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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Trump: Clinton "Bribing" Attorney General; Ryan Promises Further Investigations In Clinton Email Case; Obama's First Campaign Rally With Clinton; Rouge Police Shoot Black Man; Global Markets Sink Over Renewed Brexit Fears; "Blade Runner" Oscar Pistorius Sentenced To 6 Years in Prison. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired July 06, 2016 - 05:30   ET

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

[05:30:00] GEORGE HOWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Donald Trump on the campaign trail attacking Hillary Clinton, accusing her of bribery after the FBI recommends no charges in the use of email as Secretary of State. But, the report isn't all good news for Clinton.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news, protests erupt after graphic cell phone video captures police shooting and killing an African-American man outside a Louisiana convenience store. What led up to this deadly confrontation?

Good morning, everyone. Welcome back to EARLY START, I'm Christine Romans.

HOWELL: And I'm George Howell. Thirty minutes past the hour and it is not just Hillary Clinton, now it's also the FBI that's getting the ire of Donald Trump in his newest attack. The presumptive Republican nominee now calling the system "totally rigged". This, after FBI director James Comey recommends no charges against Clinton for the way she handled her email as Secretary of State.

Trump, on the campaign trail late last night in North Carolina, telling a crowd of thousands of people that Clinton must have bribed Comey's boss, Attorney General Loretta Lynch, to avoid jail time -- listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESUMPTIVE REPUBLICAN NOMINEE: I mean, the attorney general's sitting there saying you know, if I get Hillary off the hook I'm going to have four more years or eight more years, but if she loses I'm out of a job. It's a bribe. It's a disgrace. It's a disgrace. She is laughing at the stupidity of our system. She is laughing and so is her husband, Bill.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: Trump taking the opportunity here to seize on a political opening against his rival. Let's get the very latest from CNN politics reporter, Sara Murray, traveling with the Trump campaign in North Carolina.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Good morning, Christine and George. Well, the FBI may not be moving forward with recommending charges against Hillary Clinton but that did not stop Donald Trump from offering a searing indictment not only of Hillary Clinton, but also Bill Clinton and President Obama, when he was campaigning in Raleigh, North Carolina yesterday evening.

Here is just a sampling of what he had to say about Clinton.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: And we've got Hillary Clinton who's weak, who's ineffective. She'll never be able to do the job. Her judgment is horrible. Look at her judgment on emails. Who would do it? Look at her judgment. Her judgment is horrible, all right? Her judgment is horrible. Now, who said that about Hillary? Bernie Sanders said her judgment is bad. She's got bad judgment, OK?

Now, let me tell you, whether it's ISIS, whether it's trade, whether it's borders, whether it's jobs, it's going to be four more years of the same thing. The last thing we need is another Clinton, or the last thing we need is an Obama-Clinton in the White House.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MURRAY: Now, Trump tried to use this as a way to drive home his message that the system is rigged against average Americans and stacked in favor of people like the Clintons who put special interests ahead of common working men. But he also took some swipes at President Obama, saying looking at the White House is like watching a carnival act.

And, of course, the backdrop to all of this is what continues to go on within the Trump campaign, which is the hunt for a V.P. Donald Trump appeared tonight with Tennessee senator Bob Corker. That is someone he doesn't know particularly well, but he spent an awful lot of time with today getting comfortable with one another.

And that's not the only veepstakes tryout that we are going to see this week. He's expected to campaign with Newt Gingrich in Ohio today. Back to you guys.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right, thanks, Sara. So, a huge uncertainty is now out of the way at the Clinton campaign this morning after the FBI director announced he was recommending against charges related to Hillary Clinton's email because no reasonable prosecutor, he said, would pursue a case against her.

But, Comey's criticism of Clinton, calling her use of a private server extremely careless and questioning her judgment, well that could further damage Clinton's credibility in the eyes of voters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JAMES COMEY, FBI DIRECTOR: Although we did not find clear evidence that Sec. Clinton or her colleagues intended to violate laws governing the handling of classified information, there is evidence that they were extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive, highly- classified information.

Even if information is not marked classified in an email, participants who know, or should know, that the subject matter is classified are still obligated to protect it.

[05:35:00] To be clear, this is not to suggest that in similar circumstances a person who engaged in this activity would face no consequences. To the contrary. Those individuals are often subject to security or administrative sanctions, but that's not what we're deciding now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Yes, the headline across the country this morning "careless, not criminal" says the FBI. The FBI found that of 30,000 emails Sec. Clinton handed over to the State Department, 110 contained information that was classified at the time they were sent -- 110. Of those, Comey said "a very small number were marked classified". Now, that contradicts Clinton's repeated claim that none of the emails were marked classified when she sent or received them.

