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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Is Trump Flip-Flopping On Immigration?; Louisiana Battered by Epic Flooding; Turkey Reeling From Weekend Wedding Bombing; Olympics Come to a Close. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired August 22, 2016 - 04:30   ET

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

[04:30:53] BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Is one of Donald Trump's biggest policy proposals being tossed aside? Trump's campaign manager says the so-called deportation force to remove millions of undocumented immigrants in the U.S. may not happen. We'll tell you what Trump said behind closed doors.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: The damage assessments are growing worse after devastating floods in parts of Louisiana. President Obama preparing to head to the region. But did he wait too long to make that trip?

SANCHEZ: And we'll see you in Tokyo. The Olympic Games coming to a close in Rio. We will have the last of the big winners and we'll tell you how Ryan Lochte is still trying to explain the controversy that saw him go from victim to vandal.

Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Boris Sanchez.

ROMANS: Nice to see you this Monday morning. I'm Christine Romans. It's 31 minutes past the hour.

This morning the Trump campaign is remaining ambiguous about what could be the most stunning flip-flop of this campaign. If indeed it is a flip-flop. If it happens. Sources present at a Hispanic roundtable on Saturday at Trump Tower, they say the Republican candidate was not firm on what has been a foundation of his campaign. The mass deportation of undocumented immigrants. Some at the roundtable even left with the impression Trump would consider a path to legalization. Others there, they did not get that particular idea. On CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION," his new campaign manager was noncommittal.

CNN's Chris Frates has the very latest for us from Washington.

CHRIS FRATES, CNN INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, Christine and Boris. Well, you might remember that Donald Trump campaigned hard in the primaries on his plan to deport the 11 million immigrants who are in this country illegally. But on Sunday, Trump's new campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, signaled Trump's hardlined stance might be softening.

Here's CNN's Dana Bash pressing Conway on the "STATE OF THE UNION".

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, let me play something from what Mr. Trump has said previously. Listen to what he said back in November.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You're going to have a deportation force and you're going to do it humanely and inexpensively.

MIKA BRZEZINSKI, MSNBC HOST, "MORNING JOE": But what are they going to be, ripped out of their homes?

TRUMP: Can I tell you?

BRZEZINSKI: How?

TRUMP: They're going back where they came. If they came from a certain country they're going to be brought back to that country. That's the way it's supposed to be.

BASH: So does Donald Trump still support that? A deportation force removing the 11 million or so undocumented immigrants?

KELLYANNE CONWAY, TRUMP CAMPAIGN MANAGER: What he supports -- and if you go back to his convention speech a month ago, Dana, what he supports is to make sure that we enforce the law, that we are respectful of those Americans who are looking for well-paying jobs, and that we are fair and humane for those who live among us in this country.

BASH: So --

CONWAY: And as the weeks unfold -- as the weeks unfold he will lay out the specifics of that plan that he would implement as president of the United States.

BASH: Will that plan include a deportation force, the kind that he just -- you just heard in that sound bite and that he talked about during the Republican primaries?

CONWAY: To be determined.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRATES: Now questions about Trump's immigration positions come after a meeting with Hispanic leaders on Saturday where he reportedly told attendees he plans to legalize millions of undocumented immigrants.

Now this would be a huge reversal for Trump, who campaigned on the idea of creating a deportation force that would expel undocumented immigrants from the country. But not everyone who attended that meeting walked away with the same impression that somehow Trump is open to granting legal status to undocumented immigrants. In fact, one meeting attendee told CNN that Trump talked about treating people who are in this country illegally in a fair, in a humane, and in a legal way, but he didn't interpret that to mean that Trump wanted to grant them legal status. Now Trump plans to focus on immigration all this week so we'll likely

hear more directly from Trump himself in the coming days.

Boris, Christine, back to you.

ROMANS: All right. Chris, thanks for that.

The Clinton campaign scoffing at the idea that Trump might reverse one of the central and earliest promises of his run for president. Campaign chairman John Podesta releasing a statement last night saying this, "Donald Trump's immigration plan remains the same as it has always been. Tear apart families and deport 16 million people from the United States."

