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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Trump: Hillary is "The Devil"; Trump's New Words for the Khan Family; Clinton Leads Trump in New Polls; CDC's Historic Zika Warning; U.S. Launches Airstrikes Against ISIS in Libya; Is Rio Ready for the Olympics? Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired August 02, 2016 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:14] JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking overnight: Donald Trump calls Hillary Clinton the devil, and steps deeper into the war of words with the parents of the fallen American soldier.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Hillary Clinton retakes the lead over Donald Trump in a new CNN poll, enjoying a sizeable convention bounce. But will it stick?

BERMAN: The CDC issuing a warning to pregnant women heading to some parts of Florida.

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

ROMANS: Nice to see you all this morning. I'm Christine Romans. It is Tuesday, the second day of August. It is 4:00 a.m. in the East.

Let's begin with this breaking news overnight. New developments in the unprecedented political feud between Donald Trump and the Gold Star parents of a fallen Muslim American soldier. Khizr and Ghazal Khan stood up at the Democratic convention last week, took aims at what they called Trump smears of Muslims. All day Monday, Khan repeated his criticisms of Trump on television, including CNN.

Late last night, Trump lashed back the reason for Khan's attack is Trump's plan for keeping terrorists out of the U.S.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I was viciously attacked on the stage. I was surprised to see it. All I did, I have great honor and great feeling for his son, Mr. Khan's son. But, you know, as far as I'm concerned, he's a hero.

INTERVIEWER: You've talked a lot about border security as a way to prevent terrorists from getting into the United States.

TRUMP: It's very big subject for me, and border security is very big. And when you have radical terrorists probably all over the place, we are allowing them to come in by the thousands and thousands. And I think that's what bothered Mr. Khan more than anything else.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: This controversy seems to follow the Trump campaign, including his running mate, Indiana Governor Mike Pence, who has a son serving in the marines. At a rally overnight, a self identified military mom condemned Trump's criticism of the Khan family. The mother's question drew boos, you can hear from the crowd.

Now, Governor Pence did not directly address Trump's criticism of the Khans. But he did praise the questioner. He handled the moment. He praised her son and also the Khans.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MILITARY MOM: My question, Mr. Pence, is, time and time again, Trump as disrespected the armed forces and veterans. And his disrespect for Mr. Khan and his family is just an example of that.

(BOOS)

MILITARY MOM: Will there ever be -- will there ever be a point in time when you are able to look Trump in the eye and tell him enough is enough? You have a son in the military.

GOV. MIKE PENCE (R-IN), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: It's OK.

MILITARY MOM: How do you tolerate his disrespect?

PENCE: Well, I thank you for the question.

Let me just say, first, I want to honor your son's service to the country and your family's service to the country. I truly do.

Let me say, I know this has been much in the news of late, in the last few days. As I said last night, as Donald Trump said Saturday night, Captain Khan is an American hero. We honor him and honor his family as when we do all Gold Star families.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: All right. As for today, Donald Trump holds a rally in Ashburn, Virginia. Governor Pence hosts a town hall in Tucson, Arizona. Trump himself did not talk about the Khans at campaign events Monday. But that didn't mean he took easy yesterday. He referred to Hillary Clinton as, quote, "the devil".

CNN's Jim Acosta has the latest from Harrisburg.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: John and Christine, Donald Trump is steering clear as much as he can from his war of words with the Gold Star parents of a fallen Muslim American soldier. At two events in Ohio and Pennsylvania, Trump avoided any further criticism of Khizr and Ghazala Khan, who protested the GOP nominee's policy on Muslims at the Democratic convention. Trump did tell a local TV station that he considers the couple's son a hero. But Trump ignited a new controversy in Pennsylvania, calling Hillary

Clinton "the devil". Here's more of what he had to say.

TRUMP: Oh, by the way, did you see the Nielsen ratings came out? So, my final speech against Hillary's final speech, not even a contest, won by four or five million people.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

Now, the press doesn't report that as an example when Bernie Sanders people walked out. You had this mass exit. Nobody showed it. When they showed Bernie very angry, they are talking about Bernie because he made a bad deal. He would have gone down as done something really important.

Once he made that deal, believe me, he has buyer's remorse, you know? This guy has buyer's remorse. He looked at that and he was so angry when they were talking about him. His people are angry at him. They should be.

[04:05:01] If he would have just not done anything, just go home, go to sleep, relax, he would have been a hero. But he made a deal with the devil. She's the devil. He made a deal with the devil. True.

