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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Trump Says His Plans To Stop Terrorists Were "What Bothered Mr. Khan"; Historic CDC Travel Warning Over Florida Zika Outbreak; U.S. Launches Airstrikes Against ISIS In Libya; Is Rio Ready For The Olympics?; CNN Poll: Clinton Leads Trump By 8 In 4-Way Race. Aired 5:30-6a ET
Aired August 02, 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] JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: The Donald Trump feud with the parents of a fallen U.S. soldier. Why he now says he thinks these Muslim parents spoke out against him.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Hillary Clinton taking the lead back from Donald Trump in a brand new CNN poll, but can she make that post- convention bounce stick?
BERMAN: And an important troubling medical milestone. The CDC with an historic new warning for pregnant women in the United States.
Welcome back to EARLY START, everyone, I'm John Berman.
ROMANS: And I'm Christine Romans. It's 31 minutes past the hour on the second day of August. There is no sleep in the 2016 election, folks, because breaking overnight a new exchange in the political feud between Donald Trump and a set of parents who lost their son in Iraq 12 years ago.
Khizr and Ghalaza Khan spoke at the Democratic Convention last week, remember, questioning Donald Trump's knowledge of the Constitution, lashing out at what they call Trump's smears of Muslims. All day yesterday, the Khans repeated his criticisms of Trump on T.V., including on CNN.
Late last night Trump responded, saying that the real 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 very viciously attacked, as you know, on the stage, and I was surprised to see what. And so all I did -- I have great honor and great feeling for his son -- Mr. Khan's son, but -- and, you know, as far as I'm concerned he's a hero.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE REPORTER: You've talked a lot about border security as a way to prevent terrorists from getting into the United States.
TRUMP: It's a very big subject for me and border security is very big. And when you have radical Islamic terrorists probably all over the place -- we're 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: There were a couple of claims there we're going to talk about in just a minute, so remember that. This controversy seems to be following the Trump campaign around, including following his running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence who does have 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 from the crowd. Now, Pence really kind of handled this situation. He responded in a much different way than we've seen from Donald Trump. He didn't respond directly to the criticism of the Khans but he did praise the questioner, her son, and the Khans.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE, MILITARY MOM: My question for you, Mr. Pence, is time and time again Trump has disrespected our nation's armed forces and veterans, and his disrespect for Mr. Khan and his family is just an example of that (booing from crowd). Will there ever be -- will there ever be a point in time when you're able to look at Trump in the eye and tell him enough is enough?
GOV. MIKE PENCE (R-IN), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: It's all right, it's all right.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE, MILITARY MOM: You have a son in the military.
PENCE: It's OK.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE, 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, ma'am. Let me say I know this has been much in the news of late in the last few days, but as I said last night, as Donald Trump said Saturday night, Capt. Khan is an American hero and we honor him and honor his family, as we do all Gold Star families.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: All right, today Trump holds a rally in Ashburn, Virginia. Pence hosting a town hall in Tucson, Arizona. Will the Gold Star controversy break out anew for them or can Trump put this issue to rest?
I want to bring in CNN politics reporter Eugene Scott in Washington. Here in New York, senior media correspondent Brian Stelter, host of CNN's "RELIABLE SOURCES". And, Ahmed Shihab-Eldin, a journalist and adjunct professor at Columbia University. Thank you, everybody here.
I mean, I think -- let's start again, John, with that sound bite from Donald Trump with the affiliate -- with the local T.V. station last night. Let's listen to it again and then let's have our experts unpack what went on there -- listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I was very viciously attacked, as you know, on the stage, and I was surprised to see what. And so all I did -- I have great honor and great feeling for his son -- Mr. Khan's son, but -- and, you know, as far as I'm concerned he's a hero.
WSYX TV COLUMBUS, REPORTER: You've talked a lot about border security as a way to prevent terrorists from getting into the United States.
TRUMP: It's a very big subject for me and border security is very big. And when you have radical Islamic terrorists probably all over the place -- we're 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)
ROMANS: Brian Stelter, let's start with you and then, Ahmed, tell me what you guys here in this -- in this sound bite here.
BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: What he says is inaccurate about radical Islamic terrorists --
ROMANS: Inaccurate.
STELTER: -- being allowed inside the United States by the thousands. There's no evidence that thousands of terrorists are being allowed inside this country. That would be stunning and treasonous if the country was being invaded in that way and the government was allowing it, so he's misstating that. And then he's linking it to Mr. Khan by saying that Trump doesn't -- that Mr. Khan doesn't appreciate Trump's policy to try to stop the terrorists from coming into the country.
ROMANS: Ahmed?
