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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Milwaukee Protest In Response To Police Shooting Of Armed 23- Year-Old; Trump Campaign Pushes Back Against Media; Obama Grants Emergency Aid To Louisiana After Deadly Flooding; Simone Biles Going For Fourth Gold Medal; Usain Bolt Makes Olympic History; Wall Street Focusing On Big Retailers This Week. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired August 15, 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: Tense moments this morning. Ongoing protests in Milwaukee become violent. At least one victim shot. We've got the very latest information, live.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN ANCHOR: Today, Donald Trump is set to unveil his plan to combat Radical Islam. Trump trying to refocus on policy after weeks of controversy plaguing his campaign, but how will his strategy affect his plans to ban Muslims from entering the U.S.?

ROMANS: And in the Olympics, Usain Bolt picking up his first gold in Rio. The track superstar going for a triple win this year. So far, he did not disappoint.

Good morning. Good Monday morning, welcome back to EARLY START, I'm Christine Romans.

KOSIK: Good morning, I'm Alison Kosik. It's 30 minutes past the hour and breaking overnight, shots fired during another night of protests in Milwaukee. Demonstrations intensifying in response to the police shooting Saturday of an armed African-American suspect. Last night, authorities say protestors swarmed a police station, throwing rocks, bottles, and bricks at officers. Police say one person was hit by gunfire.

Let's bring in CNN's Ana Cabrera. She's live for us this morning with the latest. Good morning, Ana. Is it true that the National Guard is still on standby?

ANA CABRERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We understand the National Guard was activated but was not deployed even though police, local authorities struggled to get control of those crowds overnight. We do know several arrests were made and things now calming down here within the past couple of hours. But there is still a sense of tension in the air and questions about where this community goes from here.

We have been told by several people in the community that this is a result of longstanding and deep-rooted frustration and anger over years of what's perceived to be oppression and racism and social justice of African-Americans in this community who feel like they have been dragged down and that the system is against them.

Now, as you mentioned, we've seen two nights of back-to-back protests and unrest, and violence and destruction in this community. Six buildings and several vehicles were set ablaze in the past couple of nights, and so community members are trying to put pieces back together.

It all follows the police shooting of 23-year-old Sylville Smith. He was initially pulled over by a pair of officers in a traffic stop. We understand there was a police foot chase after that. And investigators say Sylville Smith was holding a gun, refused to obey the orders to drop that gun, and that's when the officer opened fire, striking Smith several times, killing him at the scene.

We're learning a little bit more that this officer was also an African-American -- has been with the department for about six years, three of those years as an officer. Now the Wisconsin Department of Justice is investigating the shooting as the community continues to call for change in what they believe is a system that is not working for everybody here, Christine and Alison.

KOSIK: All right, the situation is obviously changing by the minute. CNN's Ana Cabrera live from Milwaukee. Thanks very much.

ROMANS: All right, a big new week in politics unfolding today. Happening today, Donald Trump giving a speech in Ohio, laying out his plan for defeating Radical Islamic terrorism. A senior campaign official previewing that speech says Trump will portray the war against Islamist terror as a titanic ideological struggle on par with the Cold War.

Will emphasize that the U.S. will abandon -- will abandon nation- building or spreading democracy in the Middle East. Make it clear that any country helping the U.S. defeat Islamic terrorism will be deemed an ally, which campaign officials believe will expand the anti- ISIS coalition.

Trump will also propose banning immigration from countries where the U.S. cannot adequately vet visa applications, especially those with a lot of terrorist activity. The campaign official also said a Trump administration would test the views of visa applicants. It would bar any who are anti-Semitic, anti-gay, or otherwise against American values of pluralism and freedom.

Now, it's unclear how the immigration bans Trump is set to announce today -- how they would fit with his previously described total ban on Muslims coming to the U.S.