(CHEERS)

ACOSTA: And Trump also appears to be gearing up for a battle with his fellow Republicans. One day after Paul Ryan issued a statement supporting Gold Star's families, Trump posted a tweet Monday night saying he appreciated the kind words coming from Ryan's opponent in the GOP primary for the speaker's congressional district in Wisconsin. A warning shot of sorts fired at one of the party's top leaders -- John and Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: All right. Jim Acosta, thanks so much. A lot of interesting going on there.

Meanwhile, a big post-convention bounce for Hillary Clinton. She has retaken the lead from Donald Trump. Today, she and her running mate hit the trail. They're going to -- well, Tim Kaine will be in Florida. Hillary Clinton will go to Colorado.

CNN senior Washington correspondent Jeff Zeleny has the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: John and Christine, Hillary Clinton had a bounce in her step as she campaigned in Omaha on Monday. Because of that bounce in our poll that she got from the convention, a seven-point bounce means that she has now a nine-point lead over Donald Trump. She was introduced in Omaha by Warren Buffett. He made the case perhaps more poignantly that she's been able to about what Donald Trump might be hiding in his taxes. WARREN BUFFETT, BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY CEO: How many of you would be

afraid to have your tax return made public? You're only -- you are only afraid if you've got something to be afraid about. He's not afraid because of what -- of the IRS. He's afraid because of you.

ZELENY: Now, Hillary Clinton followed up on Warren Buffett's call for to release his taxes. Now, it is unclear if any voters actually care about this, but she believes that it is an issue she will continue making that as she campaigns forward.

Now, as for that CNN poll, one number that stood out to the Clinton campaign in May, 48 percent of her supporters say they're actually voting for her to oppose Donald Trump. Now? Nearly six in ten, 58 percent of people say they are supporting her because they actually like her.

That is music to her ears as she campaigns west across the country, in Colorado next and then in Nevada by week's end -- John and Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right. Jeff Zeleny in his hometown.

BERMAN: Yes, exactly. How happy he was right there.

ROMANS: Exactly. Jeff Zeleny got to home for a day and see his parents maybe for two seconds.

Warren Buffett -- it's his home town, too, of course, Omaha -- he is just the latest billionaire to hit the stump with Hillary Clinton. He officially endorsed her back in December.

And, you know, Clinton's list of titans, of wealthy business leaders, look at that list. Entrepreneur Mark Cuban, he endorsed Clinton over the weekend. Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, he spoke of Democratic National Convention, endorsing Clinton there. Marc Benioff is CEO of Salesforce. He's on Team Clinton. George Soros, a hedge fund manager, who he's donated millions to Clinton super PACs. Sheryl Sandberg, he's the chief operating officer at Facebook. Each of these billionaires has their own reasons for supporting Clinton. The common theme, though, is the uncertainty that surrounds a potential Trump presidency.

Clinton in their view is more predictable. That comes despite Trump's plans to lower corporate tax rate and it is cut tax for all Americans, including billionaires. In fact, all of those people on that list would get a huge tax cut percentage-wise, and even bigger tax cuts than middle class Americans. But they are still supporting Hillary Clinton.

BERMAN: It's not necessarily bad politics for Donald Trump, by the way, either to have billionaire insiders seen as supporting Hillary Clinton. He can just say, oh, look at all these guys with all money donated to Hillary Clinton, I'm self-funding, even though it's not. But it isn't necessarily bad politics.

ROMANS: But in the business world, money world, it looks -- Trump doesn't like it when people richer than he is line up.

BERMAN: That is a different issue. You can see how riled up he was by what Michael Bloomberg had to say at the convention.

ROMANS: That's right.

BERMAN: All right. Brand new national polls now have Hillary Clinton ahead of Donald Trump. We just talked about the post-convention bounce. But what does that mean if the election were held today? Obviously, we know that would all depend on the electorate college and how the votes were spread across the electoral map.

CNN's John King dives into those new numbers.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: So, Secretary Clinton has national momentum and national lead. But we pick presidents state by state. Can she translate that into 270 electorate votes?

She starts with an advantage, 236 in our CNN count. Those are the dark blue states, solid. Light blue states lean Democratic. One hundred ninety-one for Donald Trump, the dark red and light red lean Republican states.

