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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Clinton Returns To Campaign Trail Thursday; Median Income In 2015: $56,516; Trump Unveils Child Care Plan; Fragile Ceasefire In Syria Holding; Hackers Target World Anti-Doping Agency; Wells Fargo CEO: "We're Sorry. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired September 14, 2016 - 05:30   ET

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

[05:29:40] CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Much needed humanitarian aidaid still not reach hundreds of thousands of civilians in Syria nearly two days into this tenuous ceasefire. Officials confirming there has been a significant drop in violence but security is still not guaranteed.

GEORGE HOWELL, CNN ANCHOR: And Russian hackers breaking into the World Anti-Doping Agency's database, leaking medical records from U.S. Olympic stars Simone Biles and Venus and Serena Williams, and now threatening to release even more records.

ROMANS: Wow.

HOWELL: Good morning, welcome back to EARLY START, I'm George Howell.

ROMANS: I'm Christine Romans. Nice to see you all this morning. It's 30 minutes past the hour. Let's start with these new developments on Hillary Clinton's recovery from pneumonia this morning. Her campaign announcing she will return to the stump tomorrow.

She spent Tuesday resting at home, receiving get-well flowers -- lots of deliveries there -- catching up on her reading -- briefing books, you know, a few -- making phone calls, and watching President Obama campaign for her in Philadelphia.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This is not me going through the motions here. I really, really, really want to elect Hillary Clinton.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: President Obama hitting the trail with an energy familiar from 2008, 2012, vigorously defending Clinton, saying she's being held to an unfair standard. And he hammered Donald Trump. The president also slammed the media for creating false equivalence between these two candidates saying you can't grade the presidency on a curve.

CNN's Michelle Kosinski was in Philadelphia. She's got more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, George and Christine. Right, so President Obama stood at the foot of the Philadelphia Art Museum steps here -- yep, the ones from "Rocky".

And he quickly showed he was here not to just support Hillary Clinton but to punch back against Donald Trump repeatedly and directly, calling him out by name which he doesn't always do.And he got pretty specific, too, including Trump's praising of Russian president Vladimir Putin -- listen.

OBAMA: Think about what's happened to the Republican Party, all right? They used to be opposed to Russia, and authoritarianism, and fighting for freedom, and fighting for democracy. And now, their nominee is out there praising a guy, saying he's a strong leader because he invades smaller countries, jails his opponents, controls the press, and drives his economy into a long recession.

And when the interviewer asked him well, why do you support this guy, he was like he's a strong guy. Look, he's got an 82 percent poll rating. Well, yes, so did -- Saddam Hussein had 90 percent poll rating.

KOSINSKI: The president didn't hold back. I mean, he called out the Republican Party, saying that they are fanning resentment and blame. He also called out Trump for his knowledge, his business dealings, even his charity work, and said he was hiding his tax return. I mean, this is more of what we can expect from President Obama who is expected to spend much more time on the campaign trail when his schedule allows next month -- George and Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right, Michelle, thank you for that. A spring in the president's step because of this, too. The middle-class finally getting a raise. Median household income in the U.S. jumping 5.2 percent last year. That's according to an annual report from the census department. The largest jump since recordkeeping began. The average is now above $56,000 which means families taking home and extra $2,800 more from 2014-2015. That's real money.

Stagnant wages had been a major criticism of the Obama economy but these numbers are showing that an improving job market is starting to lift all those -- middle-class, poor families, and the upper middle class, as well.

The percentage of Americans is poverty is shrinking -- 13.5 percent in 2015. That's a drop. Some pulled out of poverty due to programs like food stamps. Forty-three million people still living in poverty. More people have health insurance. These numbers show 9.1 percent of Americans are uninsured.

Campaigning for Hillary Clinton yesterday, President Obama used these numbers to reflect on his economic achievements.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: More Americans are working, more have health insurance, incomes are rising, poverty is falling.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And gas is $2 a gallon.