KOSIK: And "The Wall Street Journal" urging the Republican Party to give up on Donald Trump if he does not change his act by Labor Day. That's three weeks away. The paper's conservative editorial page accusing Trump of alienating the party and running an incompetent campaign. The "Journal" says if Trump doesn't turn things around the GOP will have no choice but to write off the nominee and focus on saving on down-ballot candidates.

[05:35:00] The editorial board writes that Trump " -- needs to stop blaming everyone else and decide if he wants to behave like someone who wants to be President, or turn the nomination over to Mike Pence", his running mate. The Trump campaign spent the weekend pushing back against reports in "The New York Times" and elsewhere that it's been unable to rein in its gaffe -- that it's been able to rein in its gaffe-prone candidate and get him back on message, leading to despair among some staff and advisers.

Here's campaign chairman Paul Manafort on CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION".

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL MANAFORT, TRUMP CAMPAIGN MANAGER: We think that contrary to your report and contrary to "The New York Times" nameless sources story, the campaign is moving forward and is very strong. We've raised over $132 million in the last two months. We are organized in all 50 states -- all 50 states. We've been in the battleground states everyday this month, including Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Florida multiple times this month and we're starting to get traction in those states.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSIK: Trump, himself, also slamming the media with a barrage of tweets like this. "I am not only fighting Crooked Hillary, I am fighting the dishonest and corrupt media and her government protection process. People get it!"

ROMANS: Over on the Democratic side today, Vice President Joe Biden will be campaigning alongside Hillary Clinton in his hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania. They'll make the case that Trump is the most unprepared nominee in the country's history when it comes to national security. And they'll argue that Trump's new economic plan will cut taxes for Trump and his family, using that as another reason he ought to release his tax returns.

KOSIK: Let's break this all down, this escalating battle between Trump and Clinton, Trump and the media, Trump and the Republicans. Senior media correspondent Brian Stelter, host of CNN's "RELIABLE SOURCES" is with us. And from Washington, managing editor of "CNN POLITICS DIGITAL" Zach Wolf. Thanks for getting up early with us.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT, HOST, "RELIABLE SOURCES": Good morning.

KOSIK: So, the first thing that comes to mind is this speech in Ohio that Donald Trump is giving to lay out his plan for defeating Radical Islamic terrorism and they have a three-pronged approach here for this plan. I don't know, Zach, what do you think? This seems pretty arbitrary. Does he have a legal leg to stand on? Is this going 15 steps beyond the Patriot Act?

ZACHARY WOLF, MANAGING EDITOR, CNN "POLITICS DIGITAL": Yes, there are some bullet points here or pillars, I think, is what some people have called them. I don't see a lot of specifics here. I don't see how you square some of the legs in one section with some of the ones in another. Could a country who's an ally also not have terrorism under control? Would you be denying visas to people from those countries? It's a little unclear to me how you set a test for people being anti-

Semitic or anti-gay to get them in. Do you give them a test? Do you just ask them? How do you know they're telling the truth? So there are a lot of things, I think, in here that still need to be flushed out. In addition to that, I think it's going to do absolutely nothing to quiet criticism from civil Libertarians, and people like that, about Donald Trump. I'm not sure he cares about what those people say, however.

And last week, he gave a big economic speech, this week it's a foreign policy speech. He's just continuing to lay out his vision for America over these couple of weeks. And meanwhile, I think a lot more people are going to be focusing on his new attacks on the media --

ROMANS: Yes.

WOLF: -- and how he's turned the conversation in that direction.

ROMANS: And over the weekend, Brian -- I mean, you are our media guy. Over the weekend he's just completely at war with the media, no question, tweeting last night. Today, trying to sort of refocus, I think, on the policy front. But clearly, the backdrop here is that here's somebody who initially -- well, you know, his nemesis were Mexicans, and then Muslims, now the media.

STELTER: This is a tale of two Donald Trumps because all weekend long he's on Twitter railing against -- well, CNN, "The New York Times", other news outlets, saying that if it weren't for the media he'd be beating Hillary Clinton by 20 points. Now, that's not possible, I've got to be honest. It's not possible for any candidate to be up by 20 points in this polarized country. Clinton can't do it, Trump can't do it. But that is Trump's argument that it's the media's fault.

