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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Prominent Republicans Attack Trump As Unfit For Office; Evan McMullin Launches White House Bid; American Swimmers Win 6 Medals Monday Including 2 Gold; 10-Year-Old Caleb Schwab Suffered Fatal Neck Injury At Kansas Waterslide; S&P 500 Hits Intraday High. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired August 09, 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] ALISON KOSIK, CNN ANCHOR: A new Independent candidate, a major drop in the polls, and major Republicans pledging not to vote for Donald Trump. Can he rally his party behind him?

RYAN NOBLES, CNN ANCHOR: Day four of the Olympics, U.S. swimming and gymnastics going for the gold. What you need to watch.

KOSIK: New information -- how a 10-year-old boy died while riding on this waterslide. Welcome back to EARLY START. Good morning, I'm Alison Kosik.

NOBLES: I'm Ryan Nobles. It is 30 minutes past the hour. Thank you for joining us this morning.

Donald Trump trying to elevate the tone of his campaign to get back on track after a couple of rough weeks and plummeting poll numbers like this new Monmouth poll showing Hillary Clinton breaking out to a 13- point lead. Now, compare that to the two-point lead she held just a month ago.

So, Trump laying out his economic plan at a Detroit event Monday, filling in some details and tweaking others. Trump says he wants to reduce tax rates for most Americans and simplify the tax code. Protesters disrupted Trump's speech 14 times. Meantime, dozens of leading Republicans stepped on his economic message, announcing their strong opposition to Trump's candidacy.

Senator Susan Collins of Maine -- she's a lifelong Republican. She says she cannot vote for the party's nominee, citing Trump's constant stream of cruel comments and his lack of self-restraint. This, as 50 prominent Republican foreign policy and national security experts denounce Trump's campaign and pledge not to vote for him.

They're opening letter warns that Trump is "too erratic and dangerous to be president". The letter declares "We are convinced that in the Oval Office he would be the most reckless President in American history." The Trump campaign lashing back, of course. CNN's Jim Acosta has more from Washington.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alison and Ryan. On the same day Donald Trump was trying to show message discipline he's in another fight with members of his party. And Trump is punching right back at those 50 former national security officials, many from the George W. Bush administration, who wrote that scathing letter saying the GOP nominee fails the test of being commander in chief.

The Trump campaign put out a statement from the candidate and here's a portion of it. We'll put it up on screen. It says, "The names on this letter are the ones the American people should look to for answers on why the world is such a mess, and we thank them for coming forward so everyone in the country knows who deserves the blame for making the world such a dangerous place. They are nothing more than the failed Washington elite looking to hold onto their power, and it's time that they are held accountable for their actions."

I also talked to a senior Trump adviser who continued making that case, saying that many of these former officials from the George W. Bush administration -- they were the ones who took the country into the war in Iraq. Even though Donald Trump once suggested, himself, he was in favor of that war, he continues to hold up the Iraq War as being responsible for much of the violence in the Middle East. As this Trump adviser put it to me, they're on the wrong side of history -- Alison and Ryan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KOSIK: All right, our thanks to Jim Acosta for that. Donald Trump has a message for parents. I can help you with your child care costs. In his big economic speech that he gave yesterday, Trump vowed to let parents fully deduct the cost of daycare from their taxes. Currently, parents can deduct $6,000 annually for child care.

Now costs vary widely, depending on where you live. Child care is most expensive if you live in the Northeast, averaging more than $22,000 for two kids to attend a daycare center. That's more than the average cost of housing in that area. So you see, same in the west, where the average is just over $17,000.

Now, one child care expert tells CNN Money the plan would help middle- class families but would not benefit the working poor and that's because lower-income families, they don't pay as much for child care and they would not be able to take advantage of Trump's tax break because of the way it's structured.

All right, CNN politics reporter Eugene Scott, he's here in the studio with us to help break down Trump's economic plan and all the rest of the presidential battlefields. Good morning and thanks for --

EUGENE SCOTT, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Morning.

KOSIK: -- coming on the set today.

SCOTT: Thanks.

KOSIK: So let's continue a bit about this child care plan that Trump announced yesterday. It's interesting to see the transformation he's made. I want to play you part of the sound bite from what he said yesterday and then another part of what he said in October of 2015.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: My plan will also reduce the cost of child care by allowing parents to fully deduct the average cost of child care spending from their taxes.

Well, it's something that's being discussed. I think we have to keep our country very competitive, so you have to be careful.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSIK: So we're literally seeing this transformation and we're seeing him now, knowing that he's got issues with appealing to women --

SCOTT: Sure.

KOSIK: -- and female voters, kind of throwing a bone to women, specifically working moms.

SCOTT: Yes, very much so. I think I saw yesterday on social media quite a few women who have been critical of Trump throughout this campaign lend their ear to him now that he's talking about an issue that affects them directly and in their daily lives. But as some of his critics have said, this is an issue that is of concern to different women based on where they are financially.

It's worth noting that it's a deduction that he has proposed, not a credit, which would be more beneficial to low-income women and their families. And so whether or not he's able to win them really depends on how much he's able to unpack this proposal more.

NOBLES: And also that -- I mean, with no limit on how much you could deduct that could really help people in higher income brackets, for sure. If they're paying $50,000 for a nanny you'd be able to deduct that entire amount.

You know, we've talked a lot, Eugene, about -- on these Republicans, particularly the national security community, 50 of them putting out a letter yesterday saying they're unhappy with Trump as a potential nominee. Their big problem has been that they don't have anyone else to vote for. That was until yesterday when a gentleman by the name of Evan McMullin --

SCOTT: Right.

NOBLES: -- who most people probably never heard of --

SCOTT: Sure.

