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Shooting Scare Triggers Security Breach at LAX; Trump Promises Major Speech on Immigration; Two Charged In Murder Of Dwayne Wade's Cousin; Trump To Clinton: Release Medical Records. Aired 9-9:30a ET
Aired August 29, 2016 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
[09:00:00] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: The nation's busiest airports. Passengers at LAX running past security and on to the tarmac. All for nothing?
Plus, Trump set to set the record straight on his immigration plan.
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: On day one, I'm going to begin swiftly removing criminal illegal immigrants from this country.
COSTELLO: But what about that deportation force?
REINCE PRIEBUS, CHAIRMAN, REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE: He is reflecting on it and his position is going to be known.
COSTELLO: And more death on the streets of Chicago.
DIANN ALDRIDGE, VICTIM'S MOTHER: They said they want their mom and their mom won't be in their lives anymore.
COSTELLO: Police charge two men for the murder of Dwyane Wade's cousin.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When will enough be enough?
COSTELLO: Let's talk. Live in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: And good morning, I'm Carol Costello, thank you so much for joining me.
A false alarm triggers a major security breach at one of the busiest airports in the country.
This was the terrifying and chaotic scene as passengers run for their lives amid rumors that an active shooter had opened fire overnight at the Los Angeles International Airport. Police say it was a false alarm, but that did not stop panicked passengers from breaching restricted areas and actually spilling on to the tarmac.
Let's get right to CNN's Paul Vercammen. He's live with more. Hi, Paul.
PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. In all, 281 flights were delayed, either arriving or departing. There were 27 diversions and also two cancellations, and it all started with one report in Terminal 8 at Gate 82 of a loud noise that sounded like gunfire.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
VERCAMMEN (voice-over): Chaos overnight at Los Angeles International Airport, reports of an active shooter sending travelers running out of several terminals.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We just saw people sprinting the other way.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was in the bathroom, and all of a sudden there was a flood of people that came running into the bathroom saying there was a shooter. I mean, everyone is in a huge panic.
VERCAMMEN: Panicked passengers using emergency exits to get away, some ending up in restricted parts of the airport.
The scare leading to a full ground stop of air traffic as police searched the airport. LAX later confirming that the source was likely a loud noise.
The false alarm causing a ripple effect of headaches for travelers. Massive gridlock on the freeways leading into LAX and passengers back inside the airport now facing delays as airlines work to get things back on track.
The scare at LAX comes just two weeks after a similar incident caused widespread chaos at New York's JFK Airport. Both incidents highlighting how on edge travelers are following recent terror attacks abroad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VERCAMMEN: And I just spoke with airport police, they were saying that they still have no idea what that loud noise was and as for the emergency exits, how did they get on to the tarmac, most of those were fire exits. Is this showing a weak link in the security system? They say, no, they have cameras on those exits, it was just one of those things that happened during this mass hysteria -- Carol.
COSTELLO: So, Paul, you have all of these passengers panicking and running. Running on to the tarmac. What was security doing during this time?
VERCAMMEN: Everything they possibly could to quell this. They said that they were victimized by bad word of mouth and social media. People were re-tweeting these false reports, and it just sort of took off. They had officers fanned out all over the airport.
What happened was so strange that it started, as we said, this is a horseshoe shaped structure airport. It happened down at Terminal 8, it skipped to where I am now to Terminal 4 and then across all the way diagonally, as far as you can go, to Terminal 1.
It just spread like wildfire. And this seems to be an incident where it really wasn't social media, it was anti-social media, as people were whipping up the most sensational things that they could think of and talking about all of this as gunfire.
COSTELLO: Unbelievable. Paul Vercammen reporting live from LAX this morning.
Donald Trump is promising a major speech on his immigration plans and even his closest allies are desperate for some clarity, many of them struggled this weekend to explain Trump's apparent softening on the hard line stance that's embraced and celebrated by most of his hard core supporters.
CNN's Sara Murray live in Washington with more on that. Good morning.
SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. While when even your running mate can't articulate what your position is on an issue that's really a cornerstone of your presidential campaign, that's how you can tell that there's a lot of confusion, and that is certainly where Donald Trump's immigration policy stands now.
[09:05:05] He is expected to clear this up on Wednesday in an immigration speech. What we'll be watching for is whether he just changes his tone on immigration or whether he is backtracking on a central tenant of his campaign. His pledge to deport millions of undocumented immigrants living in the U.S.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We are going to get rid of the criminals and it's going to happen within one hour after I take office. Believe me.
MURRAY (voice-over): Donald Trump announcing he'll deliver a highly anticipated immigration speech Wednesday in Arizona after all.