However, the other Donald Trump is the one we're going to see later today, talking about Radial Islamic terrorism, maybe using a script, maybe using a teleprompter, but trying to talk about policy, trying to stay on message. It's really a tale of two candidates. The one that can't resist picking up the phone and tweeting versus the candidate who knows what Americans care about. They don't care about the media, they don't care about us. They care about policy, they care about keeping themselves safe, and they care about their pocketbooks.

KOSIK: OK, in light of the fact that Donald Trump thinks the media doesn't talk about Hillary Clinton, I'm going to go ahead and do that. Congress is expected to get the notes --

STELTER: Yes.

KOSIK: -- from the more than three-hour interview --

ROMANS: That could be news today.

[05:40:00] KOSIK: -- with the FBI -- the notes about Hillary Clinton's private email server. We did see Mike Pence talking about this over the weekend. Listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. MIKE PENCE (R-IN), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: The new emails that have been made public just in the last week seem to make a direct connection between favors done by State Department officials and major foreign donors to the Clinton Foundation. The American people have a right to know. I think people in this country are tired of the 'pay to play' politics in Washington, D.C.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSIK: But the question I have is do you really think we're going to get anything out of notes? I mean, the FBI's not releasing transcripts. It's still going to leave a lot of maybe conspiracy theorists saying hey, there are a lot of holes here.

WOLF: Yes. Well, you know, the idea that there is no transcripts, I think that was part of the deal that got her up there to -- it wasn't testifying. She was not under oath. These are just interviews about the emails. And then the clipped you played was about emails that came to light that nobody knew about with regards to the Clinton Foundation. These notes are about other emails with regards to her classified server.

This email issue is not going away for her. It is the single thing, I think, that gets at the trustworthiness issue --

ROMANS: Yes.

WOLF: -- that is the real problem for Hillary Clinton and will continue to be. Regardless of all the headlines that Donald Trump has, I think there are a lot of people in this country, and polls bear this out, that simply don't trust her. And this email issue -- drip, drip, drip. It continues to dog her.

ROMANS: But do people get tired of it and they get fatigued or does it continue to nod her because you look at are people tried of Clinton emails -- this is a Monmouth poll -- tired of hearing about it, 63 percent. But do you believe Hillary Clinton has been honest about her personal email account -- honest -- only 27 percent, so --

STELTER: That's really interesting. Minds are sort of made up, aren't they?

ROMANS: Yes, yes.

STELTER: People might not want to hear more about it but I do think any day the emails are in the news is a good day, potentially, for Donald Trump because he's not talking about himself and his own controversies. Meanwhile, though, the front page of this morning's "New York Times" -- big story about his campaign manager Paul Manafort --

ROMANS: Yes.

STELTER: -- and about Manafort's possible ties to Ukraine, his past work in Ukraine -- ROMANS: To question leadership in Ukraine.

STELTER: Yes, this is a complicated story.

ROMANS: Right.

STELTER: You wonder what Trump will say about it today. But it's the kind of story -- once again, every single day it seems like there's a new challenge for Donald Trump, even when he does have this big speech planned about terrorism.

KOSIK: All right, we've got to go. Brian Stelter, Zach Wolf, thanks so much.

STELTER: Thanks.

ROMANS: Nice to see you guys.

WOLF: Thank you.

ROMANS: Thanks for getting up early for us. A brand new investigation publishing this morning on CNN Money shows Donald Trump made tens of millions of dollars running a failed casino company. In 1995, Donald Trump launched his first and only initial public offering. That's where the public, you and me, could buy a share of Donald J. Trump. The DJT -- he even had his initials.

Trump Hotels and Casino Resorts raised $140 million from public investors. Ten years later it had lost more than $600 million and filed for bankruptcy. SEC filings reviewed by "CNNMONEY" show Trump was paid $39 million from 1995 to 2002. How did that happen? Well, most of the earnings came from his salary and his bonuses running that company. He also made a substantial amount consulting for his own company and licensing back his own name.