SANCHEZ: And joining us now to break down Trump's possible immigration flip-flop and what that may tell us about a shift in direction for the whole campaign, senior media correspondent Brian Stelter, host of CNN's "RELIABLE SOURCES."

Brian, good morning to you.

ROMANS: Good morning.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

SANCHEZ: To say that immigration is the foundation of Trump's platform is an understatement.

[04:35:02] It's really the backbone of his campaign. He used it to clobber his opponents in the GOP primary. And now to be determined. What does that tell you about the state of the campaign?

STELTER: To be determined. May be the state of the campaign. But let's read the tea leaves on Breitbart.com. Breitbart of course is the Web site where Trump's new campaign CEO came from. Steve Bannon, who's the executive chairman of Breitbart, the far-right Web site. And on Sunday it published a story saying don't believe this stuff. It's not true. Trump is not moving off his position. So perhaps what we're seeing is a tug-of-war inside the Trump campaign about exactly where Trump is going to stand on this issue. Maybe Steve Bannon wants one thing, maybe Kellyanne Conway and others want another thing.

This is supposed to be a week full of immigration conversation by Donald Trump. He is heading south. He is going to Texas. He is having a town hall with Sean Hannity about this issue. So he's going to be talking about immigration this week. We just don't know exactly what he'll be saying.

ROMANS: The risk here is that you got people saying what does Donald Trump believe about immigration and deportation for us. This is a -- this is a backbone of his run for president. To be determined would be a huge flip-flop. Does he risk alienating the people who brought him here and not really gaining any new general election voters?

STELTER: Well, to the contrary. I wonder if some of these leaks that have happened on Saturday and Sunday, some of these leaks to news outlets saying that maybe he was going to consider changing his position were actually designed to pressure him to change his position. You know, I wonder how much posturing is going on here,

And of course, if Donald Trump were to talk publicly about this and hold a public event as opposed to a private roundtable with Hispanic leader, we would know what actually happened in the room. But right now it's all -- because it happened in private we don't really know exactly what was said by whom.

ROMANS: There's some, you know, controversy about what did happen in the room.

STELTER: Yes.

ROMANS: I mean, some people in that room said they didn't hear him backing away.

SANCHEZ: Right.

STELTER: Exactly.

ROMANS: Meanwhile, you've got the campaign really pushing this idea that Hillary Clinton lacks stamina and may have some health issues. We know several years ago she had the flu. Right? She --

SANCHEZ: Hit her head.

ROMANS: She hit her head. She was wearing glasses for a while. They're really going back on this. Rudy Giuliani on FOX News Sunday sort of bringing this up. And you know, singing this theme song that you've been hearing from the campaign. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUDY GIULIANI (R), FORMER NEW YORK MAYOR: She has an entire media empire that constantly demonizes Donald Trump and fails to point out that she hasn't had a press conference in 300 days, 200 days, 100 days. I don't know how long. Fails to point out several signs of illness by her. All you've got to do is go online.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Her campaign and a number of people defending her saying there is nothing factual to the claims about her health. And that is speculation at best.

GIULIANI: Go online and put down Hillary Clinton illness and take a look at the videos for yourself.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: And, Brian Fallon, this is what he said. "Google Rudy and health and you can read about why he withdrew from the 2000 Senate race against Clinton."

Are we going to keep hearing that stamina thing? What's behind that, you know?

STELTER: I don't think it's going anywhere. Trump is using the word stamina repeatedly as a sort of cue to his fans, to his supporters, to believe these conspiracy theories about Clinton's health. It goes something like this. She had a concussion in 2012. She took a while for her to recover from that. So as a result, maybe she has some sort of secret illness. Some sort of brain damage, something that's very bad that she is covering up.

There is just no evidence to actually back that up. And when Rudy Giuliani recommends you go and Google to look up information about her health, you're going to find a lot of -- a lot of BS. A lot of lies and a lot of misleading stories about it.

ROMANS: You mean everything on the Internet isn't real?

(LAUGHTER)

SANCHEZ: Unbelievable.

ROMANS: News flash.