The Justice Department will have the final say on whether to charge Clinton but virtually no one expects that the Justice Department will defy the FBI's recommendations.

HOWELL: So, you know, the big headline from yesterday, no criminal charges against Clinton, looks very likely at this point. But that hardly seems to settle the political battle over her email.

Let's bring in, now, CNN political reporter, Eugene Scott, live in Washington with us.

ROMANS: Good morning.

HOWELL: Eugene, good to have you. So look, let's talk about this. So, the FBI director saying no charges against Clinton. Clinton's campaign, obviously, breathing a sigh of relief but here's the thing. It seems like the Speaker of the House is not giving up on this. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. PAUL RYAN (R-WI), HOUSE SPEAKER: We're going to have hearings. Jason Chaffetz, chairman of the government oversight committee is going to be calling up James Comey to ask questions. He didn't answer any questions with the press and our judiciary committee has sent a number of questions. There are a lot of unanswered questions here, Megan, that need to get answers to.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: Speaker Ryan wants more investigation. So, Eugene, you know, Clinton not out of the woods yet.

EUGENE SCOTT, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: No, not at all. And, I mean, to some degree that's not very surprising. We didn't think that this would settle the situation, especially with Republicans. But I think what remains to be seen and what people want to know is what will this investigation produce? What will the results be? Of course, what will it cost taxpayers?

And, what will happen if Republicans find out more information that they're looking for? Can this change what the Justice Department will end up doing? It's not likely. Will the FBI go ahead and come up with a different conclusion or solution? I understand that there's more interest in what happened but it's not very clear that what this next move will do will prove to be beneficial for the Republicans in November.

ROMANS: It certainly takes an uncertainty off the table over in Brooklyn where the Clinton campaign is, no question. I mean, they've obviously been waiting for this investigation to wrap up. And again, the papers across the country -- the "Wall Street Journal", "FBI Says Careless, Not Criminal". The "Washington Post", same headline, FBI --

HOWELL: When do you ever see that?

ROMANS: You never see that, "Clinton Careless, Not Criminal". And then you look at the "New York Post" talking about Hillary's skating. "Clinton gets away with it again, Hill Skates". And Donald Trump, last night in a rally in Raleigh, really just holding onto this. Maybe this is something that is in the rearview mirror for the Clinton campaign.

And again, her spokesman, Brian Fallon, said that this is resolved. They're pleased it's resolved. But for Donald Trump it's not resolved and it gives him more ammunition to talk about a rigged system, and even accusing the administration of bribery. Listen to what he said about the rigged system.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Based on what was being said she was guilty. She was guilty and it turned out that we're not going to press charges. It's really amazing. The laws are very explicit. Stupidity is not a reason that you're going to be innocent, OK? It's not a reason. Today is the best evidence ever that we've seen that our system is absolutely, totally rigged. It's rigged.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: So this plays right to the core, Eugene, of what has been appealing to Donald Trump to his supporters.

SCOTT: Very much so. We saw talk on social media yesterday from both the left and the right that the situation -- this system looks rigged and there's some clear belief that the situation would have ended differently had there been someone involved who was less powerful and less influential than Hillary Clinton. And, I think -- ROMANS: Well, wait. James Comey -- just a second. The FBI director, he was appointed by a Republican, right?

SCOTT: Right, yes.

ROMANS: I mean, he's someone who serves, I think, a 10-year term, so meant to be sort of divorced, if you will, from the political winds in Washington by definition.

SCOTT: Yes, but I think a lot of the concern that people saw or were making about the system being rigged wasn't based on politics, it was based on power, and that's not something unique to either side.And so the thought was that if you are wealthy, if you are powerful, if you have influence you get the benefits that people from the working class do not.

[05:40:00] And I think what Obama was trying to highlight yesterday on the campaign trail was that even if Trump believes that the system is rigged, he's certainly not the best person, to Obama, to fix it and work for the working class.

ROMANS: Right.

SCOTT: He believes Hillary Clinton is.

HOWELL: You know, let's talk about the optics of the other day, Eugene. So, you know, you have the FBI director announcing no charges. At the same time, you're seeing the President of the United States on the campaign trail with Hillary Clinton --

ROMANS: For the first time.

HOWELL: Yes, and those are the visuals that the Clinton campaign wants voters to see, so this was a really awkward situation for them, wasn't it?

SCOTT: Yes, very much so. I mean, it was the big elephant in the Democratic room. Just watching them talk about this without talking about it, and certainly not directly. This is not how I think people wanted to start the week off after the holiday weekend. It was very fascinating. If you remember, yesterday we started the morning talking about Donald Trump and his controversial tweets, but that hit the wayside very quickly after this FBI announcement.