OBAMA: And gas is $2 a gallon. I didn't even -- thank you for reminding me. Thanks, Obama.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: There's a ton of numbers to crunch in that census data but one big negative in the report, women still make 80 cents to every dollar a man makes, George. So you still have -- even though you've got this sort of expansion in the economy and the job market getting better --

HOWELL: Yes.

ROMANS: -- wages are starting to rise, women and men still -- that ratio is still stuck there at 80 cents.

HOWELL: Yes, that's a problem. Last night, Donald Trump unveiled his plan to make child care more affordable. He was introduced at a rally in Pennsylvania by his daughter, Ivanka, a working mother herself who helped to craft this proposal.

[05:35:00] Trump says that his plan will make child care costs tax deductible for families earning less than $500,000 a year and he says that he wants six weeks maternity leave guaranteed for mothers whose employers don't offer that benefit.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This maternity leave will be paid straight out of the unemployment insurance fund. And again, the safety net will be completely paid for through savings within the program. There are more reforms and solutions in our child care plan and you can review them all on the Website.

On Thursday, I will outline my full economic plan which is completely paid for through economic growth and proposed federal budget savings. It's going to be something special like this country hasn't seen in many, many decades.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: Trump, there, promising that there is more info to come, as you heard. His plans are paid for but without a lot of detail on how they will be paid for. He says that will come tomorrow as part of a planned speech on the economy.

ROMANS: All right, to help me break down the day in politics for us we've got our good friend CNN politics reporter Eugene Scott back with us this morning.

And Eugene, you know, it's not just me who loves to crunch census department figures because, look, these numbers are really important. These numbers represent what's happening with American families. And on the front page of every big American newspaper today incomes in

the U.S. are up sharply. This is a $2,800 pay raise for 2014 to 2015 for the typical American family -- it's median. But across the income spectrum you saw finally -- finally the slow recovery starting to play out.

It takes away a very important statistic from Donald Trump on the campaign trail. He has said again and again look, under President Obama you have lost $4,000 in pay -- the typical family. Well now we know after the slow recovery we're almost back to where we were before the recession. What do these numbers mean for the partisan fight happening right now?

EUGENE SCOTT, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: It depends on whether or not facts mean much to you and that's regardless of what side of the aisle you're on. I covered the economic downturn in Arizona during that time which was at ground zero, regarding the housing bubble and everything.

ROMANS: It was horrible, horrible.

SCOTT: And the reality is people are doing better -- the numbers support that. But whether people feel like they're doing better is a completely different thing. I remember Newt Gingrich was on "NEW DAY" speaking with Alisyn about that and she was hitting him with these facts. And the reality is many people in Trump's base don't feel like they're doing better even if they are.

ROMANS: So it's a perception sometimes. It's a perception of the economy sometimes, and sometimes it's all this talk about how you're not getting ahead, you're never going to get ahead, it's so hard. That just resonates in a certain demographic.

SCOTT: Very much so, and I think people also have goals and desires that they would like to achieve that they aren't seeing quite yet.

ROMANS: Right.

SCOTT: And so whether or not Hillary Clinton can help them get there, or Donald Trump, remains to be seen.

HOWELL: But again, Eugene, the numbers just don't bear out what that perception is among many people. In fact, things are getting better economically for people. So if it's not economics -- and I think back to that convention in Cleveland -- a very different tone. If it's not economics, then what is it? What could it be?

SCOTT: It's probably just change and seeing America going into a direction that is different from what people have seen in the past. We've reported on this at cnnpolitics.com. We're seeing just significant demographic changes regardless of the economic status of individuals that in terms of cultural --

HOWELL: But in terms of paranoia.

SCOTT: -- race, immigration, gender, orientation class. And this change just looks new and unfamiliar to a lot of people.

ROMANS: It's so interesting.