STELTER: This is breaking news. We can put it. Exactly. And there is something strange about him encouraging that. Yes, I think we should all encourage people to fact-check and do their own research online. But you're going to find a lot of misinformation about her health online. And if you try to go and watch the videos of her, the reality if someone follows us around with cameras every day for decades, they'll find some pretty embarrassing stuff.

(CROSSTALK)

STELTER: Exactly. So one out-of-context clip of Hillary falling on the stairs does not create, you know, a sort of proof of a cover-up. There is a grain of truth to this. It's because of her concussion. But there's been a mountain of lies built on top of it. And I do think nonetheless, we're going to continue to hear about it from Trump with that stamina. He's honed in that word, stamina, as a way to cue to his followers what he's talking about.

SANCHEZ: Brian --

(CROSSTALK)

STELTER: One way to, of course, respond to this, though, Clinton, you know, she's doing a lot in private right now. She's holding a lot of fundraisers. The more that she's seen in public and the more she can address this, the better.

SANCHEZ: Sure. There's been a lot of questions about Roger Ailes, specifically. The ousted head of FOX News and his potential influence to defend the Trump campaign.

STELTER: Yes. Yes.

SANCHEZ: I want to play for you some sound from Kellyanne Conway on Roger Ailes. So let's play that now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CONWAY: He has no formal or informal role with the campaign. But Mr. Trump speaks to many different people. Roger Ailes is a genius when it comes to television, when it comes to communicating with people. But so is Donald Trump.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: That was on "STATE OF THE UNION" yesterday. How much do you buy that?

STELTER: Such an interesting answer.

[04:40:01] She is really threading the needle here because she is saying Ailes is not getting advice -- Trump is not getting any advice for the entire campaign from Ailes. But he is getting advice personally. So Ailes is not an adviser to the campaign, but he is an adviser to Donald Trump directly. And if you're a Republican presidential nominee, you're going to want Roger Ailes' advice. He's been in the arena for decades. He's a master of television.

But given the controversy involving the sexual harassment allegations against him, given that cloud of scandal that's above him --

SANCHEZ: And the issues that he has with women.

STELTER: -- it would be troubling for him to be working for the campaign. Exactly. So it's a very -- definitely threading a needle at this. There was a report in the "New York Times" over the weekend that Ailes was reviewing some of Trump's campaign ad, did he like the ads, suggested some improvements. That sounds like Roger Ailes to me.

ROMANS: Yes.

STELTER: He would know how to craft the perfect Donald Trump campaign ad. And the one he released on Friday, his first out in the general election, felt like Roger Ailes' thumbprints all over it.

ROMANS: All right. Brian Stelter, nice to see you. We'll talk to you again in a few minutes.

STELTER: Thanks.

ROMANS: Thanks for getting up early for us on a Monday morning.

STELTER: Absolutely. Thank you.

SANCHEZ: President Obama is back from summer vacation in Martha's Vineyard but he won't be there for long -- or rather he won't be home for long. The president travels to flood-ravaged Baton Rouge tomorrow. And he's under fire for not cutting his vacation short to head there last week. Donald Trump actually beat him to it. He and his running mate Mike Pence visited the state Friday. Louisiana's Democratic governor says he is grateful for the attention it brought the state.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. JOHN BEL EDWARDS (D), LOUISIANA: It helped shine a spotlight on Louisiana and on the dire situation that we have here that it was helpful. And I will tell you that I also appreciated the good phone call, the conversation that I had with Governor Pence who was sincere and genuine. When he called and we spoke for a long time on Friday morning about their desire to be helpful.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Sadly things are still dire in Louisiana. More than 60,000 homes across 20 parishes have been damaged by flood waters. Over 106,000 people have already registered for assistance from FEMA. The death toll remains at 13 and now it's raining again.

We get more from CNN's Polo Sandoval.

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Christine and Boris. These occasional downpours are adding insult to injuries for so many families who are simply trying to clear out their homes of all the damaged material and get on with the rebuilding process.

Behind me is a snapshot of what you would see if you were to drive the streets of southern Louisiana. We have seen yard after yard where debris is piled high. Many of the -- Much of this, of course, old furniture, damaged furniture, and of course, even in some cases, some of the things that are hard to replace.

