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At This Hour

Clinton Leading Trump in Red State Georgia; Zika Fears, Toxic Water, Security Concerns in Brazil; July Jobs Report Shows 2nd Month of Gains, Trump Says Not so Fast; Clinton to Tout Jobs Report under Obama to Press. Aired 11:30-12p ET

Aired August 05, 2016 - 11:30   ET

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

[11:30:00] KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: You said in February to the "Weekly Standard" about Donald Trump, his record on national defense is murky at best, and also about the troops, you said, I don't ever remember Mr. Trump being there or saying strong pro-military statements.

That was in February when you were supporting Ted Cruz. How do you square that then with your support for Donald Trump now?

JACK KINGSTON, SENIOR ADVISOR, DONALD TRUMP PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN & FORMER GEORGIA CONGRESSMAN: I think in comparison to Ted Cruz there was a difference. Certainly, compared to Hillary Clinton, there's a difference. If you look at the national security picture right now that we have under the Clinton/Trump, Clinton/Obama years, it's worse than murky. You did not even hear about ISIS when they came to office. Now it's one of the worst terrorist armies in the world. It's now, according to the president yesterday, in 18 different countries and a threat to the United States of America. I think if you look at a cheat sheet of Trump versus Hillary, there's no comparison. Trump is going to be better for national defense. Part of his bravado, so offensive to people, I think, particularly in the Middle East, they would listen to it and they would be concerned about it. And I want our enemies to be concerned about the United States of America rather than looking at a weak Barack Obama giving money to Iran.

BERMAN: Former Congressman Jack Kingston, thanks for being with us. Come back. It was a lot of fun.

BOLDUAN: Thanks, Congressman.

KINGSTON: All right, thanks, John and Kate.

BOLDUAN: Thank you.

BERMAN: New this morning, a strong jobs report for the second straight month. This will have an impact in the presidential election. That's ahead.

BOLDUAN: Also this, Zika fears, toxic water and multiple security concerns. This, all before the Summer Olympics in Rio even began. What does it all mean as Brazil prepares for tonight's opening ceremony? We're live in Brazil. We'll be right back. BERMAN: No tape delay.

(LAUGHTER)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:36:22] BOLDUAN: The countdown is almost over. It is almost time to watch the Olympics on tape delay. Tonight, the opening ceremony for the games is happening in Rio. The athletes are ready. Some of the events have started. Soccer matches are under way. And three billion people are expected to tune in for the big show.

BERMAN: Synchronized diving is just that big.

BOLDUAN: Huge.

BERMAN: There have been a bunch of issues from robberies to health concerns over Zika and a super bug in the city's water.

Our Nick Paton Walsh is live in Rio to give us a sense of the scene there.

What it's going to be like tonight and the challenges ahead, Nick?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: John, Kate, this is not the image Rio wanted to give off. I'm right in the middle of the main beach area, here to one line of riot police. They're here because o this large anti-government protests that when it sees a car related to the government or the International Olympic Committee here gets pretty angry. No violence at this stage but they're blocking traffic and the riot police have their tear gas weapons primed at this stage. Why? Because this is the part of Brazil that the Olympic Committee doesn't want you to see. The interim government is very much despised by. These people say the money's been spend on the Olympic games, not on basic public services. This is a country in crisis, economically and politically. Even police securing the streets here are not getting the money they say they need.

Here clearly comes one VIP car and another police escort trying here. Less than a few hours away from the opening ceremony this is the scene.

Imagine, less than eight hours away from the ceremony, along a key part of the city, the Olympic torch was itself supposed to pass just down the road away from me here. Past those traffic lights we understand. Unclear if the route has been changed because of this protest. But you understand why if that had been the case. These are people holding a sign, most of them, that say the president out. This is the man who took over when President Rousseff was suspended for impeachment process. They basically, like many Brazilian, see politicians just fighting for power to some degree. But there's anger here over basic services. A country which has had riches in past decades but now many feels the money to make the city look beautiful and the venue for the games is simply being put somewhere else. There are people here angry about how basic police services haven't

been around. We know there are 8,000 security personnel out here but some in the past complained they haven't been paid or they don't have money for fuel even.

This is the scene on the key beach down here as the Olympic torch, we think, is minutes away from pass down the road here, one of protest and frustration at the political elite in this country and how these games have been handled -- John, Kate?

BERMAN: It's really interesting to see that, the protesters, the cars driving by, right where the torch will pass by soon.

Nick Paton Walsh, thank you.

BOLDUAN: Thank you, Nick.

[11:39:32] BERMAN: The Dow surging after a strong jobs report. Donald Trump's team says not so fast. The Trump campaign is blasting today's job numbers, saying they don't tell the whole story.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: It is jobs report Friday. Here's what you need to know. The Labor Department put out its July report showing a second straight month of gains.

BERMAN: 255,000 jobs were added last month. The unemployment rate remained the same. It's the lowest we've seen since 2008. These numbers are strong.

Our chief business correspondent, Christine Romans, joins us now.

What do you see here, Christine?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: I'm calling it a goldilocks jobs report. It's strong but it's not so strong that the Fed will rush in there and raise interest rates, but it shows American businesses are hiring and they've been hiring nicely for a couple of months here. More than 1.3 million jobs added now this year. And that sounds like a pretty good number. It's a little slower pace than we saw last year. We've had three pretty decent years of job growth. We were concerned in May, remember, there was a Verizon strike, but strip out May and what you see here is a job situation averaging more than 200,000 net new jobs every month. That is enough to absorb new entrants into the workforce and new immigrants in the work force and keep a lower net unemployment rate.

