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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Psych Evaluation For Trump Tower Climber; Trump Stands By Second Amendment Comment; Clinton Raised Assassination Issue In 2008; Clinton's Economic Plan: 5 New Programs; Assessing The Anti-ISIS Campaign; Katie Ledecky Takes Gold For USA; Lilly King Falls Short In Breaststroke. Aired 5-5:30a ET
Aired August 11, 2016 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:00:00] RYAN NOBLES, CNN ANCHOR: How it will differ from Trump's plan, and can she keep her campaign on message in the face of new e- mail questions?
ALISON KOSIK, CNN ANCHOR: And another gold in the pool for team USA. The women's relay team with plenty to celebrate, but one individual swimmer missing out on her chance for more Olympic glory. We're going to tell you who that is.
Good morning, and welcome to EARLY START. I'm Alison Kosik.
NOBLES: And I'm Ryan Nobles. It is Thursday, August 11, and it is 5:00 a.m. in the East.
This morning, Donald Trump not backing down in the face of criticism over his suggestion that gun advocates could do something to stop Hillary Clinton from, as he put it, abolishing the second amendment. Critics say Trump was inciting violence against Clinton. Trump says he was just trying to unify gun owners. At a Florida rally Wednesday, he went after the media for its coverage of the controversy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: The biggest rigger of the system is the media. The media is rigged. It's rigged. It's crooked as hell. Look at the way they covered that story yesterday. Was that disgusting? Hillary Clinton wants to decimate our second amendment. She wants to decimate it. We have to protect our second amendment, folks. It's under seige.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NOBLES: A secret service official telling CNN that the agency has spoken to the Trump campaign more than once about the second amendment remark. Trump flatly denying that in a tweet saying that quote, no such conversation ever happened. Still more drama around the Republican campaign as a man scales Trump Tower, demanding a meeting with the nominee. We will have more on how that ended in a moment, but let's begin our coverage now with Jim Acosta.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Ryan and Alison, one day after Donald Trump ignited a controversy with his comments about second amendment people being able to do something about Hillary Clinton, he was tossing out more red meat at this rally here in Florida. At one point during this event, he referred to the President as Barack Hussein Obama, and described him as the founder of ISIS. Here's more of what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: ISIS is honoring President Obama. He is the founder of ISIS. He is the founder of ISIS. He's the founder. He founded ISIS. And I would say the co-founder would be crooked Hillary Clinton.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: Trump did address the controversy created by his comments on second amendment supporters. He described the media coverage as disgusting. In response to that, the crowd chanted, lock them up, as in the media. Ryan and Alison --
KOSIK: All right, thanks to you, Jim Acosta, for that.
The man who climbed to the 21st floor of Trump Tower in Manhattan now undergoing a psychiatric evaluation. Police say the climber is a 19- year-old from Virginia. His dramatic ascent using high powered suction cups went on for three amazing hours. Officers tried to talk him down before finally cornering him by removing window panes and lowering window washing platforms. Emergency personnel grabbed the man and dragged him into the building. The man explained his motives in this cryptic YouTube video saying he simply wants a private audience with Donald Trump. The climber is expected to face several state charges later today.
NOBLES: I was down there yesterday just outside Trump Tower --
KOSIK: Everybody looking up.
NOBLES: -- as the man was pulled in. Pretty incredible, New York Police doing a terrific job keeping everybody safe.
CNN Politics Reporter, Eugene Scott joining us now to help us through the latest campaign scuffles. Eugene here in New York with us.
KOSIK: Good morning, again.
NOBLES: I want to talk about how the Clinton campaign is now responding to Trump's comments, this second amendment comment that he made that's getting all kinds of attention. And Hillary Clinton herself spoke about it yesterday on the campaign trail. Let's take a listen to what she had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Words matter, my friends. And if you are running to be president or you are president of the United States, words can have tremendous consequences. Yesterday, we witnessed the latest in a long line of casual comments from Donald Trump that cross the line. Every single one of these incidents shows us that Donald Trump simply does not have the temperament to be president and commander-in-chief of the United States.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NOBLES: So Eugene, it took Clinton herself about 24 hours to directly respond to what Donald Trump had to say, and it seems as though she's trying to make it part of a broader criticism of Trump and his temperament, is that fair?
[05:04:59] EUGENE SCOTT, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Yes, that is fair. I mean, we've seen people who are against Trump and even those who support Trump say whether he meant it for harm or not, it is almost irrelevant. We're at a place in the campaign where candidates perhaps should not be saying things that could be interpreted so poorly, and that in and of itself is the problem because this is not the first time this has happened with the Trump campaign.