KELLYANNE CONWAY, TRUMP CAMPAIGN MANAGER: If you want to be here legally, you have to apply to be here legally.
MURRAY: The Trump campaign insisting the proposal won't amount to amnesty or include a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.
CONWAY: We all learned in kindergarten to stand in line and wait our turn.
MURRAY: But as questions mount about whether Trump is softening his hard line position from the primaries.
TRUMP: At least 11 million people in this country that came in illegally, they will go out.
MURRAY: Even his allies appear unclear on his stands.
JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: What about the millions in this country right now?
GOV. MIKE PENCE (R), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well --
TAPPER: What happens to them?
PENCE: I think Donald Trump will articulate what we do with the people who are here but I promise you --
TAPPER: But he ready has articulated.
MURRAY: The GOP chairman even saying deporting all 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. is complicated.
PRIEBUS: He's reflecting on it and his position is going to be known.
MURRAY: This as Trump plans a Labor Day weekend trip to a predominantly black church in Detroit, part of his ongoing effort to woo minority voters.
TRUMP: African-Americans, Hispanics, vote for Donald Trump. What do you have to lose? It can't get any worse. What do you have to lose?
MURRAY: The Republican nominee sparking controversy over the weekend for politicizing the death of Chicago Bulls star Dwyane Wade's cousin, tweeting, "Just what I have been saying. African-Americans will vote Trump." An hour later, Trump offered his condolences.
This tweet just the latest example of Trump facing criticism for touting his political positions in the wake of tragedies.
TRUMP: It's horrible. And it's only getting worse. I say vote for Donald Trump, I will fix it.
MURRAY: And Trump continue to blame the Democratic Party and Hillary Clinton for minority hardship and racial tension.
TRUMP: They've run the inner cities for years and look what you have. They're like war zones. How quickly people have forgotten that Hillary Clinton called black youth super predators. Remember that? Super predators.
MURRAY: Both Trump and Clinton campaigns using their opponent's own words against each other.
TRUMP: What the hell do you have to lose?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MURRAY: Now Trump is trying to keep the pressure on Hillary Clinton this week on the airwaves. His campaign is going up with a $10 million new advertising buy that's going to be in nine battleground states, but it's not focused on immigration, Carol, this one is focused on the economy.
COSTELLO: All right. Sara Murray reporting live from Washington, thanks so much. So let's talk about this now, with me now, Trump supporter Betsy
McCaughey, and Greisa Martinez, advocacy director for the United We Dream Network.
Welcome to both of you.
Betsy, I'd like to start with you. Kellyanne Conway, Trump's campaign manager, says Mr. Trump's updated immigration plan does not involve a deportation force for the 11 million undocumented people in the United States. That was Mr. Trump's signature issue, so why is he pivoting if he's pivoting?
BETSY MCCAUGHEY, TRUMP SUPPORTER: I don't believe he's pivoting, but I would say he's prioritizing, as all leaders do. Top priority, removing hardened criminals who are illegal aliens. Number two, building the wall to stop the flow of drugs and drug trafficking gangs into this country. And --
COSTELLO: Well, going back to the deportation force for just a second because I want to concentrate on that. So what is his -- what is his stand on that, Betsy?
MCCAUGHEY: Well, he met with Hispanic leaders a week ago. He has met with many members of Congress about this which --
COSTELLO: Right. So what's his plan?
MCCAUGHEY: It would require congressional action. And let me point out --
COSTELLO: He would want to get the deportation force OK'd by Congress before he implemented it, is that it?
MCCAUGHEY: Obviously. There are three branches of government. Creating and funding a deportation force would require action by Congress. There's no question about that.
COSTELLO: So, Greisa, in your mind, is this a more humane way to do things?
GREISA MARTINEZ, ADVOCACY DIRECTOR, UNITED WE DREAM NETWORK: You know, I choose facts above Trump fiction, and the fact is, that Trump has been going after me and my family since day one of his candidacy and he has promised mass deportation. Now his campaign might be saying and his surrogates like this morning might be saying that there's no pivot, that is the same thing, but the reality is, that it's not.
[09:10:01] And he has been saying from day one that he wants to deport people like myself, he wants to take away the birthright citizenship of people like my sister, and, you know, he also stands alone. The majority of the American public believe that my mother and I deserve a pathway to citizenship, and so it's erratic and not very understandable like most of his campaign and his policy positions.
COSTELLO: Before we go on, like, Mr. Trump is going to give his big immigration speech in Arizona, and I just want to read you the stats from what voters are thinking within the state of Arizona. Mrs. Clinton is leading Mr. Trump with Hispanic voters in Arizona by 37 points.
So, obviously, what Mr. Trump is selling on his immigration isn't really flying among at least Hispanic voters in Arizona. Betsy?