So, how does Secretary Clinton get there? Well, she picked Tim Kaine for a reason. Sure, she says he's a governing partner, but if she can get Virginia's electoral votes, and then add in the state of Florida, if nothing else changed, if Donald Trump won the rest of the toss up states, Virginia and Florida, hold the rest of the blues, Hillary Clinton is the next president of the United States.

She can do it without Florida. If she gets Pennsylvania and then pick one. She's at 269 right now. If she won Virginia, won Pennsylvania, kept the rest of the 2012 blues and these toss-up states, just Nevada would put her over the top. Just Iowa or anyone.

So, Hillary Clinton, if you look at this, has many more menu options, if you will, in picking a path to 270.

[04:10:01] So, what then about Trump? How does Donald Trump get there? Number one, he has to hold North Carolina. Went to Romney in 2012, Obama in '08, Trump has to keep it.

His best path would be to get Florida, 29 electoral votes, the closest state between Obama and Romney. Obama won it narrowly, Donald Trump needs it. If he can win North Carolina and win Florida, then he is in play. How does he get there? No Republican can win without Ohio. The Trump campaign would concede that point.

Then, just Pennsylvania would get him there. I say just Pennsylvania. It hasn't gone Republican since 1988. But if Donald Trump is to win, he's going to have to do some business across the Rust Belt, especially if he loses Florida.

If Hillary Clinton wins Florida, Trump would have to hold North Carolina, win Ohio and then the scenario, this isn't easy, win Pennsylvania, win Michigan and win Wisconsin, the Rust Belt strategy. It is doable, but by no means easy.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right. John King, thanks for that, John, at the magic wall this morning.

Eleven minutes past the hour.

The CDC issuing an unprecedented, unprecedented travel warning to pregnant women, telling them to avoid parts of Florida. We'll tell. We have details, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:15:12] BERMAN: The Centers for Disease Control has issued an unprecedented travel warning over a Zika outbreak in Florida. The CDC is advising pregnant women to avoid travel to a small neighborhood just north of downtown Miami. This comes after a number of local transmissions from mosquitoes in the area more than tripled from four to 14. Officials also say women who live or travel there should be tested for Zika infection in the first and second trimesters of pregnancy even if they have no symptoms.

The key here, what makes this different is that they were bitten by mosquitoes in Florida. The mosquitoes in Florida had Zika. They caught it there. That's what has them so concerned.

ROMANS: The local transmission is what has the CDC so concerned. So, we'll continue to watch that.

Also, the United States is now conducting air strikes against ISIS targets in Libya. The main focus of the operation is the coastal city of Sirte. That's an ISIS stronghold.

The Pentagon calls this the beginning of an ongoing campaign, with the airstrikes coming at the request of the Libyan government.

CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr brings us more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: John and Christine, this first round of air strikes in Libya carried out at President Obama's authorization in conjunction with the emerging Libyan government called the Government of National Accord. This government has been asking the U.S. for help in striking ISIS inside Libya. They are looking for those precision U.S. air strikes to push back ISIS fighters.

One of the big concerns has been that ISIS had been gaining strength in Libya. These fighters had been moving against ISIS. Now they want the extra fire power from the U.S. to push them out once and for all.

The question right now is where are the ISIS fighters? Some certainly have been killed in the recent weeks and months of fighting. But there is concern that some have fled and some have disappeared into nearby towns and villages, mixed in with civilian populations.

And ISIS in Libya is always a big concern, because ISIS operatives can fairly readily move across the Mediterranean into southern Europe or across North Africa and carry out more attacks. The hope is that this extra U.S. fire power with more attacks in the coming weeks expected will be enough to push ISIS out once and for all -- John and Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: All right, Barbara.

A long time FBI employee is facing prison time for passing sensitive information about the U.S. government to a Chinese official. Forty- six-year-old Kun Shan Chun, an electronics technician with top secret security clearance at the bureau's New York field office, he was arrested in March. On Monday, he pleaded guilty to illegally acting as an agent for the Chinese government. Under a plea deal, Chun will be sentenced to about two years behind bars.

ROMANS: Attorneys for accused Charleston church shooter Dylann Roof are mounting a legal challenge against the death penalty defense, but they are offering to drop the challenge if prosecutors agree not to pursue the death penalty against their client. He faces 33 federal charges, including hate crimes in the shooting death of nine parishioners at the Mother Emmanuel Church last summer.