[05:35:00] AHMED SHIHAB-ELDIN, JOURNAL, PROFESSOR ADJUNCT, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY: Right, because that would be the reason that Mr. Khan was upset. It would have nothing to do with the fact that he wants to ban all Muslims or that he said, and repeatedly says, that Islam hates us. Islam is a religion, as he said to Anderson Cooper on this very network.
And you know what's really troubling is this is a man that's so bigoted, so arrogant, so ignorant, and it dangerous. Why, because he's as anti-woman as he is anti-Islam. So much so that he felt he could criticize and ridicule the mother of a lost hero -- an American hero.
And I think watching it all unfold in the media kind of madness as it has, what really stands out to me is this idea that he had no problem putting Patricia Smith -- inviting her at the RNC to have her criticize Hillary Clinton, saying she should be in prison, to talk about her son's death. This is another mother who was grieving her son's death fighting for this country.
And yet, he's on the defensive despite all the vitriol and all the violence and racist rhetoric that he's been spewing. He's now on the defensive and criticizing Mr. Khan for challenging him for saying all these things.
And, you know, what troubles me beyond all this is even just that statement that we saw. He tweeted after this Mr. Khan is going on T.V. and he kind of poked fun at the fact that he's trying to get publicity out of this. He said let's get smart, this is about Islamic radical terrorists. Why is he saying that? Why is he spewing all these -- all this misinformation about Islam?
His entire campaign is about fear. This is a man who stands for nothing but stands against everything. And, you know, it's really disheartening that we're this close to the election and yet there are so many people who are coming to his side. Unfortunately for him, they're not the Republican establishment. We' seen many Republican leaders criticizing him for good reason.
BERMAN: Eugene Scott, Donald Trump says that he is just responding to the Khans who are, at this point, saturating the airwaves --
ROMANS: And attacking him.
BERMAN: -- and attacking him.
ROMANS: Viciously attacking him.
BERMAN: They did go on that convention stage, which is a political forum, and spoke at a Democratic Convention. They did go on T.V. this weekend and then again yesterday all over T.V. and they are attacking Donald Trump. Whether it's vicious or not, we'll leave that up for interpretation, but there's no question they are highly critical of Donald Trump.
So the question is how should Donald Trump respond? What is the appropriate way to respond to that? That seems to be the question and that's where, particularly among Republicans who are dealing with how to handle Donald Trump, they're having some trouble responding.
EUGENE SCOTT, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Yes, as noted before, the Republican establishment is finding quite a few problems with how Donald Trump is responding. But his supporters, his base, seem to think it's appropriate and are taking cues from him.
Not only did we see Donald Trump go after Capt. Khan's mother, we saw in the clip you previously showed, Trump supporters booing another military mom in Nevada. We would have never thought that we would have seen presidential candidates accepting their supporters booing military moms --
BERMAN: But Mike Pence did. Mike Pence -- to be clear, Mike Pence --
SCOTT: Yes. BERMAN: You know, he supported this woman. He praised her right to speak. He welcomed her to this rally and praised her son's service. That is how we are used to hearing politicians respond to this type of controversy. Correct, Eugene?
SCOTT: Yes. He replied, he said that's OK, that's OK, we respect this mom -- Capt. Khan's service. We are used to seeing people saying do not boo this military mom. We are used to seeing people approach things more aggressively than we have seen Mike Pence do.
And we just certainly haven't seen that from the campaign head. We haven't seen that from Donald Trump. So whether or not he responds differently depends on whether he'll be taking his cues from Independent voters, his base, or the Republican establishment.
STELTER: The country is polarized for sure, but when we talk about the Republican establishment that's not who people voted for in the primaries.
SCOTT: Right.
STELTER: The people in the primaries voted for Donald Trump --
ROMANS: Right.
STELTER: -- and support Donald Trump. And in Cleveland, two weeks ago, the party came together, mostly, behind Donald Trump. So as much as we can talk about where John McCain and others are rebuking Trump, that's not where the party is anymore --
SCOTT: Right.
STELTER: -- and I think that's important to keep in mind throughout this.
SHIHAB-ELDIN: But I also think it's important to keep in mind that Donald Trump is saying a lot of dumb things. He's saying to his followers that they need to get smart and then he's saying all these fallacies. And for as much as he wants people to get smart, at the end of the day he's at least smart enough to know that the only way he can win is by dividing and conquering and by putting surrogates such as --
I mean, Brian, you probably know this guy, Sajid Tarar, who is Muslim -- the founder of Muslims for Trump.
STELTER: Founder of --
ROMANS: Yes.
