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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Trump Announces Immigration Speech; Does Trump Still Want A "Deportation Force?"; Police: LAX Gunfire Reports "Unfounded"; Two Arrested In Death Of NBA Star's Cousin; Turkey Hits Syrian Kurdish Troops. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired August 29, 2016 - 05:00   ET

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

[05:00:10] JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: So stay tuned for that.

Good morning, everyone. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm John Berman.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Christine Romans. It is Monday, August 29th. It is 5:00 a.m. in the east. Good morning, everyone.

The wait to hear Donald Trump clearly explain his immigration policy may be over or not. Overnight, Trump tweeted this, "I'll be making a major speech on illegal immigration Wednesday in the great state of Arizona."

Trump's speech, if it happens, comes after a week of vasilization (ph) raising questions about whether he was backing off a central campaign promise. With less than a month to go before the first presidential debate, time is running out for a clear consistent message on immigration. The latest on that from CNN's Diane Gallagher.

DIANE GALLAGHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, Christine, that first presidential debate less than a month away. The campaign official said Donald Trump spent part of his Sunday getting ready for it. We are told the Republican candidate, his advisers did debate prep at the Trump National Golf Club in New Jersey.

One topic that will likely dominate the debate between Trump and Hillary Clinton is immigration. Specifically what should happen to those 11 million undocumented immigrants who are in the U.S.?

That is still one that is dogging the Trump campaign. Late Sunday, Trump announced that he is going to be giving a major speech this Wednesday discussing illegal immigration. It will be in Arizona, which has been key in the debate over what to do about it.

Of course, this follows last week where he gave some contradictory answers about whether he believes all of those in the country illegally have to be deported as he previously state saying at one point he wanted a softening of his policy then later saying that some might actually see it as him hardening on the issue.

So what Trump is emphasizing now is that immediately after being elected, he would deport criminals who are not in the U.S. unlawfully and that there would be no path to legalization for undocumented immigrants unless they leave the country, apply to return and then pay back taxes.

But what the campaign is waiting saying is whether or not Trump still believes there should be a force to round up and deport all of those who are here in the country illegally and also whether And those who leave the country, saying he wants it done in a humane way.

Politicians on both sides questioned exactly where he stood on some of those points and some analysts say that Trump was hurting himself by delaying his planned speech.

Vice presidential nominee, Mike Pence, though defended Trump's approach on CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOVERNOR MIKE PENCE (R), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You should see a CEO at work engaging the American people and listening to the American people. He is hearing from all sides. But I promise you, he is a decisive leader and he will stand on the principles that have underpinned to end the illegal immigration in this country. That is what people will learn more about in the days ahead.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GALLAGHER: So of course, all eyes are going to be on Arizona for some answers come Wednesday -- John, Christine.

ROMANS: Diane, thank you.

BERMAN: Let's talk about all the political action right now. We are joined now by Greg Valliere. He is a political economist, a chief strategist for Horizon Investments live for us from Washington.

Greg, I'm curious about your take on all of this because part of your job is to advise, you know, big investors about which way the election is going and how things will play out.

So I want to remind voters where Donald Trump has been on the issue of illegal immigration and what to do with the 11 million undocumented immigrants currently in this country. That is a little walk down memory lane of where his positions had been.

GREG VALLIERE, POLITICAL ECONOMIST: Right.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Here illegal immigrants, they have to go out. They have to leave.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: But how do you do it in a practical way? Do you really think you round up 11 million people?

TRUMP: You know what? At some point, we are going to try getting them back, the good ones.

We are going to have a deportation force and you are going to do it humanely.

ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: Are you going to be sending in officers? A force of people into people's homes?

TRUMP: We are going to be giving notice. We will say you have to go. We have at least 11 million people in this country that came in illegally. They will go out. They will come back. Some will come back, the best, through a process. They have to come back legally.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Now to be clear, Greg, he is not saying how they will go out. Whether he will force them out. What are the betting markets think? Do they think that Trump now debating himself on immigration is good for his campaign?

VALLIERE: No, two points. Number one, he is running out of time. He's only got what 10 or 11 weeks to go. You know, the Electoral College map looks terrible for him.

But number two, markets like predictability. They like certainty. Christine and I have talked about this a lot. I mean, the markets like to know what to expect.

So what did we see on Sunday on the talk shows? After Trump blamed the media for distorting his immigration policy, we did not get a clear signal from Kellyanne Conway, Reince Priebus or even from Mike Pence.

They can't explain where Trump is. I think that internally, they are still debating and fighting over what he will say on Wednesday.

ROMANS: Let's listen a little bit to Kellyanne Conway on immigration. You can hear her try to -- I don't know -- not really clearly say what the policy's going to be, but also not go against what -- you know, listen and tell me what you think.

[05:05:09]VALLIERE: Yes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KELLYANNE CONWAY, TRUMP CAMPAIGN MANAGER: He wants to address that issue humanely and fairly. Those were his words. He also said he wants to not cause harm to people. The question is what to do.

