea.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right, Ryan. And it's the second launch that is concerning them so much. As you say, it went about 250 miles. It also reached an altitude of more than 600 miles, and nobody is calling that one a failure. So, that is significant.

Could this now be considered progress? Some experts believe North Korea has certainly learned a fair bit from its previous launches. This is the sixth launch that they have tried with this intermediate range missile.

Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader, has certainly been in a rush to perfect this capability. Six launches since April. So certainly, he wants a delivery system for a nuclear warhead, which he claims he already has, although U.S. officials and other officials say he may have the capability, but that is all.

So, certainly, at this point, there are many concerns. Japan, South Korea saying that they're very concerned. Also Washington, state department has said that they strongly condemn this. United Nations likely to have something to say about this, as of course that ballistic missile technology that North Korea is using is banned for North Korea by Security Council resolutions.

But Kim Jong-un at this point clearly doesn't seem concerned by sanctions and by resolutions. He's continuing as he needs to go on -- Ryan. NOBLES: All right. Paula Hancocks live for us in Seoul this morning

-- thank you.

ROMANS: Today is the final day for advocates on both sides of the Brexit debate of the U.K. before tomorrow's referendum on whether Britain should exit the European Union or remain in the bloc. Prime Minister David Cameron making a personal appeal for Britain to stay in the E.U., telling voters to think of the children.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID CAMERON, PRIME MINISTER, UNITED KINGDOM: If we vote out, that's it. It is irreversible. We will leave Europe for good. And the next generation will have to live with the consequences far longer than the rest of us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: The Brexit vote, as it's called, is the focus of leaders all across Europe. In just hours, leaders of France, Germany, Sweden, Austria, and Poland will address the media.

CNN's Phil Black live in London for us this morning.

And, you know, nervousness ahead of this vote.

[04:25:04] What do the polls -- what are they looking hike right now, Phil?

PHIL BLACK, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, still very tight. Still too close to call. It is a truism of pretty much every tight political contest. The undecided voters will determine the result, and that is very true here as well. It is those wavering voters who will make up their minds. It will determine the political and economic direction of this country for decades.

It is quit, simply a huge decision. It is one that will impact across Europe broadly. It is why European leaders are singing from the same sheet on this. They all believe that both Britain and the European Union will be weaker, will be diminished if Britain decides to go. While, of course, balancing that by saying this is a Democratic decision for the British people.

The extraordinary thing is that it's the late stage of the campaign where we're still hearing very passionate arguments. We heard them last night in the last big television debate. Both sides are still fundamentally disagreeing on some pretty basic factual information, like the amount of money that Britain contributes to the European Union's overall budget, the percentage of laws that the European Union imposes on the British people, this sort of thing.

And that's even before these undecided voters must consider more complex issues that can possibly as clear, like the economic impact of a Brexit vote.

ROMANS: Right. BLACK: The remain crowd certainly says it's going to be a big economic hit here if Britain votes to go. What we're hearing from those in the leave campaign is that the experts are getting it wrong or that they have a vested interest in all of this as well. So, huge decision. Still unclear, and in addition to all of this, if Britain votes to leave, there could be a political crisis here as well, because many predicted David Cameron, who is the leading figure in the remain vote, he won't be able to hang onto his job in the event that Britain votes to leave the European Union.

ROMANS: Leaving the European Union, isn't the real focus, so many folks who want to leave the E.U., isn't it an immigration story? They're less concerned about a recession in the U.K. They're more concern about t controlling immigration from other E.U. countries into the U.K.?

BLACK: Immigration is absolutely the core argument of those campaigning to leave the European Union. No doubt. And it has really resonated. It is the issue that people who support them really respond to.

The belief that Britain doesn't control its borders, doesn't have a say in who can come here and use public services and that sort of thing because Britain -- the European Union's freedom of movement laws. That is absolutely a key issue.

And more than that, you're right, it's not just about economic arguments or even logical arguments regarding immigration. There's an emotive side to this as well, and this favors the leave campaign.

ROMANS: Right.

BLACK: People who believe that Britain should be strong, back itself and be a fully independent, self-sufficient country.

ROMANS: All right. Phil Black, thank you so much for that, Phil. And we'll all wait and watch and see what happens with that vote. Thanks.

NOBLES: Interesting watching that debate last night how you had both political parties arguing on either side, big vote there.

Hillary Clinton calls Donald Trump dangerous for the economy as he prepares a new speech this morning, accusing the former secretary of corruption on the job. We'll have the details, next.

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