HOWELL: Let's talk health now. Hillary Clinton, obviously, seen just a few days ago stumbling after this 9/11 memorial. Health is definitely an issue, transparency as well, and Donald Trump on the spotlight as well. We know that he will appear on Dr. Oz's show to talk about health, but Dr. Oz has explained how that interview will happen. Let's take a listen to that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. MEHMET OZ, HOST, "THE DOCTOR OZ SHOW": It's his decision It's -- you know, I'm -- look, the metaphor for me is it's a doctor's office -- the studio -- so I'm not going to ask him questions he doesn't want to have answered. If he puts limitations, I'll acknowledge them."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: OK, so health now being brought to television sort of like reality T.V., in fact, you know, as opposed to just a letter that denotes health indicators. And also let's show this statement -- the first statement that was written for Donald Trump talking about his health by his doctor.

This statement bizarrely written. The paragraph just kind of says, "His physical strength and stamina are extraordinary. If elected, Mr. Trump, I can state unequivocally, will be the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency."

ROMANS: It's hyperbolic.

HOWELL: Yes, a little hyperbole there. So, you know, the question comes down to will this be enough information for people to explain the true status of Donald Trump's health?

SCOTT: I think it depends on who you're talking to. The reality is both of these candidates are seeing that when you're running for president information that you may have kept private if you were a private citizen is of interest to many voters. And I think the situation we had recently with Hillary Clinton has just brought that to the forefront.

[05:40:00] I think one thing that's really interesting that Dr. Oz mentioned is that if there are things that Donald Trump has made clear that he doesn't want to talk about he will acknowledge those things. But I think that opens the opportunity for questions from voters that will go why do you not want to talk about this? And we have seen when things go unanswered regarding health, with both of these candidates, that is an opening for conspiracy theories.

HOWELL: Transparency is a big, big issue for both of these candidates, quite frankly.

SCOTT: Very much so, and not just here, of course, in terms of foundations and taxes. People have questions and whether or not these candidates will give answers remains to be seen. We've only got a few more weeks left.

ROMANS: Eugene Scott --

HOWELL: Eugene Scott, thank you so much.

ROMANS: -- nice to see you. Thanks for coming in so early.

SCOTT: Thanks you, guys, a pleasure.

ROMANS: Thanks.

HOWELL: A calm seems to be settling over Syria this hour nearly two days into the country's ceasefire, but major obstacles remain, standing in the way of providing aid to the desperate people who need it. CNN is live in Syria, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:45:20] HOWELL: Welcome back to EARLY START, I'm George Howell. We are well into the second day of a fragile ceasefire in Syria and, so far, that truce appears to be holding. But the desperately needed humanitarian aid has still yet to reach the hundreds of thousands of people who are caught in the crossfire of this bloody civil war.

Several different agencies are ready to start delivering that food, water, and medicine needed but first they need guarantees of security from all the parties that are involved in this conflict.

Our senior international correspondent Fred Pleitgen is live in Damascus, Syria following this story. Fred, good morning to you. What more do we know about the holdup here?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's a long and very difficult process that's going on, George. On the one hand, you have those administrative holdups.

For instance, the Syrian government said that it's not going to let any sort of aid convoys reach any of the besieged areas unless they have the expressed consent of the Syrian government and of the United Nations, and that goes especially for convoys originating from Turkey. And that's actually the place from where the U.N. wants to make its first aid delivers to Aleppo, which is the largest besieged area here in this country.

The U.N. says it has about 40 trucks that are waiting and packed with food and medical supplies, as well. But there are those administrative holdups and then there's also the security holdups, as well, where the United Nations has to speak to various rebel groups to make sure that they're (video gap) safe passage. And then, of course, they have to breech that besieged ring in Aleppo to actually get to those areas in the eastern part of the city that are surrounded by the Syrian Army and its affiliated forces.

So there's a lot of negotiations that are still taking place. It's unclear when those convoys are going to be able to move but the U.N. says that they are working night and day to try and make that happen, of course, speaking to the Syrian government, speaking to the rebel groups, as well.

At the same time, as you pointed out, the U.N. saying there's been a significant decrease in violence. There have been some incidents around Aleppo and in other areas as well, but a huge decrease in violence here in this country. The people that we've been speaking to here on the ground in Damascus say they're very happy with that but they're not sure whether it will last.