MCCAUGHEY: Yes, I would like to address that. First of all, people who come here legally want the law enforced, whether they are Hispanic or Chinese or Italian, wherever they come from, they respect the rule of law. They waited in line themselves, and they expect everyone else to do that.
I received an e-mail yesterday, as I often do, from a woman in Florida who was very upset. She took her mother to the emergency room, her mother's on Medicare, and she told me what I hear every day, that the emergency rooms are scrimping on people on Medicare because the emergency rooms are so overwhelmed with illegal immigrants. And the signs on the emergency room door --
COSTELLO: So --
MCCAUGHEY: Just let me finished. Say that illegal immigrants must be treated. So the fact is, as sympathetic as I am to anyone who needs health care, the fact is that the nation cannot take care of the entire world. And the cost of illegal immigration --
COSTELLO: So you're saying to Greisa to get out? Is that what you're saying?
MCCAUGHEY: I am saying that people who come here illegally should not be eligible for all the benefits that American citizens --
COSTELLO: Are you saying that Greisa should get out?
MCCAUGHEY: Yes, I am saying that. I am saying that people who came here illegally should not benefit from -- and both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton originally said that illegal immigrants would not receive health benefits. Now both of them have switched. The Obama administration is spending billions on health benefits for illegal immigrants.
(CROSSTALK)
COSTELLO: OK. So hold off there. Hold off --
MCCAUGHEY: And Mrs. Clinton has flip-flopped --
COSTELLO: What's the answer, Betsy? Please, you just told her she should be out of the country, so let her respond.
MCCAUGHEY: That's right. I did.
MARTINEZ: Betsy, I -- I'm appalled by what you just said on national television that people like myself and like my mother and dreamers all across the country should leave because that puts you in the minority. 84 percent of the American public believe that I belong here, and they know the gifts that we bring to this country and so you have just defined yourself as a Trump Klan member, someone that believes in the xenophobic vision that Trump has for this country.
And the reality is that in November you're going to lose and that vision is going to lose because the American public, and as a Latina, I know what is important to our people, and that is safety, that is economic opportunity, and that means the ability to live happily and safely in your home. And the things that you just laid out are the complete opposite of that.
MCCAUGHEY: Well, Greisa, I'm very sympathetic to you, but I don't identify myself as anything but an American and I would hope that if you were here, you would identify yourself as an American. The fact is that we need to have the rule of law here, and in addition, if we want real economic opportunity, we need to make sure that the people who are already here get jobs before we have open borders and try to take care of the whole world. We cannot do that.
COSTELLO: Mr. Trump just tweeted, and I just want to read it to you, Greisa, just to get your impression of this. Mr. Trump tweeted. "Look how bad it is getting. How much more crime, how many more shootings will it take for African-Americans and Latinos to vote Trump." And he said, "Trump equals safe." Just your reaction to that, Greisa.
MARTINEZ: I mean, it's a continuous of 15 months of campaigning that is ripping our community and our country apart. It's sound bites and pieces that are not coherent, that are not deep policy conversations. That of which we expect of a presidential candidate, and it continues to lay out who he really is, a xenophobic zealot that believes that this country is unsafe and not great, and from all of the sacrifices that my parents have made to come to this country to raise four daughters, two of them are U.S. citizens, that is such an affront to the vision that America has about ourselves. So I will not be sorry for Mr. Trump when he loses in November, and I will ensure that that happens.
COSTELLO: And, Betsy, I will say, what proof do you have that the majority of those 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States are committing crime or the majority of crime?
MCCAUGHEY: There's absolutely no suggestion that the majority of the people who have come here are committing crimes.
[09:15:10] No one would suggest that and that is exactly why Donald trump -- that's exactly why Donald Trump has said the first priority will be to remove hardened criminals, build a wall, and stop the gangs and the drug trafficking from coming in here.
That's exactly why he's made the distinction that you're using now to try and label him a flip-flopper. He is making priorities. The real flip-floppers are the Obama administration and Mrs. Clinton, who promised Americans illegals would not get health care benefits and now they are getting them. COSTELLO: To put things in perspective, Betsy, since President Obama took office, 2.8 million people have been deported from this country. In 2015 alone, 235,000 people have been deported. So there are illegals being deported from this country already.
MCCAUGHEY: Good, good. No one suggested that wasn't happening.
COSTELLO: You just did.
MCCAUGHEY: No, I didn't. I said that Donald Trump would make it a top priority.
COSTELLO: OK.
MCCAUGHEY: Because we see people like Kate Steinly being murdered by illegal immigrants who are given one chance after another to get out of jail and commit another crime.