In the end, the losses for investors were devastating. Filings show that someone who invested $100 in that Trump company in 1995 would be left with just $8.72 by the year 2000. That's a loss of 90 percent.

KOSIK: All right, devastating floods in Louisiana leaving destruction in their wake and claiming at least five lives. The governor announcing the devastation isn't over yet. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:47:55] ROMANS: Just a devastating weekend in Louisiana. The death toll and the property damage estimates rising with floodwaters in Louisiana. Five people now have been killed, 10,000 more are in shelters this morning. The governor calling in the National Guard, with two feet of rain triggering 20,000 rescues this weekend alone. President Obama granting the state's request for emergency assistance.

KOSIK: The big question, of course, what can Louisiana expect today? Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri has the latest. Good morning.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Christine and Alison, good morning to you both. Yes, when you think about the soiled moisture across this region, the moisture content in the soil is so high that any additional rainfall, of course, is going to produce more flooding. And the thunderstorms, unfortunately, are still forecast this afternoon.

A lot of which across eastern Texas, but still, parts of southern and central Louisiana could see a lot of rainfall out of this. And a very tropical environment. The water temperatures near all-time records for this time of year sitting at 87 degrees. In fact, you only need water temperatures around 82 or so to produce a tropical storm or a hurricane, and this storm had everything going for it except it moved over land before it could become an organized feature.

Now, look at this. Thirty-seven inches is what you would see in an entire in Seattle, Washington. Some of these areas across these parishes in four days picked up nearly that amount. So again, it puts it in perspective of the historic nature of what occurred. But the rainfall now stretches off to the north and a little to the east there as well, so a lot of rain expected across parts of Illinois and Indiana over the next couple of days.

And your forecast for your Monday, rain-cooled into the upper 70's and low 80's. Every single one of those raindrops, as it falls, evaporates the air so a little bit and causes those temperatures to cool off around St. Louis, Little Rock, and Chicago. Highs right around 80 degrees, guys.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right, Pedram --

KOSIK: Thanks.

ROMANS: -- thank you so much for that. All right, so I go on vacation for a week and I come back -- still the same storyline.

KOSIK: Still the same.

ROMANS: The Nasdaq sitting at its highest closing level of all time. Never been here before, folks. The Dow and the S&P 500, not far behind. What does it mean for your 401(k) and what could stop this record run for stocks? We've got that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:54:10] KOSIK: The U.S. racking up the gold. A history-making weekend at the Olympic Games in Rio. Simone Biles on the balance beam today, going for her fourth gold medal after winning her third gold for the U.S. in the vault. And sprinter Usain Bolt with a win for the ages, becoming the first man to capture gold in the 100-meters in three Olympic Games.

ROMANS: And then this. A close call for four U.S. swimmers, including Ryan Lochte. They were robbed at gunpoint on Sunday. Let's go live to Rio de Janeiro and bring in CNN's Coy Wire. Hey there, Coy.

KOSIK: Good morning.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Christine and Alison. We have to start talking about Usain Bolt, the world's fastest man. I went to that 100-meter dash last night and you could feel the tension in the air, guys. It was fascinating to see how Bolt commands the entire stadium with his presence.

[05:55:00] It seemed like everyone in there wanted to watch him make history, defending his title against American Justin Gatlin, who was actually booed loudly because of that doping past that he has. He's been banned twice, but Gatlin gets off to that trademark outstanding start. I mean, I'm in there thinking is he going to hold Bolt off this time?

But then, all six foot, five of Bolt gets to gliding and he was gone. An unprecedented third straight gold in the 100-meter dash. Gatlin takes the silver. If Bolt can go on also to win the 200 and 4x100- meter relay, as he has in the last two summer games, guys, he's going to accomplish what's been named the triple treble.