ROMANS: Yes, it was a very busy day in campaign land. It will be another very busy day. Hillary Clinton going to Atlantic City, where I suspect she will knock Donald Trump's business habits. And just very -- we've got a convention coming up in less than two weeks.

SCOTT: We do.

ROMANS: There's a lot going on. All right, thanks, Eugene. Nice to see you. Thanks for getting up so early for us this morning.

SCOTT: Thank you.

HOWELL: What a political cycle. I've never seen anything like this.

ROMANS: I know, I know, no kidding. All right, 41 minutes past the hour. Breaking news this morning. This cell phone video capturing the very moment police kill an African-American man outside a convenience store in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. What led up to this deadly confrontation? We're going to explore that next.

[05:41:40]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:46:20] HOWELL: (Video playing) We are following the story of an African-American man killed by police in Louisiana. His family set to hold a news conference at city hall in Baton Rouge in just a few hours' time. It's the moment captured on video that shows when police shot Alton Sterling in front of a convenience store -- graphic video.

Authorities say officers responded when an anonymous caller reported that a man selling C.D.'s outside the store had pointed a gun at someone. Witnesses say the officer tried to taser the suspect but when the shock didn't disable him they tackled Sterling and then this happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE).

(Gunshots)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh my God.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They shot him?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh my goodness.

CPL. L'JEAN MCKNEELY, BATON ROUGE POLICE SPOKESMAN: This is an ongoing investigation. We're going to review the video, we're going to review the audio. We have witnesses -- non-biased witnesses here. We're going to bring them down to our station and interview them.

MIGNON CHAMBERS, SHOOTING VICTIM'S SISTER: I really want to know more about what happened about the whole situation because my brother didn't deserve it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: Family members there demanding answers. We froze that disturbing video just a split second before the fatal shot. Keep that in mind. Late last night, though, more than 100 people gathered outside that store to protest the shooting. Some people carried signs, chanting "black lives matter" and "hands up, don't shoot".

ROMANS: All right, the University of Tennessee has settled a lawsuit filed by six women who claim they faced a hostile environment at the school. That is, after they filed sexual assault allegations against student athletes. According to court documents obtained by ESPN, the school will pay the women nearly $2.5 million. The university is not admitting guilt in that settlement.

HOWELL: Sandy Hook families finally getting their day in court. Depositions are set to begin today in their lawsuit against gun manufacturer, Remington. They made the Bushmaster semi-automatic rifle that Adam Lanza used, as you'll remember, in the elementary school massacre that killed 20 first-graders and six educators in 2012. The suit claims that the company knew the rifle was meant for the military and that it was too dangerous to sell to civilians.

ROMANS: All right, 48 minutes past the hour. Time for an EARLY START on your money this morning. The aftershocks of the Brexit vote still rattling global markets. Dow futures right now are down. Stock markets in Europe dropping. Stock markets in Asia closed lower overnight.

Investors are fleeing the British pound, pushing it to a new 31-year low against the dollar. Back here in the U.S. the Dow has posted triple-digit moves seven out of the past eight sessions. It's been wild, folks. All but one of those are gains or losses of more than one percent.

So how do you protect your investments in this wild stock market -- this could go on for months, frankly -- diversify. Research from Wells Fargo shows most diversified accounts are still higher for the year. Investors, meanwhile, rushing into some safer options. The yield on the 10-year Treasury bond is the lowest ever. A record low right now, 1.33 percent. When there's more demand for bonds the yield goes down, when there's less demand it goes up, as you know.

The good news for many Americans was bond yields are tied to mortgage rates, so mortgage rates are low, low, low, but low bond yields, bad news for banks so watching very carefully what these very low interest rates mean.

HOWELL: That's right. Well, time to take a look now at what's coming up on "NEW DAY". The one and only Chris Cuomo is joining us now live. Chris, a lot to talk about today.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR, "NEW DAY": Good to see you both. Absolutely, we have a lot of breaking news that's happening at this hour. Protests, as you mentioned, George. A call for an investigation after a police shooting in Baton Rouge where a black man was shot and killed. We're going to show you the cell phone video that captures a lot of this confrontation, and it's a big reason that there is so much outrage.

[05:50:00] Plus, the FBI decision about Hillary Clinton's email issues. Now, Donald Trump is reacting very strongly. We'll have lawmakers from both sides of the aisle talking about how this controversy plays out as a political question. We're also going to have lawyers take it on because this was a legal determination, so we'll show you both sides of this. Everyone's going to talk about it in terms of politics, Christine, but this was legal determination --

ROMANS: Yes.

CUOMO: -- made by the FBI and we'll take you through what the different elements were.

ROMANS: All right, Chris Cuomo, thanks for that. Can't think of anybody better to do it, thanks.

All right, millions of Americans will be making one of the worst investments ever this week. What could it be? Why are so many of you --

HOWELL: I get it.