New numbers from the state of Louisiana now suggesting that just over 60,000 homes have been damaged in some way. Those are some preliminary numbers, guys. It is important to remember that since FEMA officials are expected to eventually make it on to the streets and begin an official tally of how many homes were damaged by the floods because that will play a significant factor in deciding just how much federal funding will be made available to residents.

I will tell you this, we are in one community where a majority of residents do in fact have flood insurance. Only about 12 percent of the total homes affected are covered by that kind of insurance. However, many people here don't have insurance for the contents. That's what you see behind me. So that is where officials hope that the federal government will step up and that is the message that many people here, Christine and Boris, hope that the president hears loud and clear when he visits this region.

ROMANS: All right. Polo Sandoval, thanks for that.

With the tens of thousands of homes damaged by flood waters in Louisiana, paying for the clean-up will be a major problem. Just 42 percent of homes in high risk areas in Louisiana have flood insurance. But many areas hit by flooding in these most recent storms are outside of the high risk areas. And they are flooding for the first time in recent history. They don't have coverage. As our Polo Sandoval mentioned, only 12.5 percent of those homes have

flood insurance. FEMA says 1/5 of all flood insurance claims come from homes outside of high risk areas. That's the main issue right now in Louisiana. But there could be problems even when areas are designated as high risk. Mortgage lenders typically require federal flood insurance on any home in those regions but that doesn't apply if someone owns their home outright.

Also the federal classification can change and existing homeowners may not be told to add insurance or a policy may have lapsed due to nonpayment without the lender even being notified.

Bottom line, a lot of these houses don't have any coverage. You're talking about, you know, financial catastrophe for thousands of families.

SANCHEZ: It just really speaks to how unprecedented this storm was.

ROMANS: Yes.

SANCHEZ: That there was so much flooding in areas where it typically does not flood.

ROMANS: That's right.

SANCHEZ: A terror attack on a wedding in Turkey leaving dozens dead. Why the age of the bomber is shocking the world as the vice president gets ready to head to Ankara.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:44:01] SANCHEZ: ISIS is the primary suspect in a bombing at a Kurdish wedding in Turkey over the weekend but what makes the attack especially disturbing is the age of the suicide bomber. Authorities believe the bomber was between 12 and 14 years old.

Later this week Vice President Joe Biden is set to travel to Turkey to deal with the repercussions of that attempted coup against the government of the NATO ally.

Let's go live to Turkey and bring in CNN's senior international correspondent Ben Wedeman.

Ben, what else do we know about this bomber?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Very little beyond that. We don't know if it was a girl or a boy. The Turkish president said the bomber was aged between 12 and 14. He said they didn't know if he actually detonated the bomb or if it was remotely detonated.

Now to add to the horror of this attack which left at least 51 people dead, now some Turkish media reporting as many as 54 people were killed in the attack. But the Turkish official we spoke to this morning said that of those killed, 22 were under the age of 14. [04:50:08] The bomb went off just before 11:00 on Saturday night when

the street was packed with people attending a party, a wedding party, that was going on there. And many children were close to where the bomb went off.

And it's important to keep in mind, Boris, that ISIS which is being accused by Turkey for this bombing, even though no claim of responsibility has been made, is has a unit called the Cubs of the Caliphate. These are young boys, some of them less than 10 years old, who have been indoctrinated, brainwashed, given military training, and also being trained to be suicide bombers.

And we've seen a variety of incidents. For instance, earlier in this year, in March, in Iraq. There was a similar incident where a very young bomber went to a football game that was full of kids and blew himself up, killing dozens. So it's -- there's a very good possibility, Boris, that the bomber in this instance can also be one of those so-called Cubs of the Caliphate -- Boris.

SANCHEZ: Ben Wedeman reporting live in Turkey. Joe Biden is set to visit there later this week. ISIS will certainly be on the agenda. Ben, thank you.

ROMANS: Absolutely.