[11:45:13] One thing about the unemployment rate, 4.9 percent, it would have gone down but a bunch of people came off the sidelines and started looking for work, so that means the labor market got a little bit bigger. People came off the sidelines and decided to start looking. The trend on that number is something you'd really like to see. One month of numbers is never something to write home about. But when you see a trend like that, that's incredibly important.

BOLDUAN: When you look at a jobs report in July of 2016, it means it's going to make it into the political fray.

ROMANS: It's going to make it into the political fray. Donald Trump issued a statement saying these numbers don't reflect what millions of Americans are feeling. He said these numbers will be spun by the media and the Clinton machine to try to paint a picture that is not real. He says the real picture is this, we have the lowest home ownership rate in 51 years. Yes, home ownership has dropped because of the big crisis we had in 2007, '08, '09. The number of workers who work part time because poor business conditions increased by 5 percent. Last, let's see, we can't fact check, that number, we can't find that number. It actually increased by 1 percent last month and is down several percent over the past year. 102 million people are either outside the labor force or unemployed.

Anyway, he goes on and on about how this is the single worst recovery ever. That's going to be the theme song of the Trump campaign because that is what has energized by him.

The numbers are telling us the labor market is still growing. Economists, when they look at numbers, they think maybe job growth could slow a bit to 150, to 160 for the months this year, heading into next year simply because of the age of the recovery. The recovery is now seven years old. Wages are rising. That's good enough. Wages are continuing to rise. Reporting is in some sectors a scarcity of workers, especially highly skilled industries.

BERMAN: Christine Romans, thank you very much.

ROMANS: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: The one person who lost their job, you don't feel that recovery.

ROMANS: No, either 100 percent or zero percent.

BOLDUAN: Exactly right.

BERMAN: In just moments, Hillary Clinton will speak to a group of people she rarely addresses, a group of reporters. She's talking to the media. No, it's not a news conference. It does come on the heels of this strong jobs report.

BERMAN: The jobs report, we will see if she mentions it. She probably will tout what the Obama administration has done and maybe she's done her part, she'll say, to help those job numbers along. She'll be taking to the stage shortly. We'll bring that to you when she does.

Let's go to M.J. Lee. She's joining us live from that convention in Washington, D.C.

M.J., what are you hearing there?

M.J. LEE, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: John and Kate, Hillary Clinton, as you know, has been very focused on her jobs and economic agenda. This jobs report really couldn't come at a better time. The strong report will help her make the case that she's taking the mantle from President Obama and will really build on the progress that he has had in his eight years in the White House.

As you mentioned, she will be taking the stage behind me in a little bit to address a group of Hispanic and black reporters. So it will be interesting to see how she talks about the economy, especially the ways that the economy has posed challenges for minority groups. Of course, blacks and Hispanics, overwhelmingly favor Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump. But the big challenge for Hillary Clinton going into November is making sure that these voters really turn out and head to the polling booths to vote. To set the political scene, Hillary Clinton is riding high after the bumps she's seen after the convention. She has seen her numbers surge. Of course, the campaign says they know the race is going to tighten and this is why she's going to continue making the case and hone the message that Donald Trump is unfit to be president of the United States -- John and Kate?

BERMAN: M.J., she's speaking to a roomful of reporters. Will there be a question-and-answer period?

LEE: Organizers say she does currently plan to take some questions from some of the reporters here. Of course, this has been a sore subject for some of the reporters covering her, because she so rarely takes questions from reporters. We'll see how forthright she is in answering some of the questions and how much time she spends talking to reporters here.

BOLDUAN: You can be sure the reporters will be counting those minutes and see if she will take questions.

M.J. Lee, great to see you. Thank you so much.

We'll bring that to you when Hillary Clinton takes the stage.

[11:49:44] But we also have this. It is no secret right now Paul Ryan and Donald Trump don't exactly seem like the best of besties at the moment. The House speaker just revealed the last time he and Donald Trump actually spoke. We'll have that for you coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: All right. This just in, House Speaker Paul Ryan and Donald Trump have not spoken in weeks and also have no plans to talk.

He gets a lot of news on the radio.

BOLDUAN: He does.

BERMAN: Here's a short clip of an interview on WTMJ's radio show with Charlie Sykes.

(BEGIN AUDIO FEED)

CHARLIE SYKES, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Have you spoken to Donald Trump at all this week?

REP. PAUL RYAN, (R-WI), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: No.

SYKES: Do you expect to?

RYAN: I have no idea. I don't. I have no plans to. I have not spoken to him since the convention.

(END VIDEO FEED)

BERMAN: There you have it.

BOLDUAN: There you have it. This all comes, of course, as why would Charlie Sykes asking this? This comes from Donald Trump says he's not there yet for endorsing Paul Ryan, who is up for re-election in his district. And this comes as Donald Trump heads to Wisconsin. Paul Ryan, and other top officials from the state have scheduling conflicts.

Right now, we go to "CNN Hero." He was homeless, when something you might not expect changed his life. Soccer. He is starting an organization offering free soccer clinics for people with disadvantaged background, and helping them find jobs and education.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[11:55:11] UNIDENTIFIED CNN HERO: When are you homeless, you lose more than your head, you lose your dignitary, your self esteem. Football gives you a place where you belong. Confidence, fitness, friendships. I got my life back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: For more go to CNNheroes.com and nominate as a 2016 "CNN Hero."

Hillary Clinton hasn't given a full news conference in months, but any moment from now, she will take questions from the media. Stand by. We'll take you there live.

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