He has said that if you want to be here legally, you have to apply to be here legally. We all learned in kindergarten you have to stand in line and wait your turn.

And he is not talking about a deportation force, but he is talking about being fair and humane, but also being fair to the American workers who are competing for jobs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: So the question here I think, Greg, is what does Donald Trump really believe about immigration? Does he have the tools to be able to put together a policy that could be enforced? You heard Mike Pence this weekend also talk about how he's being a CEO and asking for feedback. I know a lot of CEOs and they don't do it that way.

VALLIERE: Right. Trump, last week or the week before actually took a poll of the audience. Asked them what they wanted him to do. So it is clear, I think, from Kellyanne Conway, who I think is really good that she didn't get talking points.

That she wasn't given clear guidance for the talk shows yesterday. With a speech coming up on Wednesday, again I still think that internally, they can't agree on exactly what he will say about, for example, a deportation force.

BERMAN: Or there is an agreement to be fuzzy. The agreement may be they will not be clear on it because that's where things seemed to be falling right now. Greg, overnight, Donald Trump also on Twitter. He uses his campaign on Twitter and a lot of it happens overnight.

That is why it is always good to check in with in the morning, but he basically challenged Hillary Clinton to release more detailed medical records. He says he thinks both candidates should do it.

A couple of points to be made here, number one, both candidates have released letters from doctors. Hillary Clinton's is more detailed than Trump's is, which came from a doctor who said he spent 5 minutes writing it up. But is this something you think that will gather steam?

VALLIERE: It might. You know, we are getting to the point, guys, where I think the key is can you really budge a lot of the core supporters? Hillary Clinton will get 90 percent of the Democrats no matter what. Trump though is not at 90 percent on Republicans. He is probably at 80, 82 percent.

So things could still affect him negatively, but I don't this is going to move the needle all that much. Frankly, I don't even know if the Clinton e-mails will move the needle all that much among her supporters.

ROMANS: Greg, do you buy this? I keep hearing from Trump supporters that he is under polling. The mainstream media is not getting it right. The pollsters don't have it right. Do you buy that? Do the markets or people in markets feel that way?

VALLIERE: I think there is some truth to that, Christine. I mean, the pollsters got Brexit wrong. So if you hold really controversial views like I want to get out of the E.U. I don't like immigrants.

Are you going tell a complete stranger who calls you up on the phone and ask you for your opinions? Maybe people are holding back a bit, maybe we under polled Trump a point or two, but he is still trailing.

BERMAN: One thing about polls is that they got it right in the primaries when Donald Trump kept on pointing to the polls in the primaries saying he was winning and they were right. Maybe now when they are pointing out that he's losing, they could be right, too. You live by the polls, you die by the polls. Greg Valliere, great to have you.

ROMANS: Nice to see you, Greg.

All right, Fed Chair Janet Yellen prepped the world for a rate hike increase, but a wave of U.S. econ data this week may determine the timing for that rate hike.

Janet Yellen cited rosy data and strong labor market last week, a solid monthly jobs report on Friday, could then determine if we see a bump in September or later maybe December of this year.

Ultra low interest rates have propelled stocks to record highs even while the U.S. has had a slow growth recovery far below historic averages. It has been seven years without a recession and the central bank has done the bulk of the work so far.

So economists say the next president, whomever that is, will have to spend more money to boost growth. Many experts think the government spending is too restrictive.

For example, they predict infrastructure spending could create jobs and beef up business. They are calling whoever is president to work with Congress to get something done.

Both Clinton and Trump have proposed spending on bridges and roads. The Republican-controlled House seems reluctant to spend more. Whether that change is after November remains to be seen.

A quick check of global markets right now, mixed stock markets around the world. U.S. futures are down seven points. I would not bet your life on seven points.

BERMAN: All right, it's 9 minutes after the hour. Overnight, a scary scene at LAX, the airport in Los Angeles, bizarre frankly as well. The terminals were cleared. All flights stopped. Police were investigating reports of shots fired. We will tell you what actually happened and among other things, there are reports of a person in a Zorro costume was taken into custody. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:14:22]

BERMAN: What a night at LAX, chaos there. This morning, officials say reports of gunfire at the airport were unfounded. They say no shots were fired at the airport. No injuries reported. There was a mistaken report of gunfire that caused the terminal evacuation and snarled traffic.

The airport is reporting a ripple effect of delaying of arriving and departing flights with a 30-minute ground stop ordered by the FAA. Officials are blaming it all on loud noises.

The airport's official Twitter account also noticed police detained a man in a Zorro costume. Unclear if that is related to the reports of loud noises, but as you can see here there was a great deal of pandemonium there for some time.

[05:15:09]ROMANS: All right, to Chicago now where police have charged two men with murder in the death of Dwyane Wade's cousin, Nykea Aldridge. Police say these two are brothers, both gang members and on parole for gun convictions.

Officials say the brothers were shooting at a man who had dropped off some women nearby. They say the brothers thought the man might be armed so they chased him and started shooting and missed hitting Aldridge instead.

