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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Trump Campaign Reaching Out To Gingrich, Christie For Help; Clinton Team Targeting GOP Voters; Stocks Snap 7-Day Losing Streak; Knife-Wielding Attacker In London Kills 1, Wounds 5 In Russell Square; Aerial Spraying In Miami Area After Zika Outbreak; Russian Athletes Await Word From IOC On Olympic Fate. Aired 5:30-6a ET
Aired August 04, 2016 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:31:00] GEORGE HOWELL, CNN ANCHOR: The GOP reaching a new level of frustration with Donald Trump, upset over their nominee's fight with anyone who isn't Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. Can advisers steer him back on course?
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Hillary Clinton attacking Donald Trump on the economy and on his own business practices. Where she says he is costing American jobs.
HOWELL: A deadly terrorist scare in London, six people stabbed randomly in a popular shopping district. CNN is live on this story with the latest developments.
Hello, and welcome back to EARLY START, I'm George Howell.
ROMANS: Nice to see you today, George, and tomorrow, too.
HOWELL: Yes.
ROMANS: I'm glad you're here to the end of this week. I'm Christine Romans, it's 32 minutes past the hour. Republican leaders said to be frustrated, upset, disappointed with Donald Trump, their own candidate for president. Inside the Trump campaign, staffers baffled over how to keep the candidate on message and out of trouble.
Sources revealing that the campaign has reached out to Chris Christie, Newt Gingrich, and other valued Trump advisers for help in keeping their nominee on track.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NEWT GINGRICH (R), FORMER SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: But what's truly frustrating here is you have a very talented businessman who might actually become a historic figure but he has to keep -- every morning he has to get awake and say the only two people I'm fighting with are Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. And you have to take on Obama because Hillary would be third term, so you've got to win the argument about whether or not this has been good. But other than other those two people, every time he talks about anyone else it is an unforced fumble, if you like, or interception as I would have said, but it's clearly a mistake.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: One adviser telling CNN that Trump, himself, seems surprised by the negative public reaction to his battle with the Gold Star Muslim-American families -- surprised. Now for the moment, at least, it looks like Trump is heeding the advice from party bigwigs, reaching out to other Gold Star families and turning his fire back on Hillary Clinton.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: We let ISIS take this position. It was Hillary Clinton that -- she should get an award from them as the founder of ISIS. It's what it was. That's what it was. Her weakness, her weak policies. America's been -- again, it's been humiliated in so many different ways. Wouldn't that be embarrassing to lose to crooked Hillary Clinton? That would be terrible.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: CNN's Jim Acosta is with the Trump campaign. He's there in Florida. He has the latest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: George and Christine, after a string of damaging days for his campaign, Donald Trump tried to do a little damage control at a couple of rallies in the critical swingstate of Florida.
At a rally in Jacksonville Trump told the crowd he met with six Gold Star families to express his appreciation for the sacrifices they've made. That's as close as Trump has come to an apology after his confrontation with the family of a fallen Muslim-American soldier. Here's more of what Trump had to say to this crowd here in Florida.
TRUMP: Speaking of our vets, people, we have -- and I just visited with some incredible folks. I have no idea where they're sitting but I know they have a good location. Some really amazing Gold Star families. Where are they, where are they? Where are they sitting, huh? Ooh, you're one, beautiful. Where are they? There they are. Incredible people, incredible people. We have amazing people in our country. We have amazing leaders.
[05:35:00] ACOSTA: Trump only briefly addressed the questions about the state of his campaign after sources said privately that staffers are frustrated by the candidate's tendency to occasionally go off message after his recent comments that he's not ready to endorse House Speaker Paul Ryan in his battle for re-election. Trump told a crowd here in Florida that his campaign is united -- George and Christine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: All right, Jim Acosta in Florida, thank you. Let's break down what some are calling a breakdown in the Republican Party or is it a unified party as Donald Trump now insists? Best-selling author and "Newsday" columnist Ellis Henican is here, and CNN senior media correspondent Brian Stelter, host of "RELIABLE SOURCES".