ROMANS: -- making this bad investment? We'll have an early start on your money, next.

[05:50:55]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:55:00] HOWELL: Welcome back. We are following breaking news this morning in the case of Oscar Pistorius. That saga coming to a dramatic conclusion in a courtroom in South Africa. A judge there sentencing the Paralympic gold medalist, known as the "Blade Runner", to six years in prison for the murder of his girlfriend.

Let's go live to CNN international correspondent David McKenzie, live in Pretoria with the very latest. David, this decision came as a surprise to many.

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, George. Yes, it did, to many experts who felt that Pistorius would be heading to prison for murder for at least 10 years. But the judge felt that there were mitigating circumstances and in her sentencing she said the remorse that Pistorius showed for killing his then- girlfriend on Valentine's Day 2013 was a significant factor, as well as the fact that she felt he had been tried in the court of public opinion on some level and that the court needed to factor that in. But, yes, six years surprised many -- George.

HOWELL: David McKenzie, live for us in Pretoria. David, thank you so much for your reporting.

ROMANS: All right, let's get an EARLY START on your money this morning. Brexit aftershocks shaking markets around the world. Dow futures pointing to a lower open right now. European stock markets dropping. You can see shares in Asia closed lower overnight. And look at this, this is historic. The yield on the 10-year Treasury bond hitting an all-time low, now just 1.33 percent. You will see mortgage rates tumble with that. A new chapter in the backlash against profitable tech companies in San Francisco. Tax them to help pay for homeless programs. San Francisco lawmakers are weighing a proposal that would slap tech companies with a 1.5 percent payroll tax. It would target tech firms and start-ups that generate $1 million in gross receipts. That's basically revenue, plus any interest.

This would generate more than $100 million for the city of San Francisco if this becomes law.Well, what's it going to do with all that cash, then? Help the growing homeless problem. Supporters argue tech companies have driven up housing and rent prices, which has fueled the rise in homelessness. Opponents call it a misguided proposal that could hurt job creation.

You did not win the Mega Millions jackpot last night. Neither did anyone else. That means the next jackpot will be at least $508 million. That's a cash value of a cool $357 million. Your odds of winning are simply terrible, one in 259 million.

But that won't stop millions of people, like George Howell, from buying tickets ahead of Friday's drawing. Each chance to win is only $1. I get it. It is still probably the worst retirement planning on demand, but hey, you're paying for a dream. So if you must, take the lump sum, George.

HOWELL: You know, but here's the thing. If you do it for fun that's one thing, but if you're doing it to fuel your retirement, that's another.

ROMANS: I feel bad for people who live paycheck to paycheck who spend $20, $40 a week buying lottery tickets. It's a tax. It's an unnecessary tax on the poor but in some states they fund schools, so there you go.

HOWELL: CNN is following the story of a deadly police shooting caught on camera. "NEW DAY" starts right now.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

CUOMO: Good morning, welcome to your NEW DAY. It's Wednesday, July 6th, 6:00 in the east, and we are going to be talking this morning about these protests that are erupting in Baton Rouge after a black man is shot repeatedly by police, killed during an altercation. The deadly encountered captured on cell phone video.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: So, police say they were trying to restrain the man they believed to have had a gunand the chilling video is now going viral. The community is outraged and his family, of course, is demanding answers.

So, let's begin our coverage with Polo Sandoval. He's live with all of the breaking details. What have you learned, Polo?

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Alisyn, first I do want to set the stage a bit here and to offer a bit more context on this video that you're about to see which, by the way, is considered graphic by many so now would be a good time to have your children leave the room if they are present.

This video that you are about to see was actually shot by an individual who was sitting in a parked vehicle in the parking lot of a convenience store early Tuesday morning. And now, it's very short but it is prompting some serious questions on the ground in Baton Rouge.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: Hundreds of protesters taking to the streets in Baton Rouge after this graphic video circulated on social media of a deadly encounter between police and a man at a convenience store. According to police, two officers responded to an anonymous call just after midnight on Tuesday. The caller said a man selling C.D.'s outside of this store threatened him with a gun. The officers attempted to subdue 37-year-old Alton Sterling.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get on the ground! Get on the ground!

SANDOVAL: The store owner says that one officer used a taser but Sterling remained on his feet. Sterling is then tackled by an officer over the hood of a car. As officers wrestle to restrain Sterling someone yells --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's got a gun.

SANDOVAL: Sterling was then shot several times at point-blank range.

(Gunshots)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was actually maybe two, three feet away when it happened.

SANDOVAL: The store owner says while Sterling lay in the parking lot he saw officers pull a gun from his pocket. Sterling's family now demanding answers.

CHAMBERS: I really want to know more about what happened.