CNN's Rachel Crane sat down with Nykea Aldridge's mother who spoke about her daughter's total devotion to her four kids.

RACHEL CRANE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John and Christine, it was incredibly moving having this conversation with Diann, Nykea's mother. She said that she wanted to celebrate her daughter's life. That she was a fashionista.

She described her and simply awesome. She loved to do her hair. She was a wonderful writer. She liked to write poetry and her whole life was about her four children.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DIANN ALDRIDGE, NYKEA ALDRIDGE'S MOTHER: She was just trying to make a better life for her and her kids. That was the most important thing in her life, her kids. Make sure they got out of situations that she had been in. They tell each other they miss their mom. They want their mom.

It just hurts to hear kids saying they want their mom and their mom won't be in their lives anymore only through spirit, only through pictures. That's the only way they know their mom for the rest of their lives.

The only thing they have to go on is what they had. It's just heartbreaking. It's really -- oh, God -- it's heartbreaking not to have her here and raise her own children. I truly from the bottom of my heart I forgive them.

I forgive them. I can't bring her back, but I forgive them. And I just pray to God that they pray to God to ask for forgiveness for what they have done. They've taken a person's life senselessly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CRANE: Just heartbreaking hearing the pain that that mother is going through. Remarkable that through that pain she still has a message of forgiveness for the men who committed this crime. Unfortunately, this is not the first time that Diann has gone through this kind of grief. Her oldest daughter was also killed from gun violence ten years ago. Back to you, John and Christine. BERMAN: It is heartbreaking to hear that mother's pain. Our thoughts are with her this morning and amid all the attention to the Aldridge's death, there has been more gun violence in Chicago. The police department says four people were killed and 24 injured just since Saturday afternoon.

The "Chicago Tribune" reports there have been more than 2,800 shooting victims so far this year. That is right now on pace to exceed last year's total.

ROMANS: Terrible story. All right, Syrian rebels gaining more territory against ISIS, but their victories could complicate U.S. involvement, a real sort of diplomatic mess here. We are live at the Turkey/Syrian border next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:22:44]

BERMAN: New developments this morning in the war against ISIS in Syria. Turkish backed Syrian rebels are now gaining more territory in the area along the border that's near the city of Jarablus. This is a key border crossing the rebels seized from ISIS on Friday.

But these victories are complicating relations between Turkey and the United States. The Syrian rebels that Turkey backs appeared to be advancing in the territory held by U.S. backed Kurdish rebels.

Joining us for the latest on a really complicated messy situation is our senior international correspondent, Nick Paton Walsh. Nick, what is happening this morning?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: John, remarkable how so often in this war initial optimism turns quickly to pessimism. So many U.S. policymakers had hoped that Turkey would throw itself into this war much more decisively earlier on.

Well, finally, they have done it. Their armed forces along with a lot of rebels that they have been backing, Syrian rebels, moving against the town of Jarablus and now moving west to secure parts of the border denying ISIS vital access to Southern Turkey.

But at the same time as President Erdogan said here, they are going after with the same determination the Syrian Kurds who control some of that territory, too. Moving south from Jarablus towards a key town called Manbij.

Now those Syrian Kurds that have got strong backing from the Pentagon. They have been very effective in fighting ISIS was supposed to have moved out of that town of Manbij and once they cleared ISIS out of it.

They suggested that was the case. Now we are hearing from the foreign minister of Turkey that they must clear out and go back across the Euphrates River, that's the boundary Turkey has created, or they will face clashes from these Syrian rebels and the Turkish. The issue here for the U.S. that the Syrian Kurds have been so effective in fighting ISIS so far, but now it appears that Turkey, another American ally and the Syrian rebels they are fighting alongside, another set of American allies, will be facing off against the Syrian Kurds on a new frontline likely around Manbij.

Distracting them from the fight against ISIS at a vital time, such a headache for the U.S. policy makers at this closing stage in the fight against ISIS -- John.

BERMAN: There are not two sides in the fighting in Syria right now. There are many, many sides. Nick Paton Walsh from the border for us, thanks so much.

ROMANS: All right, legendary CBS News man, Charles Osgood is calling it a career. Osgood who is about to turn 84 years old, he made the announcement at the close of the program he has hosted for more than two decades, "CBS Sunday Morning."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHARLES OSGOOD, HOST, CBS "SUNDAY MORNING": Some of you may have heard rumors lately that I won't be hosting this "Sunday Morning" broadcast very much longer. Well, I'm here to tell you that the rumors are true. It has been a great run, but after nearly 50 years at CBS, including the last 22 years here at "Sunday Morning," the time has come.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Charles Osgood's last "Sunday Morning" broadcast will be September 25th. As he famously says, you can still see him on the radio doing the "Osgood Files."

BERMAN: He'll be missed. His voice is eternal.

All right, overnight, Donald Trump announced he's going to give what he calls a major speech about his immigration policy, but what is his immigration policy and will he make it clear what that policy is and what he wants to do with 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States. Will he tell us? Stay tuned.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)