[05:40:00] SHIHAB-ELDIN: You know, unless people like Trump and clowns like Sajid Tarar, and I'm not trying to attack him. The reason I say --
STELTER: But you are attacking him. You're calling him a clown. SHIHAB-ELDIN: I'll tell you why I'm calling him a clown because I've been on this network with him. He claims to be Muslim for Trump and he said to me on this very network that even though not all Muslims are terrorists, all terrorists are Muslim.
He says things like look at Saudi Arabia, in his defense of Donald Trump for ridiculing and pointing out that the reason -- assuming that the reason that the mother didn't speak, again, was because she was essentially banned by her religion to speak, not that she was grieving. I mean, just the insensitivity. The reason I'm pointing this out is he points to Saudi Arabia and says look at those Muslims in Saudi Arabia, as if Saudi Arabia encompasses and represents all of Islam.
And the reason I bring this up is we're here having an election where for the first time in our country, a country we all love, we have the first possibility that a woman will be elected the leader, the ruler of the United States, right? There are nine Muslim women leaders of Muslim-majority countries. So to paint Islam --
ROMANS: Right.
SHIHAB-ELDIN: -- with a broad stroke -- the reason I bring this up is unless we elevate the level of discourse beyond kind of buying into his fear mongering and this kind of race baiting, I'm not so sure that there's a chance that Trump doesn't win this election.
STELTER: You say fear mongering. There's nothing I hate more than fear mongering. I think is fear is poison. But at the same time, there's understandable reasons why there are vast parts of this country --
SHIHAB-ELDIN: I agree.
STELTER: -- that are fearful of both terrorism and of crime elevating. There's reasons why these emotions are so significant in this campaign.
SHIHAB-ELDIN: But Brian, the day after you tell your followers to get smart and the day after you have this media disaster for his political campaign, I think we can all agree that --
ROMANS: What you think is a disaster, but I mean, it's been going on for five --
SHIHAB-ELDIN: But in this past week how many Republican leaders are finding it awkward? I mean, even his --
BERMAN: Awkward, but none of them have stopped endorsing him, though. None of them have pulled their endorsement.
SHIHAB-ELDIN: There are many Republican leaders who are not endorsing him and haven't been endorsing him.
ROMANS: But let's listen -- but Trump makes this point and let's listen. Let's play the sound bite where he makes his point about how hey, ratings are really, really high for him.
SHIHAB-ELDIN: Right.
ROMANS: Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
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. Now, the press doesn't report that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: OK, we just did. Eugene Scott --
BERMAN: Brian Stelter did a whole article about it.
STELTER: I was actually kind of excited when Trump posted my Facebook story about his ratings on his Facebook page, but hey --
ROMANS: But Eugene, let me -- let me get your thoughts here. You know, Trump says his convention speech beat Hillary's. You hear Ahmed talking about the tone, which he finds obviously disgusting, but it is clearly, clearly resonating. He's got followers and viewers and his message has an audience.
SCOTT: Very much so. I mean, that was a very interesting comment because, like you just hinted at, the way we know that he did so well in the ratings with his speech is because of the media. But even though that speech got more viewers, what we saw recently is that Hillary Clinton is leading in the polls. And so you don't elect presidents based on the viewers of speeches.
And what will be interesting will be to see whether or not Donald Trump can take over -- take the lead again in the polls. And if he continues to have situations like this one involving the Khans that remains to be seen.
BERMAN: All right, Eugene, Brian, Ahmed, thank you so much for being with us this morning. Spirited for 5:40 something in the morning.
ROMANS: Yes, how's that with your breakfast? Controversy for breakfast, folks. All right, the U.S. expanding its role in the war on ISIS. Where the U.S. is targeting the terrorists now. We'll tell you, next.
[05:44:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: The Centers for Disease Control issuing 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 the number of local Zika transmissions from mosquitos in the area more than tripled from four to 14. Officials 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 United States is now conducting airstrikes against ISIS targets in Libya. The focus of the operation is the coastal city of Sirte, 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 has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: John, Christine, this first round of airstrikes in Libya carried out at President Obama's authorization in conjunction with this 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. airstrikes 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 that extra firepower from the U.S. to push them out once and for all. The question right now is where are all the ISIS fighters? Some certainly have been killed in the recent weeks and months of fighting but there is a good deal of concern that some have fled. Some have disappeared into 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. firepower with more attacks in the coming weeks expected will be enough to push ISIS out once and for all -- John, Christine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[05:50:00] ROMANS: All right, Barbara Starr for us at the Pentagon. The FBI is performing more background checks than ever and that's sending one stock to an all-time high. We get an EARLY START on your money, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: 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 just three days away with the very first competition beginning tomorrow.
Still, oh, there are problems, including severely polluted water and concerns about the Zika virus. CNN's Shasta Darlington is live for us in Rio. Good morning, Shasta.