KOSIK: OK, so as the debate continues about whether he really meant what a lot of people say he meant, we go back into the annals of history to the 2008 presidential race where Hillary Clinton was running for president, was trying to get the nomination against President Obama. It was looking pretty bleak for Hillary Clinton as far as the delegate count, and people were wondering why she was staying in the race. I want you to listen to what she said to an editorial board for a newspaper, and then we'll come back and talk about it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINTON: My husband did not wrap up the nomination in 1992 until he won the California primary somewhere in the middle of June, right. We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California. You know, I just don't understand it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOSIK: So this comment brought a lot of concern about Obama's security. Now she did come out after making that statement and apologize and she did get a lot of heat from it, heat about it from the media. But we're seeing something very similar here, aren't we? It's almost like the candidates have to watch what they say because they can look like hypocrites.
SCOTT: Absolutely. One thing, what's fascinating, one, is that 2008 was not a long time ago, but in this campaign, it certainly seems like it. But I have seen, especially on social media, some supporters who have been slow to get on board with Hillary Clinton still have problems with how they believe she campaigned against Barack Obama in 2008, and so while some people have forgotten bits of this campaign, others remember comments like this, and that brings into question their faith and confidence and her ability to represent the diversity of the country.
KOSIK: But what's interesting is that you're seeing Donald Trump get a lot of heat for what he said at this rally, and you're not seeing this point really being brought up that much. SCOTT: Yes, very much so. And I think it's because of a few things.
One, I think Donald Trump is saying a lot more than any candidate in 2008 said, perhaps in part because of social media, but also because of his campaigning style, and there seems to be a larger trend among the Trump campaign of these types of gaffes, or at the very least, these types of statements that are so difficult to clearly understand and put even his supporters in a tough space to defend.
NOBLES: And I wonder, we saw this in Jim's report. The Trump campaign continues to seem to try to put the blame back on us in the media, saying that we're blowing something out of proportion. And that worked really well in the Republican primary, but in this effort to reach out to independent voters or voters that hadn't made up their mind, is that a winning argument? Can he continue to blame us for reporting what's happening on the campaign trail?
SCOTT: I mean, he can. Whether or not it will be effective remains to be seen. You see most of the criticism for Donald Trump right now, it's not from the left, it's not from the media. It's actually from the Republican establishment right now. And so, in saying that we are misinterpreting his words, he's actually indicting them as well.
KOSIK: More hypocricy, we saw this at a rally with Donald Trump. Sitting behind him, Mark Foley, a former congressman from Florida who was linked to some sexually explicit e-mails to a teenage boy, or to teenage boys, and this coming after we saw the Orlando terrorist's father at her rally. So he's giving her hell for that. She's giving him hell for, he's sitting behind -- it makes me wonder, is anybody watching who is sitting behind these candidates? Both campaigns are guilty of the exact same thing, some may say.
SCOTT: Yes, you can't really control who gets onboard your campaign and who supports you.
KOSIK: How about, can they control who sits behind the candidate in this long speech that's televised?
SCOTT: Well, what Donald Trump said, you could. He said, you know everyone. And the interesting thing is the Clinton campaign probably argues that they don't know the Orlando terrorist's father. But Mark Foley raised his hand to say that he did know Donald Trump, so it remains to be seen. I think it's worth mentioning that this is not the first time that Donald Trump has had trouble with a problematic lawmaker getting behind his campaign. If you remember, former KKK leader David Duke, who is now running for senate in Louisiana, has spoken out in favor of Trump repeatedly. So it remains to be seen how quickly and aggressively he will disavow support from Mr. Foley.
NOBLES: If he does at all.
SCOTT: If he does at all.
NOBLES: Right, exactly. All right, Eugene Scott.
KOSIK: Thanks so much. We'll see you in a bit. [05:09:56] All right, Hillary Clinton is going to be giving her
economic speech in Michigan from a manufacturing plant that got its start making auto parts and shifted into the aerospace industry. She's likely going to be using examples like that to contrast Donald Trump's economic vision. Clinton was harshly critical of his plan, saying the repackaging of trickle down economics will not work for all Americans.
There are five programs in Clinton's plan, all focusing on families and middle class, paid family leave, especially for new parents, universal preschool for every 4-year-old in America, and debt-free college for lower and middle income families. She'd also be looking to expand Social Security and raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour.
Now, one thing Clinton and Trump do agree on is infrastructure spending. Clinton proposes spending $275 billion over four years, mostly funded from high taxes on the rich. Trump says he'd double that amount, but doesn't give specifics on how he'd pay for it.
NOBLES: Was critical intelligence about ISIS adjusted to suggest the fight against the terror group is going better than it actually is? Findings of a congressional investigation when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:15:39] KOSIK: Welcome back. The campaign against ISIS may not be going as well as we have been told. According to an investigation by Republican members of congress, intelligence reports from U.S. Central Command on the anti-ISIS campaign have been overly optimistic at best. We get more now from CNN's Pentagon Correspondent, Barbara Starr.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Ryan, Alison, this has been a report in the works for several months now. Republican congressional investigators looking at allegations that at the U.S. Central Command, CENTCOM, the part of the military that runs the war against ISIS, they may have cooked the books on intelligence. And now we've had a look at the report. Let me read you just one of the findings from this report. It says, and I quote, CENTCOM produced intelligence that was also significantly more optimistic than that of the other parts of the intelligence community, and typically more optimistic than actual events warranted.