COSTELLO: All right, I have to leave it there. Thanks to both of you. Betsy McCaughey, (inaudible) Martinez, thanks so much.
Still to come in the NEWSROOM, she lived in the shadow of a famous cousin, but died in a horrific explosion of violence as she pushed her baby in a stroller. Her story and the arrest of two suspects just ahead.
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[09:20:45]
COSTELLO: Chicago police have charged two men in the shooting death of Nykea Aldridge. Nykea is the cousin of NBA star, Dwyane Wade. She was gunned down Friday, caught in the crossfire of a nearby argument as she pushed her newborn a roller. Her mother talking with CNN struggled to make sense of the killing and the four children now left without their mom.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DIANN ALDRIDGE, NYKEA ALDRIDGE'S MOTHER: And I can go on and on, you know, about Nykea being awesome mom, you know, trying to move ahead with the kids, you know, move them to better areas, you know.
She was just trying to make a better life for her and her kids. That's the most important thing in her life was her kids. It just hurts to hear kids saying they want their mom and their mom won't be in their lives anymore.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: CNN's Rachel Crane sat down for that interview. She joins me now from Chicago. Good morning, Rachel.
RACHEL CRANE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. It was just heartbreaking sitting down with that mourning mother, hearing the pain that she's going through. She said she wanted to celebrate her daughter Nykea's life.
She described her as simply awesome. She said she was a fashionista, and as we just heard, her four children her whole life. She also had a powerful message for the shooters. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CRANE (voice-over): Chicago police say these are the two men responsible for killing a mother of four over the weekend, brothers, Darwin and Derren Sorells charged with first-degree murder.
EDDIE JOHNSON, CHICAGO POLICE SUPERINTENDENT: When will enough be enough?
CRANE: Police voicing outrage over the shooters' lengthy rap sheets, saying they are both gang members and convicted felons out on parole. Derren, 22, was released from prison just two weeks ago with six felony arrests. Darwin, 26, got out of prison in February. He had been serving a six-year sentence for a felony gun charge.
JOHNSON: We need to put them in jail and keep them there.
CRANE: Caught in a deadly crossfire was 32-year-old Nykea Aldridge, cousin of Chicago Bulls superstar, Dwyane Wade. The tragic death in Wade's hometown shining a spotlight on Chicago's ongoing gun violence epidemic.
PASTOR JOLINDA WADE, DWAYNE WADE'S MOTHER: Just sat up on a panel yesterday, the undefeated, talking about the violence that's going on within our city, Chicago, never knowing that the next day we would be the ones that would be actually living and experiencing it.
CRANE: Aldridge was pushing her baby in a stroller when she was struck in the head and arm by stray bullets. She was on her way to register her older children for school.
ALDRIDGER: It's just heartbreaking. Oh, God, it's heartbreaking, to raise her own children.
CRANE: But through the pain, Nykea's mother had this emotional message for her daughter's killers.
ALDRIDGE: I truly, truly, from the bottom of my heart, I forgive them.
CRANE: Dwyane Wade tweeting under the #enoughisenough, writing, "another act of senseless gun violence. Four kids lost their mom for no reason. Unreal."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CRANE: Carol, just so hard to hear and see the pain that that mother is going through. And truly remarkable that despite all that pain, she's still sending out that message of forgiveness to the men that stole her daughter's life. Also, unfortunately, this is not the first time that Diann has had to go through this type of grieving. She also lost her eldest daughter to gun violence ten years ago -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Rachel Crane reporting live from Chicago this morning, thank you.
Still to come in the NEWSROOM, Donald Trump challenges Hillary Clinton to a duel of medical records, saying if she releases hers, he'll release his.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:29:00]
COSTELLO: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thanks so much for joining me. The battle over who is fit to be commander in chief intensifying with a new challenge from Donald Trump.
He says if Hillary Clinton releases her medical records, he will, too. So gauntlet thrown, but this comes after weeks of campaign trail insults, accusations flying between camps of illness and mental instability with statements like this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We basically have a psychopath running for president. He meets the clinical definition.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wait a minute, wait a minute, do you really think -- diagnosing people on air, and I assume you don't have a degree in psychology, is that fair? We're jumping -- we're jumping to conclusions here. This is what gets voters a little frustrated in this campaign.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Listen, the grandiose notion of self-worth, pathological lying, lack of empathy and remorse --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: All right, David Plouffe is a Hillary Clinton supporter. He went on to say if the race ends today, he believes Clinton would win in, quote, "a landslide."
So let's talk about this with Joshua Clinton, no relation, he is a political science professor at Vanderbilt University, and Maria Cardona, a Hillary Clinton supporter and CNN commentator. Welcome to both of you. Good morning.
