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Trump Talks to Vets; Cape Canaveral Explosion Tracking Tropical Storm Hermine. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired September 01, 2016 - 09:30   ET

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

[09:30:00] DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: We're also going to start facing the world with confidence again. We are going to uphold the laws of the nation and defend our sovereignty, a security, and we are going to defend our border.

I just came back from a wonderful meeting with the president of Mexico, where I expressed my deep respect for the people of his country and for the tremendous contributions of Mexican Americans in our country. And they have made tremendous contributions. Many are in our armed services. You know how good they are.

I want to again thank him for his gracious hospitality and express my belief that we can work together to accomplish great things for both countries. That's Mexico and the United States.

We agreed in the meeting on the need to stop the illegal flow of guns, drugs, cash and people across the border and to take out the cartels. Have to get rid of those cartels. And we have to do it quickly. Our country is being poisoned. Our country is being poisoned.

We're also talking about, and talked about, the importance of working to keep jobs and wealth in our hemisphere. A more prosperous Mexico means fewer illegal border crossings and a better market for products made in the United States. When I'm president, I'm going to look at every trade deal we have across the world and see what steps must be taken to protect American jobs and create new opportunities for the American worker. The American worker has been forgotten. And we're not going to let that happen.

We will fight for every last American jobs, and we will have friendships with other countries, but they will not take advantage of us any longer, that I can tell you.

We're going to show ourselves and the world again what a strong and growing American economy can look like. We're going to give major tax relief to every worker and small business in this country, bring thousands of new companies and millions of new jobs back to our shores, and unleash an American energy revolution, which we have to do.

We will also be appointing justices of the United States Supreme Court who will you be -- you will be very proud, you will be extremely proud when we name them. You've already seen some of the people and the kind of people that we want. Justice Scalia passed away recently, serves as an absolute perfect focal point. He is the kind of person we want on the United States Supreme Court.

I will nominate men and women to the court who meet the high standard of Justice Scalia and judges who have the wisdom and integrity to follow the law and just not make it up any way they want to make it up.

Above all, these next four years I will be uncompromising in the defense of the United States and our friends and our good allies. We are going to end the era of nation-building and create a new foreign policy joined by our partners in the Middle East that is focused on destroying ISIS and radical Islamic terrorism.

We will extend the hand of friendship to any nation that will work with us in good faith on this vital mission. And we want this mission to be accomplished quickly. At the same time, we will change our immigration screening procedures to help keep terrorists and extremists out of our country.

We have enough problems. Our country has enough problems. We don't need that one. And that includes stopping the influx of Syrian refugees.

[09:35:10] Incredibly, my opponent, Hillary Clinton, wants a 550 percent increase in refugees from that region. Hard to believe. I, on the other hand, want to build a safe zone overseas and use the money saved to invest in America.

We do not want to let anyone in our country who doesn't support our values and who is not capable of loving our people. It's time to create a new American future for you, your children, and all American children yet to come. In this future, we will have an honest government that includes an honest State Department, not pay for play.

She probably didn't mention that to you yesterday. Government access and favors will no longer be for sale, and important e-mail records will no longer be deleted and digitally altered, which is something they just found out two days ago. Bleached. Bleached. Expensive process. Why? Why? Thirty-three thousand e-mails bleached through a very expensive process. You ask yourself, what's going on?

We will also haven an efficient and responsible federal budget. No more waste. No more throwing away taxpayer dollars. Once more, we will have a government of, by and for the people. It will be -- it will be an inclusive society, one that offers hope and opportunity to every part of this country, including our inner cities. We will ensure that every child in this land, including African-American and Hispanic children, are put on the American ladder of success, meaning a great education and a great job, which they are not getting now.

We will follow the noble example of our military men and women working selflessly across all different races and incomes and backgrounds to achieve unity and accomplish amazing things. You are amazing people, just in case you didn't know that, OK? Amazing people.