HOWELL: So, administrative and security holdups you say, but this ceasefire holding for the moment. Our senior international correspondent Fred Pleitgen live for us in Damascus. Fred, thank you for the reporting.

ROMANS: All right, it's that time of the morning, folks. Let's take a look at what's coming up on "NEW DAY". Chris Cuomo joins us now. Good morning, Chris.

HOWELL: Good morning, Chris.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR, "NEW DAY": The best part of the morning, Christine, you left that part out. I put it in the Teleprompter and you didn't read it.

(Laughter)

All right, so as Christine often reports on what we're doing about what matters to families, child care is a huge burden for budgeting. So, Donald Trump just put out his plan on what he would do for child care. We're going to tell you about the promises, how he plans to pay for them.

We will then break down the plan as a point of comparison to Hillary Clinton. She's had a plan out for somewhat over a year. Trump said yesterday she doesn't have any plan. That's not true. But we'll compare the plans for you.

Plus, President Obama was out on the trail yesterday for Hillary Clinton. Hillary Clinton still recovering from pneumonia. We're going to bring on CNN senior political David -- political analyst David Axelrod. He ran Obama's campaign. He's going to talk about what this transparency issue really means for Clinton and how she can get her campaign on track, on "NEW DAY".

ROMANS: All right, can't wait for that.

HOWELL: Chris, thank you.

ROMANS: All right, the CEO of Wells Fargo apologizing to customers. Why he says he will not step down over that fake account scandal rocking his bank. Another executive is leaving but that's only adding to the controversy. Wait until you see the pay package of that one. We're going to get an EARLY START on you money, next.

HOWELL: Wow.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [05:53:05] HOWELL: Welcome back to EARLY START, I'm George Howell. A cyberattack on the World Anti-Doping Agency and Russian hackers are suspected. In this case, exposing the medical records of well-known American athletes from tennis stars Venus and Serena Williams to Olympic gymnast Simone Biles, and more. The hackers allege the U.S. athletes tested positive for doping. The agency, though, dismissing those claims.

CNN's Matthew Chance is following these developments live in Moscow this morning. Matthew, good to have you with us. What more are you hearing in response from the Russian government about this?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the Russian governments have responded saying that this has nothing to do with them. A statement from the Kremlin issued by the spokesman yesterday evening saying look, we can say without any hesitation, he says, that this has nothing to do with official Moscow, nothing to do with the Russian state, and nothing to do with the Russiansecurity services. That's not something that they're even considering as a possibility.

Now, they've got a certain amount of deniability because the fact is there is not real technical digital evidence when you look at these hacking programs -- this malware. It's sourced from Russia. The evidence is mainly circumstantial. It's take a lot of money and a lot of expense to get these things -- hacking groups up and running. It indicates state backing.

And all the targets they choose -- these groups known as "Fancy Bear" and "Cozy Bear" which are linked with the Russian security forces -- are targets that are associated. They're aligned with the Russian national interests. So they don't target the friends of Russia, they only target the perceived enemies of Russia. And so, that's what's driving this concern.

Now, the latest attack on the WADA Website -- of course, WADA itself says it's been informed by law enforcement agencies that this was Russia that was behind it. And they said it's not doing very much to increase the trust between Russia and the international anti-doping community because Russia, remember, had its track and field athletes banned from the Rio Games and all of its Paralympians banned from the Paralympics in Rio, as well. So it does have an axe to grind on this issue, George.

[05:55:00] HOWELL: So Russia is saying the state, at least, not involved in this. Our senior international correspondent Matthew Chance live in Moscow. Matthew, thank you for the report.

ROMANS: All right, let's get an EARLY START on your money this morning. That eerily calm summer is officially gone. The Dow has swung triple digits three of the past five sessions. Futures right now are higher. Stock markets in Europe and Asia, as you can see, mixed. Oil prices are up.

Just take a look. Stocks plunged Friday. Those are worries the Fed might boost rates soon. Then it bounced back Monday because of comments from a Fed governor, Lael Brainard, who said well, hold on, the Fed needs to exercise prudence before raising rates. Then stocks tumbled yesterday as oil prices sank. The Dow dropping 258 points. Energy stocks taking a big hit there.