So Central Command, the military between 2014 and 2015 coming up with rosier intelligence, a better outlook about the fight against ISIS than the rest of the intelligence community had. Why did they do this? Well, the report found that at Central Command, military, top military commanders were relying more on the intelligence from the field than the intelligence from their own analysts and that that was skewing part of the picture. Now there are new commanders at Central Command, new analysts, new leaders in the command. They say they are trying to make sure that everything is in order now. But this is not the last word. There is an inspector general investigation, a separate investigation underway, and no final word yet on what that review may find. Alison, Ryan -- NOBLES: Barbara, thank you. The State Department slamming U.S.
allies for having laws that infringe on religious freedoms. Its annual report on global religious freedom cites concerns over laws targeting blasphemy and discrimination against minority faiths, particularly in Muslim countries. Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Egypt, and Indonesia are among those being singled out for criticisms.
KOSIK: It turns out there are highs and lows in the pool for team USA. Another gold medal, but bitter disappointment for one prominant swimmer. We will go live to Rio next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NOBLES: Another gold medal for the U.S. in the pool at the Rio Olympics with Katie Ledecky anchoring the victory in the women's 4x200 meter freestyle relay. Also Wednesday, a close call for the dream team in men's basketball. Tonight, it will be Americans in search for more gold, with swimmer Michael Phelps and gymnast Simone Biles taking center stage. CNN's Christina McFarlane is following it all. She's live for us this morning in Rio. Hey, Christina.
CHRISTINA MCFARLANE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Ryan. Yes, it was gold medal number 11 for team USA, thanks largely to their golden girl, Katie Ledecky, who anchored this team to the win in the women's 4x200 meter freestyle relay, coming from behind, to actually win the race by almost two clear seconds, would you believe. Australia and Canada picking up the silver and the bronze. Of course, this is Ledecky's fourth medal of the games and her third gold medal overall. She will have the chance to go for number four here on Friday. Remember, she's going to be competing in the 800 meter freestyle. Now that is the race she won as a 15-year-old back in London 2012, and of course, she's hotly picked to do so again.
Now, earlier in the day, we saw her teammatem Lilly King, crash out of the semifinals of the 200 meter breaststroke. Her Russian rival, however, you remember Yulia Efimova, who has really seen some headlines in the last two days, did actually go through to the finals of that race. So we're not going to see a duel in the pool any longer between these two at these Olympic games, but the storyline surrounding them is set to continue. On Wednesday, Lilly King said she didn't mind being called the poster girl for clean sports. That's after her comments about doping and her comments about Efimova's doping past. I think many of the athletes here feeling more strongly like they can speak up about the doping crisis, especially after the sports governing bodies allowed the Russian athletes to compete here in Rio.
Now, you may have seen just a day ago, the U.S. men's basketball team laughing, joking, taking selfies with Michael Phelps. Well, on Wednesday night, they had a rather more important matter to attend to on the basketball court after they were held by the Australian team who almost hit (ph) them to the win, Australians out ahead. Even at halftime, they were leading them 54 to 49. It's the first time the Americans have actually trailed in an Olympic basketball match in 12 years, would you believe. But it was Carmelo Anthony who pulled them back into it with nine three-pointers to get them out ahead, and in the end, the game ended in the USA's favor, 98 to 88. But it was an exciting match, and I can tell you, I was sitting courtside.
[05:25:12] Now, Thursday, what can we expect? We're going back to the pool for the battle of the roommates. Michael Phelps is going to be up against teammate Ryan Lochte in the 200 meter freestyle final. Now on Wednesday, it was Phelps who got the braggin rights, of course. He won the semifinal in a time of 1:55.78, hitting (ph) Lochte to the win. Will Lochte come back? Well, we'll just have to wait and see.
Meanwhile, over in the gymnastics stadium, there's going ot be a showdown there as well, because we're going to see two of the final five go up against each other in the women's individual all-around final. That's going to be Aly Raisman against Simone Biles. Simone Biles, of course, the big star of the gymnastics arena, looking to become the first gymnast to win five Olympic gold medals in one game. So let's not forget, Raisman is a bit of a veteran. She's 22 years of age and this is her second Olympic games, and both of them, we're going to expect big things.
NOBLES: All right. Simone Biles has quite a few fans in my house. Big, big --
KOSIK: Count me in.
NOBLES: Yes, all right. Thank you, Christina.
KOSIK: OK. As we watch the drama build at the Olympics, drama in the race for 2016 also building. Donald Trump with new attacks on Hillary Clinton over her e-mail controversy. Clinton responding to Trump's possible incitement of gun owners. We've got all the latest back and forth. That's coming up next.
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