All right. A major shift happening in the labor market. Good-paying middle class jobs, they are now coming back. We're going to tell you which industries are hiring when we get an early start on your money next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:55:44] SANCHEZ: The Rio Olympics are now history. The 2016 summer games wrapping up last night with the traditional closing ceremony that included a giant Brazilian samba party. The U.S. men's basketball team captured the final gold medal in Rio. The 46th gold for team USA. And as the Rio Games ended, American swimmer Ryan Lochte was still making news. Now admitting that he over exaggerated the Rio robbery story.

CNN's Christina Macfarlane is live in Rio with the details.

Christina, it has been entertaining Olympics from Ryan Lochte to green water in the pool to Shinzo Abe as Super Mario. It's been fun to watch.

CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN WORLD SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: It certainly has, Boris. And I'll tell you, the closing ceremony last night was really fun to watch and very much like the games itself. A few bumps along the way. We had a power cut just ahead of the start of the show that made us hold our breath. But it's the spectacle that unfolded afterwards was pure carnival and samba that had everyone dancing in the aisle.

The most memorable moment to me was seeing the athletes parading and enjoying themselves in the pouring rain. Simone Biles, the most popular flag bearer of the night being stopped every few minutes for a selfie.

And then the surprise package of the evening, not from Brazil, but Japan. Their prime minister, Shinzo Abe, emerging from the middle of the Americana dressed head to toe as Super Mario, the video game character, to take the baton forward to Tokyo 2020.

You know, it's been the games that's been pulled off against the backdrop of economic and financial concerns. The Russia doping crisis, the green pool, remember that? But it's great to see Brazil ending the games on Sunday with another gold medal in the men's volleyball taking their tally to 19 overall.

Meanwhile, team USA rounded off their best of the medal tally on the basketball court on Sunday night with an emphatic 96-66 thrashing of Serbia taking their third straight gold medal. But, you know, it wouldn't be Brazil without ending the games with another dash of controversy. This time in the wrestling arena. A Mongolia mayhem. Two Mongolian wrestling coaches held a bizarre protest when their athlete lost a bronze medal match to Uzbekistan.

Now they're not happy with the result. The two coaches stripped off in protest. One of them removing his shirt, and the other removing both his shirt and his pants leaving only his underwear. Well, that certainly got everyone's attention.

But I'll tell you one athlete who is now desperately trying to avoid the spotlight after his exaggerated tale of robbery in Rio is U.S. swimmer Ryan Lochte. On Sunday, the USOC announced that they will be taking further action against Lochte and the three U.S. swimmers involved in the incident. That was after -- well, it came 24 hours after Lochte has admitted to NBC's Matt Lauer the finer points of the story have been incorrect. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATT LAUER, HOST, "TODAY" SHOW: As you said at some point after you refused to sit down, the security guard put the gun to your forehead and cocked it. That didn't happen?

RYAN LOCHTE, OLYMPIC ATHLETE: That didn't happen. And that's why I over exaggerated that part.

LAUER: Why did do you that?

LOCHTE: I don't know. You know, it was still hours after the incident happened. I was still intoxicated. I was still under that influence. And I'm not making me being in intoxicated like an excuse. I'm not doing that at all. I mean, it was my fault.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: Many people here as you can imagine hoping that these games won't be remembered for that story. But rather for the spectacle, the samba and the slice of history at the first ever South American games. And if you forgive me, I'll wear my hat with pride. This is our last live shot with you, Boris and Christine, signing off three weeks of the Olympic Games. It's been spectacular.

SANCHEZ: I can't imagine it's going to be hard to get you back on the plane.

(LAUGHTER)

SANCHEZ: Thanks so much.

ROMANS: That is not a rough assignment at all. Not a rough assignment at all. Three weeks in Brazil?

All right. Let's get an EARLY START on your money. Dow futures wobbling to start the week. But all three major averages real close right now to record highs. Stock markets in Europe starting the week higher. Shares in Asia closed mostly lower. Oil is just below 48 bucks a barrel.

The tide is turning on middle class jobs. That's the statement from New York Federal Reserve president William Dudley. New data show the economy added 2.2 million middle class jobs between 2013 and 2015. And that is a lot better than the 1.6 million low-wage jobs and the 1.5 million high wage jobs added during the same period of time.