[05:55:00] SHASTA DARLINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Christine. That's right, for many of the athletes showing up this week and last week the venues were ready in time, the stadiums were ready in time. We can't say the same for the sailors and rowers. They're going to be competing in water that is literally clogged with raw sewage here in the Guanabara Bay where the sailors are competing there's garbage bobbing on the surface. Body parts even washed up on the beach just a couple of weeks ago.
And yet, this was one of the Olympic promises made by the Brazilian government seven years ago when they won their bid, that they were going to clean up this water. They were going to connect the homes here in the state of Rio de Janeiro to a sewage system, but they admit they failed. They call it, themselves, a missed opportunity. So at this point only half of the homes in the state are connected to a sanitation system. The rest of that sewage flows downstream and these athletes will be competing in it.
Officials insist it isn't a risk to their health but there is now new research that shows there's something else in the water. Scientists have found super bacteria in the bay where the sailors will be competing, in the lagoon where the rowers will be competing, and they believe it's because even hospitalsaren't connected to the sewage system so that super bacteria that's resistant to drugs and antibiotics --
ROMANS: Wow.
DARLINGTON: -- is ending up here and they, frankly, don't know how that will impact athletes' health, Christine.
ROMANS: All right, very concerning for those rowers. Thank you so much for that -- and sailors.
All right, let's get an EARLY START on your money this Tuesday morning. Stock markets around the world, they're weak this morning. Dow futures following their lead a little bit. Oil stumbling back, now back above $40 a barrel. Big world oil supplies have pushed crude down 20 percent from its highest point this year. That's means crude is in a bear market again.
A warning on stocks -- stocks from Goldman Sachs. Stay out of the stock market until the election. Investors had a terrific July. Now sit back, Goldman says. Stock prices are expensive and earnings growth is poor.
Shares of Smith & Wesson have never been higher. Robust, unabated demand for firearms in America. The FBI reported 2.2 million background checks are performed on Americans buying guns. It's the largest number ever recorded in the month of July. Shares of Smith & Wesson are up nearly 40 percent this year. The gun maker's stocks have jumped following recent events of gun violence as consumers rush to buy amid concerns about stricter laws.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo wants sex offenders banned from playing Pokemon Go. Cuomo instructed the state's Department of Corrections to forbid sex offenders on parole from playing Pokemon Go and other internet games that are popular with kids. He's also turning over an updated registry of sex offenders to the company that developed the game. Pokemon Go has been downloaded, get this, more than 100 million times according to a brand new report this morning.
A big bounce for Hillary Clinton in a brand new CNN poll. "NEW DAY" picks up that story now. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Shame on you, Donald Trump.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE, MILITARY MOM: You have a son in the military. How do you tolerate his disrespect?
KAINE: I have never been around someone more devoted to the armed forces and to the veterans.
TRUMP: I was very viciously attacked, as you know.
KHIZR HUMAYUN, FATHER OF FALLEN U.S. SOLDIER: You can attack women, minorities, Muslims, judges, and nobody can question your caliber?
TRUMP: All I did is respond and I will always respond.
WARREN BUFFETT, CEO, BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY: I asked Donald Trump, have you no sense of decency, sir?
TRUMP: I'm afraid the election's going to be rigged. She's the devil.
CLINTON: I have to tell you, I've had the best week.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo and Alisyn Camerota.
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone, welcome to your NEW DAY. It is Tuesday, August 2nd, 6:00 in the East. Chris is off this morning and John Berman joins me.
BERMAN: Good morning.
CAMEROTA: Great to have you, great to see you. Well, up first, Hillary Clinton getting a big bounce after the Democratic Convention. Clinton retaking the lead over Donald Trump in a new CNN national poll. It has erased most of Trump's gains after his convention, so we'll break down all of those numbers.
BERMAN: Meantime, Donald Trump is telling his supporters that he is afraid the election is going to be rigged, and he's still smack dab in the middle of a very public feud with the family of a slain Muslim- American war hero. We are covering this from every angle this morning. Let's begin with CNN's political director, David Chalian, live in our Washington bureau with these brand spanking new poll numbers -- David.
DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICIAL DIRECTOR: Good morning, John. Well, Hillary Clinton did, indeed, get that bounce that Alisyn was just talking about. Take a look at this. After the Democratic Convention, 52 percent to 43 percent. That's the state of the race. A 9-point lead outside the margin of error for Hillary Clinton. And look at where she came from. Before the Democratic Convention, 45
percent; after, 52 percent. That is her 7-point bounce. Let's take a look at it with all four candidates because, you know, Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson and Green candidate Jill Stein also on the ballot in nearly all 50 states. And you can see here the convention did not have an appreciable affect, really, on Johnson or Stein.