BREMAN: A federal judge is blocking North Dakota from enforcing the state's voter identification law. The measure is being challenged by a group of Native Americans who argue the strict law makes it difficult if not impossible for people in rural reservations to cast ballots. This is just the latest legal setbacks for election laws that federal courts have ruled disenfranchised minority voters.

ROMANS: All right. Eighteen minutes past the hour.

A look at the weather. A drier, hotter forecast for the day ahead. Let's bring in meteorologist Pedram Javaheri -- Pedram.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, John and Christine.

Another summer day here with plenty of thunderstorms in fact. On Monday afternoon, we have flooding concerns in parts of South Carolina, in Georgia and into Alabama. Still seeing the storms pop up this morning and again going to be the concern later on this afternoon. And into the early morning hours, the area of concern around New Jersey, southern New York, that's where some flood warnings and watches still in place from departing storm system.

Over the next couple of hours, we'll see the storm begin to push offshore and dry air replaces it, high pressure begins to camp out. Your temperatures are going to warm pretty significantly over the next coming couple of days. But it will take a fair of 7s out of New York, a pair of 8s out of Washington.

And notice, triple digit heat all over the place across the south central states over the next 24 to 38 hours. And the warmth does work its way toward Chicago, even towards New York City again towards a latter portion of the week.

And we are following a development here across portions of the Caribbean. This is what is in the works for the next tropical disturbance. This would be Earl if it does form. High confidence, 80 percent chance that this will form in the next 24 to 48 hours, and if it does, we think parts of the, say, (INAUDIBLE) peninsula point southward will be the initial impact with the storm system -- guys.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right. Thanks so much for that.

Now, the Olympics begin in just days.

BERMAN: Who knew?

ROMANS: Health experts are warning athletes about the dangers they will face in Rio. Who knew? We're live next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:24:28] ROMANS: All right. Ready or not, Rio is set to host the 2016 Summer Olympics. Athletes from all over the world are now pouring into the Brazilian city. The opening ceremony for the summer games now three days away with the very first competition beginning tomorrow.

Still, many problems remain, including, you know, polluted water, concerns about the Zika virus.

CNN's Shasta Darlington is live for us in Rio.

Good morning, Shasta.

SHASTA DARLINGTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Christine.

That's right. You know, when Rio won its bid to host these games back in 2009, it made a promise to clean up its water.

[04:25:02] Why? Because that's where the sailing is going to be held. They are going to have a rowing event and, frankly, people have known for years the bay where the sailing event would be held is so full of raw sewage and floating garbage, that they don't swim there. So, they said they were going to would clean it up.

But here we are seven years later and still half of all of the homes in the state of Rio de Janeiro are not connected to a sanitation system. That means the raw sewage flows downhill and ends up on the beaches and in the bay where the sailing is going to take place and also in the lagoon where the rowing is going to take place. This has caused some skin infections according to different athletes.

There's also has been a special investigation by "The A.P." that shows there are viruses there.

Now, if that weren't bad enough, there is new research showing it is not just raw sewage and the regular bacteria and the viruses, there is also super bacteria in the bay where the sailing event will take place, and also on some of the some very popular beaches, where tourists are staying.

And according to the researchers we talk to, that's because even the hospitals here aren't necessarily connected to sanitation systems. So, the super bacteria that you find in a hospital is also ending up on the beach. They say while they still need to do more research to find out what the impact that this could have on a person's health if they have contact with the superbugs in open waters, that it's something that athletes should be aware of and so should their doctors, Christine.

ROMANS: Aare they telling athletes to make sure they keep their heads out of the water? Are they giving them advice?

DARLINGTON: The biggest threat is really for the sailers, the open water swimmers are on one of the cleaner beaches. For the sailers, they say, keep your mouths shut. Even your water bottles, put them in Ziploc bags, and if you need to go for a sip, take it out, have your sip, and put I back in that Ziploc bag if you have -- if you get cut, you should immediately have that treated because those bacteria can get in the cut and cause very infections, Christine.

ROMANS: Certainly, an added layer of difficulty and -- disgusting, quite frankly, for those athletes.

All right. Shasta, thank you. We know we'll talk to you a lot in the days ahead. Thank you.

BERMAN: The super bacteria doesn't sound so super to me.

ROMANS: The viruses, the sewage, the super bacteria all together, just triple threat.

BERMAN: All right. Donald Trump calls Hillary Clinton the devil. Election 2016. This as Donald Trump's feud with the parents of the fallen soldier continues. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)