Guys, you heard Donald Trump train his fire right back on Hillary Clinton. He says she should get an award for being the founder of ISIS. Earlier this week he used a devil metaphor. Is he going to stay on message? Do we think he'll stay on message?
BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: This is a talking point he's had for months and we should point out PolitiFact and other fact-checkers have said it is clearly false. That Hillary Clinton is not responsible -- not solely responsible for the creation of ISIS. That the roots of ISIS go back more than a decade and that you can't pin it all on Clinton.
It's a complicated story. I recommend people read the PolitiFact review of this issue. But, obviously, he believes this is an effective talking point on the trail and you hear how the crowd reacts when he says it.
HOWELL: You know, we heard at the top of the newscast -- talked about how Trump has said that the party is united but we're hearing from sources that may not be the case. Let's listen to what Donald Trump is telling his supporters out on the campaign trail.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: So I just want to tell you the campaign is doing really well. It's never been so well united. We started on June 16th -- I would say right now it's the best, in terms of being united, that it's been since we began. We're doing incredibly well.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOWELL: So we're hearing the drip, drip, drip of people who are not so happy within the campaign, these sources. And also we're seeing Republicans now moving over to the other side.
ELLIS HENICAN, BEST-SELLING AUTHOR, COLUMNIST, "NEWSDAY": Those clips, it's like Baghdad Bob back in the Iraq war. I mean, there is -- no, that campaign is not united. I mean, look, I understand there are not many good answers to that question but until he can stay on message, and I don't mean for five minutes or for one prompter speech, I mean really focus on this in an ongoing way, it's not going to be united.
HOWELL: But does he look at -- does he risk looking out of touch with the heartbeat of his own campaign?
HENICAN: How many heartbeats, right?
STELTER: Maybe he means he's uniting Democrats and Republicans against him? I mean, I'm being a little bit snarky on purpose but we have heard from a number of Republicans, prominent Republicans, some congressmen, who are saying they're not going to support Trump. I think what we're all kind of wondering is, is that kind of trickle going to turn into a torrent or will it be relatively low-level?
ROMANS: We saw there was --
STELTER: It's just not an answerable question right now.
ROMANS: There was a Republican congressman from Illinois who said he will not back Trump --
STELTER: Right.
ROMANS: -- yesterday on "THE SITUATION ROOM". Let's listen to that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. ADAM KINZINGER (R), ILLINOIS: I'm saying for me, personally, how can I support that because he has crossed so many red lines that a commander in chief or candidate for commander in chief should never cross. I just don't see how I get to Donald Trump anymore.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: So there is the I can't vote for Donald Trump and then there's the I'm a Republican, I can't vote for Donald Trump and I'm going to move over to Hillary Clinton. We saw Meg Whitman, we Sally Bradshaw.
A Republican insider told me yesterday that Sally Bradshaw moment was a "pigs are flying, hell has frozen over" moment for the Republican Party. Look at all these people who are Republicans for Hillary Clinton. And this morning, "Bloomberg News" is reporting, guys, that there's actually going to be -- the Democrats want to have an infrastructure to poach, you know, a framework for Republicans to come over.
HENICAN: It's still a short list, let's be careful, of serious Republicans who are supporting Hillary. But you know what? It's -- 50 percent is good for the Hillary campaign when a Republican who would normally vote Republican just doesn't vote at all or votes for one of the third party candidates.
STELTER: Yes.
HENICAN: So, you know what? If you stack up enough of those it has a huge impact on the election anyway.
STELTER: That's what I thought was so important last night. The second CNN Libertarian town hall with William Weld and Gary Johnson, seeing them just announce the Green Party town hall on August 17th for Jill Stein and her running mate -- so these third party candidates are getting the kind of exposure they didn't get in past cycles and that's why were -- partly why we're seeing them polling at 10 -- you know, to about 10 percent in some of these polls.