Now speaking of three golds, American gymnast Simone Biles already has three of them hanging around her neck from these stupefyingperformancesthat she keeps turning out here in Rio. The 19- year-old just twisting and turning her way past the field in the vault competition. She goes for gold number four today on the balance beam.

All right, the U.S. men's basketball team had another close call yesterday, squeaking past a pesky French team 100 to 97. They had a double-digit lead going into the fourth quarter but it seemed to take their foot of the gas a bit. So that's three really close games so far for Team USA. We'll see them again on Wednesday in the quarter finals.

Let's get an early start on that medal count. The U.S. leads with 69 overall. China's in second with 45, and Great Britain in third with 38.

All right, we're going to move on to a much more serious note now, guys. Security's been a big theme here at the games in Rio. A media members, we've been briefed on what to do, what not to do to keep ourselves safe, so it was really scary news yesterday when we got confirmation that Ryan Lochte and three of this teammates were robbed at gunpoint.

They were in a taxi after leaving a party early Sunday morning when they were pulled over by men posing as police officers. They pulled out guns, ordered them out of the car, told them to lie down on the ground, and when Lochte didn't one of the men put his gun to Lochte's head, cocked the hammer. Lochte gave up us wallet and the men took off.

Thankfully, nobody injured but the swimmers, guys, are cooperating with the police who've opened an investigation. Lochte said that he's still honored to have represented the U.S. here at the Rio games and he's thankful, guys, that everyone is safe and unharmed.

KOSIK: Glad to hear that. All right, Coy Wire, thanks so much.

ROMANS: All right, 57 minutes past the hour. From sports to money. Another week -- a new record run in stocks possible today. Dow futures are up, the Nasdaq comes in today at an all-time high for the Nasdaq -- all time high. Stocks markets in Europe are gaining, shares in Asia mixed. A report in Japan showed that economy barely growing in the first quarter despite big stimulus measures from the government. Oil prices right now about flat.

So how strong is the U.S. economy? That's the big question and we're going to a better idea of that this week. Some of the nation's largest retailers report earnings. You've got Lowe's, Home Depot, Target, Walmart, Gap stores. Consumer spending is the biggest party of the U.S. economy. The retail sector full of highs and lows. It's almost an Olympic storyline, really.

Discounts stores have been one bright spot in recent months. Home improvement chains have done well, but traditional brick and mortar stores struggling, especially with rivals like Amazon online. We saw Macy's announce 100 store closures last week. The stock, though, jumped after that news because investors liked its turnaround plan.

KOSIK: All right, violent protests in Milwaukee rocking the city. "NEW DAY" begins right now.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, welcome to your NEW DAY. It's Monday, August 15th, 6:00 in the East and we do begin with breaking news. Violent protests until just a few hours ago in Milwaukee. At least one person was shot, a police officer was injured in this, the second straight night of turmoil in the city after a fatal shooting by police.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Demonstrators throwing rocks and bottles at police to protest the weekend shooting death of a black man who police say was armed. Protestors burning several businesses down. (Video playing) You can see the flames there.

So let's begin our coverage with CNN's Ana Cabrera. She is live in Milwaukee with all the breaking details. What's the latest, Ana?

CABRERA: Good morning, Alisyn. Calm just restored, finally, here in Milwaukee following those overnight protests. The National Guard was activated but as of this hour has not been deployed, even as local authorities struggle to get the crowds under control. Protestors say all this unrest is their way to get a message across following years, they say, of oppression and racism that have plagued their community. In fact, it was the deadly shooting over the weekend, only a flashpoint.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CABRERA: Protests and violence erupting again in Milwaukee, demonstrators firing shots.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A lot of shots, a lot of shots right now.

CABRERA: Throwing objects --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, it looks like the gas tank just popped.

CABRERA: -- and setting cars on fire. At least one person was shot and rushed to the hospital. A police officer also hospitalized after a rock smashed the windshield of a squad car. The weekend of violence began on Saturday with demonstrators torching several businesses, overturning cars, and throwing rocks at police.