Ladies and gentlemen of the American Legion, I ask today for the honor of your vote. Working in unison, we can deliver the real American change our country so desperately needs. We will make -- we will make America strong again. We will make America proud again. We will make America safe again. We will make America --

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: All right, we're going to break away from Mr. Trump's speech and talk about it after the break.

We're also working on developing news this morning, breaking news out of Cape Canaveral, Florida. There's been some sort of explosion there near a launch pad. We're not sure what's happened. We're working on that now. Hopefully I'll have more information for you on the other side of the break.

I'll be back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:43:16] COSTELLO: Donald Trump back on the campaign trail this morning. He just delivered a speech to the American Legion Convention. As you can see, he's shaking hands and signing autographs right now.

So, let's talk about this. With me now is Douglas Brinkley, CNN presidential historian and history professor at Rice University. Also with me, Tracy Sefi, a Democratic strategist and Hillary Clinton support, and Scottie Nell Hughes, CNN political commentator and political editor at rightsalerts.com, and, of course, she's a Trump supporter.

Welcome to all of you.

Scottie, Mr. Trump chose to go back to Ohio today after campaigning in mostly red states. Why did he choose to do that?

SCOTTIE NELL HUGHES, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, because he's going to speak to his veterans, one of his core groups, Carol, that he does very well with. In fact, most military polls have Trump up by 14 or 11 points with military and veterans. This is a very solid core group that he's -- this is basically the red meat, his base, and he definitely needed to address them, not only out of respect for their service, but just to continue pushing his veterans' plan.

COSTELLO: One part of his veterans' plan, Tracy, was he -- well, he was going to name a special cabinet position so that person could investigate problems at the VA. A good idea?

TRACY SEFI, CLINTON SUPPORTER: Well, this is a candidate who has spent the totality of his campaign really trashing America writ large, and I have to imagine that for veterans there's something a bit off in his messaging this morning. I do know that in Ohio we've seen one, I think perhaps more, op-eds written by veterans who are saying they cannot support him, they're disavowing him. And I think it's -- it's really not a done deal for a man who last night gave a speech roundly described as dark, demeaning, angry, frightening, and so forth. This isn't a hopeful make America great message. This is dark and dangerous.

[09:45:11] COSTELLO: Well, he did bring up Mexico and his meeting with the Mexican president during this speech in front of the American Legion in Ohio, and he talked about making things work with Mexico and working together on illegal immigration. But, you know, Vicente Fox, the former Mexican president, was on "New Day" again this morning talking about Mr. Trump's visit to Mexico, and, you know, the wall came up. And Mr. Trump said he did not mention who would pay for the wall during the meeting with the Mexican president. The Mexican president tweeted back, I told Mr. Trump in no uncertain terms I would not pay for that wall. I want you to listen to what the former president of Mexico, Vicente Fox, said on "New day" this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VICENTE FOX, FORMER MEXICAN PRESIDENT: We are not going to pay for that "f" -- I'm going to be moderate today for us -- "f" wall. It's a crazy idea, and I don't know why U.S. citizens, taxpayers, accept that they will pay for the wall. They don't have an alternative. If that wall is built, no way Mexico will pay for it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: OK, so, Douglas, just from the historical perspective, is this kind of thing normal after a presidential candidate sits down with a world leader?

DOUGLAS BRINKLEY, CNN PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: No, but Donald Trump's a unique kind of candidate. I mean I'm still baffled by the Mexican president invited Donald Trump to his country. It's -- he's just going to have nothing but a rain of havoc on him for having had him come there. I think Trump got in a great advantage by saying -- being able to show himself in a foreign diplomatic situation and seemed to be so tame and proper. Yes, he came to Phoenix and gave a, you know, a raw meat speech on immigration to his supporters, but Donald Trump's dominating this news cycle right now, including this speech to veterans where he's picked up on this issue. I've -- we've just heard him say that the pledge of allegiance, you know, it should be mandatory. And I have a feeling he's going to be picking up on that coming up in coming days and forcing Hillary Clinton to say, do you think it should be mandatory or not. So, Donald Trump is doing a lot of interesting chess moves this week, and it's all about momentum and owning every day's news cycle.