ROMANS: Let me follow up a little bit, though, because you had the Kahn family controversy this week that really played well for the Clintons, many thought. And Hillary Clinton's campaign was able to kind of sit back, listen, and let that unfold.
If Donald Trump trains his fire back on Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama and they get this behind him, is this -- you know, Hillary Clinton campaigning about Donald Trump's ties. Is that going to resonate because there -- you know, is that going to be enough for her to stay on top?
[05:40:00] HENICAN: You know what I would say? As a policy matter, I suspect not. But increasingly, this really is a discussion of character and fitness, so if you're able to take an issue like that and turn it into a character and trustworthiness issue it might actually have some impact.
HOWELL: It's interesting. It will be interesting to see how that plays out. I also want to talk about this division we're seeing between the presidential candidate and his vice presidential pick. Mike Pence will be endorsing Paul Ryan. Donald Trump has not, so far.
STELTER: Right.
HOWELL: Let's listen here to what Mike Pence had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. MIKE PENCE (R-IN), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I strongly support Paul Ryan, strongly endorse his re-election. He's a long-time friend. He's a strong conservative leader. I believe we need Paul Ryan in leadership in the Congress of the United States.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOWELL: What are the optics of that? I mean, so you had the top of the ticket saying no, the VP saying well, hey, I'll clean up the mess. I don't get it.
STELTER: Yes. You guys, "The New York Times" saying that -- the paper is very clear this morning. This is unheard of to see the running mate breaking with the top of the ticket this way.
ROMANS: I know, as "The New York Times" and six other newspapers sitting here.
STELTER: Yes, that was a good one.
HENICAN: Compared to so many others, though, it's hard to be too shocked by it, right? I mean, OK, you know.
HOWELL: But does it work?
ROMANS: I am shocked by nothing anymore.
STELTER: So you're saying we're being desensitized, maybe, to some of the --
HENICAN: Well, let me speak for myself. I have hugely desensitized. ROMANS: Look, if you don't like this ticket you say it's schizophrenic and they're not on message. If you like this ticket you say they're well-rounded and they're two strong people who can think for themselves.
HENICAN: Yes, don't be a hack, OK?
ROMANS: OK, I won't, thank you. Ellis Henican, thank you. Brian Stelter, nice to see you.
Time for an EARLY START on your money. Stock markets right now, around the world, are higher. U.S. stocks snapped a 7-day losing streak with a rally in oil prices. You know, a blah earnings season had bedeviled stocks for the past week. Now the page turns to the big government jobs report. That's tomorrow morning and that will have a lot of political fodder, I'm sure.
Donald Trump giving some concrete details on how he would grow the economy if elected president and it is, literally, concrete. He vows to outspend Hillary Clinton fixing America's roads and bridges. Trump telling Fox Business he will double -- at least double Clinton's $275 billion infrastructure plan. You know, it's a moved praised by experts on both sides of the aisle, especially with interest rates so low -- borrowing costs so low. You know, this a rare agreement between these two candidates.
And here's what else we know about their plans for your money. Clinton wants to raise the minimum wage, make state universities debt- free for families making under $125,000 a year. She wants to tax people making $1 million or more a year at a 30 percent rate.
Trump wants to cut taxes across the board for everyone, including the very wealthy. He wants to cut taxes for companies and he wants to impose high tariffs on certain categories of trade, something that concerns trade economists who think that could actually hurt the economy. So that's where they stand on your money, at this point.
HOWELL: Specifically, on the policy issues, though, so cut taxes but a huge infrastructure spending. It's --
ROMANS: And don't touch entitlements and end the national debt in eight years, which is $19 trillion. It's math that I can't make work, but he says he will explode the economy by becoming president and the growth alone will help things.