All right, the CEO of Wells Fargo says he is sorry for the fake account scandal but he is not stepping down. John Stumpf, in his first public appearance since the controversy broke, said this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN STUMPF, CEO, WELLS FARGO: I want to tell you, your audience, and our customers that we are sorry. We deeply regret any situation where our customer got a product they did not request. I think the best thing I could right now is lead this company and lead this company forward.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: There is one executive leaving the company and that's only escalating criticism of the bank. The executive in charge of the unit involved in this scandal is retiring with a $124 million pay package. Meantime, 5,300 bankers, managers, supervisors of those managers have been fired. Wells Fargo is also ending the structure of sales goals that was the oxygen for this scandal, as employees could boost their own pay by hitting sales targets.

The next stop for the CEO of Wells Fargo is Congress. He will testify in front of Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren and the Senate Banking Committee. She told us last week "This was a staggering fraud."

Investors are dumping the stock. Shares fell three percent yesterday. They're down more than six percent since the scandal broke. They're down 13 percent this year. By value -- market value -- it's now the second largest bank. It's rival, J.P. Morgan Chase, is now number one.

The CEO also declined to say if he has talked to billionaire investor Warren Buffett, a notoriously standup guy. His company, Berkshire Hathaway, is Wells Fargo's largest shareholder.

HOWELL: Well, Amnesty International and the ACLU set to launch a campaign urging President Obama to pardon Edward Snowden. The fugitive NSA leaker is expected to appear at a news conference today on a video link from Russia where he's living in exile.

The president has said that Snowden's leak of government surveillance data damaged the U.S. and that he should face charges if he returns for it. The pardon campaign coincides with the release of the Oliver Stone film "Snowden" hitting theaters on Friday.

All right. A big story that we're following, obviously. Donald Trump unveiling his plan to make child care more affordable and the question, who benefits most from it?

ROMANS: And how do you pay for it? HOWELL: And -- that's the big question, too.

ROMANS: And can it get through Congress.

HOWELL: OK, a lot of questions. At the same time, President Obama slamming Donald Trump as unfit to be president of the United States. "NEW DAY" begins right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: Donald Trump says stuff every day that used to be considered disqualifying for being president.

TRUMP: Hillary Clinton's actions are far more corrupt than we ever imagined.

OBAMA: One candidate's family foundation has saved countless lives. The other candidate's foundation took money and then bought a six- foot-tall painting of himself.

TRUMP: For many families in our country, child care is now the single largest expense.

IVANKA TRUMP, DAUGHTER OF DONALD TRUMP: My father has created a plan that is designed to bring relief.

SEN. TIM KAINE (D-VA), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If you cannot call out bigotry, you're enabling it to grow, to become more powerful.

TRUMP: This is far bigger than Watergate ever was.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you calling him a liar?

OBAMA: I really, really, really want to elect Hillary Clinton.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo and Alisyn Camerota.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: We have a lot to talk about this morning. Good morning, everyone, welcome to your NEW DAY. It is Wednesday, September 14th, 6:00 in the East.

Up first, Donald Trump trying to court female voters by unveiling a child care plan. Trump's daughter, Ivanka, helping to craft and sell that proposal. So we will discuss how he plans to pay for it.

CUOMO: And then we will compare it to the plan that Clinton has had out there for some time. We'll see which would be better for you. President Obama hit the trail hard and hit Trump as hackers reveal that former Secretary of State Colin Powell calls Trump a "national disgrace". Hillary Clinton -- when will she get back on the campaign trail? Tomorrow, we're being told. We'll see what shape that takes.

We have it all covered for you just 55 days away from Election Day. And remember, that's not Election Day for everybody. Early voting begins in just nine days in some states. When's that first debate? Twelve days. That will be the big moment of this campaign. We have it all covered.

Let's begin with senior Washington correspondent Joe Johns with more on Trump's plan. What do we know, Joe?

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Chris. This is clearly a play for the women's vote, unveiled in a critical state, Pennsylvania.