COSTELLO: And, Scottie, I talked to a former Trump supporter, Alfonso Aguilar. He had thrown his support behind Mr. Trump. But when he heard Mr. Trump's speech in Arizona, and his hardline stance on undocumented immigrants, he's withdrawn his support. So is there a danger that Mr. Trump is taking things too far yet again?

HUGHES: Well, that's a shame, and I hope we can be able to bring him back into the fold. But I also want to point out that President Fox, earlier in May, he actually invited Mr. Trump. He said, I think Mr. Trump needs to come to Mexico. He made the same exact invitation, I want him to come to Mexico and meet with our government, meet with our people. So for President Fox to be making these PR rounds right now is kind of interesting considering he offered the same invitation the Mexican president did. And I'm hoping those Hispanics that have been supporting Mr. Trump, they have the same feelings the rest of the Americans. It's America's family first. Right now we have $113 billion being taken on by the middle class for illegal immigrants that are here in the United States. We cannot take that burden anymore. And I would hope those American Hispanics, or Latino Americans would go, listen, go -- that their families actually are just as important as all other American families and realize they need to be put first, which is what Mr. Trump's plan is.

COSTELLO: So, Tracy, I'm sure this will come up many times throughout the day, that Donald Trump will insist that Hillary Clinton should go to Mexico. He's even said that she lacks the stamina to do that. So should Hillary Clinton go?

SEFI: The former secretary of state certainly doesn't need tips from Donald Trump. And this whole thing, this whole episode yesterday with the softening followed by the speech, the red meat, it's all so -- there's a whiplash factor to it. And it's a good reminder for so many voters that this is not a typical candidate. This is not an apples-to- apples election. We're talking about someone so incredibly divisive and historically so that to make these sort of direct comparisons with Hillary Clinton, it's just false. And so, no, she's not going to take tips from him.

COSTELLO: All right, I have to leave it there. Douglas Brinkley, Tracy Sefi, Scottie Nell Hughes, thanks to all of you.

All right, back to that breaking news I told you about out of Florida, where there's been an explosion at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. We do have reports of buildings shaking for miles away. Look at all of that smoke. Now, we don't know if anyone was hurt in this incident -- we just don't know what happened. But we do know there has been -- there have been accidents near this launch pad before.

[09:50:12] Chad Myers is standing by with more. He's very familiar with this situation. What can you discern from these pictures?

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, what was supposed to happen on Saturday was a launch from SpaceX. Falcon 9 was supposed to take a satellite -- communications satellite up into the sky and release it. This is SpaceX's launch area here. So all of a sudden, about 20 minutes ago, there was a large explosion. We were hoping, if this truly is an explosion of the rocket, that this was part of a test fire, so no one would be there. No one would be in the area because it was going to be a test fire. A failed test fire, I get it, but at least that would be -- have everyone out of the way.

Here's the ground look at it right now. This is where the SpaceX rocket would have been. We see no indication at all that it's even there. Could be something entirely different. We're still trying to gather information.

But at ChrisN99 (ph) took a picture. She's a Kennedy Space Center worker. Took a picture and said, they said -- she said on her Twitter feed that SpaceX launch pad is on fire. So that was kind of a -- she works there. She knows what she's talking about. She's looking across.

The Space Com (ph) of Israel is the company that was going to move that -- going to move that satellite up into space on that rocket nine, on the SpaceX Falcon 9. There right there is Cape Canaveral. Here are all the different launch pads. And then, obviously, the facility's just further inland.

So we will still keep you up to date on this. Obviously everything now is coming in piece by piece. We hope we have it all right. If we don't, we'll get it right at some point in time. Just because, right now, it's all coming in as fast as we can process it, Carol.