HOWELL: Interesting. The deadly terror scare that we're following in London -- a man with a knife stabs six people in a busy Central Square. What we're learning as EARLY START continues.
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[05:47:40] HOWELL: Welcome back. A terror scare in the heart of London in a busy public park. A man with a knife went on a stabbing rampage last night. One woman is dead, five others wounded. One, apparently an American.
CNN is live in London. Our Phil Black following the story for us and, Phil, police at this point are not ruling out terrorism.
PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No, George, not ruling it out, but at the same time not saying they believe it is likely, either. In the earliest moments after the attack the police said that terrorism was something they would have to look at here and you can understand why.
It was all over in just a few violent moments but this is where the police say a 19-year-old ran around with a knife attacking people randomly. It is where a woman in her 60's fell and died as a result of those injuries. We spoke to one man who was here moments after the attack. He says the woman was stabbed in the back and he watched her collapse.
But as the night has progressed the police language has changed somewhat. They've made it clear they now believe that they are dealing with someone suffering from mental health issues. They believe that's the core line of inquiry that they are now following, although they say they are still keeping an open mind when it comes to the motive behind this attack.
Whatever the motivation, it was clearly a terrifying few moments between when this started and then when the police arrived, as I say, just moments later, using a Taser to put this person down, bring him into custody. He is now being held on suspicion of murder, we are told. So again, not a terror charge there.
But the authorities here acknowledge that this is a city very much on edge, as all big European cities are because of the terror strikes that have been taking place here -- across the European continent recently, I should say -- and so that is why we're told there are more specially trained armed police patrolling the streets of London today to reassure people as they go about their lives, George.
HOWELL: There's certainly a great deal of concern there on the streets of London this morning. Our international correspondent Phil Black, live for us. Phil, thank you for the reporting.
ROMANS: All right, in Florida's Miami-Dade County aerial spraying is set to start in just a few hours from now covering a 10-square mile areas where health officials confirmed 15 cases of the Zika virus transmitted domestically by mosquitoes.
The CDC has warned pregnant women and their partners to avoid traveling to the Wynwood area of Miami. That's where all but one of those Zika cases was identified. The Zika virus can cause severe birth defects. Florida's Gov. Rick Scott says free Zika testing will now be offered to all pregnant women across the state.
[05:50:00] All right, millennials -- oh, they fear they're not making enough money to retire. Some of them aren't even saving. We're going to tell you what's going on with an EARLY START on your money, next.
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HOWELL: The countdown to the Rio Olympics, it is almost over. The opening ceremonies are set to start tomorrow night but it appears many Russian athletes may witness the lighting of the Olympic cauldron from the stands. They could be banned from the competition due to doping.
CNN's Christina Macfarlane is live in Rio following this story. Christina, good morning.
CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, George. Yes, it is incredible to think that there are some 200 athletes here in Rio who still don't know whether they're going to be able to compete in the games or take part in the opening ceremony in just over 24 hours' time.
[05:55:00] And the reason for this delay, George -- what we're seeing here -- the reason we're in this situation is down to a three-part process that's been unfolding over the past 10 hours. Let me talk you through it just briefly.
Now, the sports' governing bodies have been ruling on the eligibility of their athletes. Those who have been deemed ineligible, however, have had the chance to apply to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. That's the highest court in sport to have that ban overturned.
Now in the past 24 hours we've actually 17 rowers deemed ineligible by CAS. And, in fact, one sailor has had his decision overturned. But once this process is done the eligible Russian athletes aren't done there. They then need to go to a three-person panel that's been set up by the IOC to get that rubber stamp of approval that they can compete here in the Games.
But understandably, there is an enormous degree of anxiety, and not just for the Russian athletes but all the other athletes competing in Rio because this has implications for the medals tally. Remember, Russia came fourth in the gold medal tally in London 2012. It's been an issue that's overshadowed the buildup to the Games but let's hope it doesn't overshadow that opening ceremony tomorrow night.
You know, 6000 volunteers are going to be taking part in that. Some $60 million has been spent and three billion viewers are going to be watching at home. It's set to be a somber (ph) spectacle.
HOWELL: A great deal of excitement building. Christina Macfarlane live for us in Rio. Christina, thank you.
ROMANS: All right, let's get an EARLY START on your money this morning. Stocks snapped a 7-day losing streak with a rally in oil prices. A lackluster earnings season for the past week had cast a pall on stocks but now things are looking a little brighter. World stocks markets right now are higher.
Looking at individual stocks, Time Warner, parent company of CNN, jumped two percent on the news it would acquire a 10 percent stake in streaming service, Hulu, which is set to launch an online pay T.V. service which will include some Time-Warner content.
Tesla shares down premarket after reporting another quarterly loss. Investors today looking ahead to the monthly jobs report. It comes out tomorrow. Right now U.S. futures are flat. All right, you know those computer-based credit cards many customers upgraded to? Maybe you got it in the mail. Researchers have found a security flaw in that system. The chip is supposed to make cards impossible to counterfeit but researchers revealed this week thieves can rewrite the magnetic strip to make it appear chipless. So how can consumers protect themselves? Well, the researchers advise shops should fully encrypt every transaction, even if the card has a chip.
All right, to the millennial news now. Most of them fear they won't save enough money for retirement. Join the club, everybody. A new survey by Wells Fargo found two-thirds of working millennials say they will never accumulate $1 million in savings. That's a common nest-egg target for retirement. Only six out of 10, though, said they were even saving at all.
Hint, you can't save for retirement if you're not saving for retirement, but here's their reasons. A lot of people weren't even putting any money away because they said they didn't make enough money. And they're also paying off student loans, so they're in a tough spot.
HOWELL: But that's the thing, you just have to start.
ROMANS: You just have to start.
HOWELL: You just have to start.
ROMANS: You just have to start.
HOWELL: Donald Trump is insisting his campaign is more united than ever but many are asking is it really? "NEW DAY" starts right now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GINGRICH: Every time he talks it's clearly a mistake.
TRUMP: By the way, those people that knocked down the World Trade Center, under the Trump policy, wouldn't have been here.
KINZINGER: He has crossed so many red lines.
TRUMP: The campaign is doing really well. It's never been so well united.
PAUL MANAFORT, TRUMP CAMPAIGN MANAGER: The Clinton machine may not like it but we're prepared for the fight.
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Anyone who can be provoked by a tweet should not be anywhere near nuclear weapons.
WILLIAM WELD, LIBERTARIAN VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: The noun that comes to my mind is a screw loose.
SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R), FLORIDA: President Obama sent $400 million to the Iranian regime at the same time as four American hostages were being released. JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: It is not a ransom payment. It is against the policy of the United States to pay ransom for hostages.
TRUMP: Two more have been kidnapped since then. Where's it going to end?
(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 Thursday, August 4th, 6:00 in the East. Chris Cuomo is off this morning. Thank goodness, John Berman is filling in.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: I thought you were saying thank goodness Chris Cuomo is off this morning. He may be watching. You've got to be careful.
CAMEROTA: I'm sure he is. We miss you, Chris, but John's here in your bed.
BERMAN: Thank goodness.
CAMEROTA: Up first, Donald Trump says his campaign is more united than ever. This, despite reports that party leaders and even senior members of his team were frustrated with his behavior and a series of missteps.
BERMAN: Trump was back on the campaign trail last night touting a genuinely big fundraising haul in July. He is now closing that big gap with Hillary Clinton's fundraising machine, crediting small donors for fueling this surge. All this as a new national poll shows Hillary Clinton expanding her lead over Trump, now 10 points in a two-way matchup.
We want to begin our coverage with CNN's Phil Mattingly. He joins us here in New York. Good morning, Phil.
PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John, solid fundraising numbers.