COSTELLO: I sure hope there's no injuries. Chad Myers reporting for us. Thank you so much.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, all of this amid a state of emergency in Florida as Tropical Storm Hermine takes aim.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:56:03] COSTELLO: Tropical Storm Hermine is now threatening to strike Florida as a category one hurricane tonight. This was a live look at the ominous skies in Tampa. You can see the ocean churning, the palm trees starting to whip in the wind. Right now, hurricane warnings are blanketing the panhandle, but rain already pounding the area. Several neighborhoods waking up under water. This storm expected to dump 20 more inches of rain in some areas.

So let's head live to Florida's Gulf Coast. Boris Sanchez is there.

Good morning.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, Carol.

Yes, the wind is picking up considerably. In just the past few minutes, we've already had several bands of heavy, torrential rain coming down in this area. As you mentioned, up to 20 inches of rain in some spots. We're expecting winds stronger than 70 miles an hour in some areas. And it's really rare to get a direct hit of this kind in this area. The big bend (ph) area of the panhandle. A hurricane or a storm would have to have a very steep curve in the Gulf to come this way and avoid any land before hitting this region.

Florida Governor Rick Scott has come out and declared a state of emergency, saying that it's critical for everyone who lives in this area to prepare for this storm. I actually spoke to a business owner yesterday who lives in the area. He told me that about 10 years ago there was a storm that directly hit the panhandle and that it brought up the water so high in a marina not far from here that boats actually ended up stranded in neighborhoods. We're not expecting that level of flooding necessarily for this area, but it's certainly possible. That same business owner actually told me, Carol, that he was planning to stay open the whole day. He said he had sandbags and other provisions, that he wanted to stay open.

Obviously, the governor and other local officials are warning everyone to stay home. Even if it's just a category one storm, it is still especially strong. It's interesting to see some people like him are not necessarily getting ready. I actually talked to one lady who was walking around earlier with her camera saying that she was just here to take pictures. That she wasn't really that worried. Other people, though, have come out and they've secured their boats, they've tried to move them to higher ground so that they could avoid scenarios like the one I just mentioned.

Despite that, we're expecting the storm to hit at 1:00 a.m., very early in the a.m. So, obviously, a lot of cause for concern, not only for the people that live here, but also in nearby areas that are prone to flooding already, Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Boris Sanchez reporting live from Florida, from the Florida panhandle this morning, thank you.

Checking some other top stories for you at 58 minutes past.

A major victory for a challenger to a controversial North Carolina voter I.D. law. The Supreme Court is refusing to reinstate provisions of the law which means they won't be in effect for the November election. Those provisions include tighter voter I.D. requirements and cutbacks on early voting. Critics, including the Department of Justice, argue the law would have a devastating impact on minority voters.

A grand jury has indicted a former Atlanta police officer for murder in the shooting death of an unarmed black man. James Burn says he shot 22-year-old Deravis Caine Rogers in self-defense, but prosecutors say Burns was not in danger when he fired into the passenger side of the car Rogers was driving in back in June. The Atlanta Police have since fired the officer.

Today, a federal judge hears from the defense lawyers for the accused Charlton church shooter Dylann Roof. They want certain evidence left out of Rood's November trial. His attorneys pushed for today's hearing to be closed to the public and to the media, saying otherwise it could taint the pool of 3,000 potential jurors. Roof is charged in the shooting deaths of nine black parishioners at Emmanuel AME Church in June of 2015.

The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM starts now.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

COSTELLO: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

We do begin with breaking news this morning. And it's out of Florida, where there's been an explosion at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at a SpaceX launch pad. You can see that black smoke billowing. Reports of buildings shaking from the explosion miles away. Our team has been reaching out to NASA and the Kennedy Space Center for more information and any word on whether there are injuries to anyone at this time. CNN's Chad Myers is standing by with more.

[10:00:12] Hi, Chad.

MYERS: Hi, Carol.