NOBLES: He is a new Independent presidential candidate. Here's his resume. He's a former congressional aide, a CIA operative, also an investment banker. And this last line, he's a Mormon from Utah and I want to focus on that, Eugene. You know, he's going to have difficulty getting on the ballot in a lot of states --

SCOTT: Right.

NOBLES: -- but Utah is a state where he could get on the ballot. Utah -- Donald Trump was soundly defeated in the primary there.

SCOTT: Right.

NOBLES: He could just -- if McMullin could have an impact in just one state --

SCOTT: Right.

NOBLES: -- that could dramatically impact the race, couldn't it?

SCOTT: Yes, very much so. You don't have to impact things nationally at this point, you need to have very regional impacts. And he is a Mormon. He's believed to be pretty connected to the church establishment, which could benefit fundraising. As you said, Trump did not do well in Utah during the primaries and so he could move those Electoral College votes to Clinton's camp, which will ultimately hurt Donald Trump.

I think at this point his likelihood to get enough of the ground votes is not high, as you said. A lot of people don't know him, even within leadership in the establishment, much less the general electorate. But if he's intentional about what he goes about doing he could cause some trouble for the Trump campaign.

KOSIK: Exactly, so now there really seems to be this pile-on like, you know, even more than what we've seen --

SCOTT: Right.

KOSIK: -- onto Donald Trump. And now, once again, you've got this letter from these prominent Republican national security officials saying this guy's dangerous -- he's dangerous. They say he would be the most reckless president in American history, he's not qualified, on and on. Lacks the character, values, and experience. Are voters paying attention to the minutia, though, of things like this letter, which are pretty stunning?

SCOTT: I think some voters are and especially as we addressed earlier. We're looking at a lot of Independent voters right now. In terms of the base, people know what they're going to do but there's still people who are yet to make up their mind who'll they'll vote for or if they'll vote at all, or if they'll vote third party, and I think these are the issues that these voters tend to pay attention to.

I find it very interesting. In the last couple of weeks if you look at the largest, most vocal critics of Donald Trump it's been people from the Republican Party. He hasn't had to worry about -- or should I say, people on the left haven't had to worry about attacking him that much because his own home front has attacked him.And so whether these voters pay attention to these people who seem to know him and the issues of their community best remains to be seen.

NOBLES: And we have got just a little bit of time, Eugene, but to that point how much does Hillary Clinton need to engage? As you mentioned, with all this criticism coming from his own party does she just need to run her own campaign or does she need to push back on some of these things that he's proposing?

SCOTT: I think the issues that she's not doing as well with that he is already weak on, it would benefit her campaign to target in on those and zoom in and try to win those voters as much as possible. But some areas like, perhaps, women voters and people of color, she's probably already doing so well that she doesn't have to really work on those.

KOSIK: All right, Eugene Scott, thanks so much for your analysis.

SCOTT: Thank you, guys.

NOBLES: Thanks, Eugene.

KOSIK: All right.

NOBLES: The U.S. women's gymnastics team looking to win the gold. Can they achieve back-to-back wins? We'll preview that coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:43:30] KOSIK: Welcome back. American swimmers are poised to win more gold on day four of the Rio Summer Olympics with Michael Phelps and Katie Ledecky back in the pool. And the women's gymnastics team, it looks to do something the U.S. has never done before, win back-to- back team gold medals. Monday was another big night for the U.S. at the swimming venue -- six medals, including two golds.

NOBLES: CNN's Coy Wire following all the action. He is live for us this morning in Rio. Good morning, Coy.

KOSIK: Good morning.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Ryan and Alison. Russia versus USA. The tension and the build-up to the women's 100- meter breaststroke final between American Lilly King and arch nemesis Russian drug cheat Yulia Efimova -- we're talking like Rocky Balboa versus Ivan Drago kind of fight.

King publicly condemning Efimova, who's been caught for doping twice in her career. And last night, entering the pool, the Russian gets booed by the crowd. Once they hit the water, though, guys, King did her thing. A new Olympic record at just 19 years old, with Efimova in the lane just next to her sinking to the silver. Afterward, you know what Lilly King said? She said I hope I made a statement by competing clean and winning.

American swimmer Ryan Murphy also accomplishing a lifelong goal last night, winning gold in the 100-meter backstroke. Murphy knew he wanted to be an Olympian at the age of eight. He wrote a letter to his mom with a self-portrait, saying "I hope my swimming life continues and I become an Olympian when I grow up. I hope I will break the world record. I want to be the best swimmer in the world." How about that for vision and declaring what you want?

[05:45:00] So, all right guys, let's move on. You've heard of that saying "don't poke the bear". Well, you have the most decorated Olympian of all time and are you sure you want to poke that bear? Check out South African Chad le Clos before yesterday's 200-meter butterfly qualifying. He shadowboxes inMichael Phelps' general direction and Phelps gives him the death stare. This thing was trending all over the internet and it probably will be all day, as well.

Phelps and le Clos finished second and third in the qualifying. They're going to face off tonight to see who's going to stand on top of that podium and grab the gold this time around. Don't forget, le Clos actually beat Phelps in the last Olympics in this event.

You know who's probably not going to lose at all in this Olympics? USA men's and women's basketball teams. I was at the men's game last night against Venezuela and the Americans started off a little slow, but then they turned on the gas and never looked back. They play Australia tomorrow, which could be their toughest opponent in the field. Take that how you will.

Let's take a look at the medal count, though. We've got to keep an eye on this every day. USA on top with 19, leading everyone. China is in second with 13. Japan and Russia, there, at third with 10 apiece.

There's going to some more must-see events tonight. You have the USA women's gymnastics team. They're going to go for gold in the team competition. They're led by phenom Simone Biles. She is four foot, eight but she is the most impressive athletic being I have ever seen. Yes, Phelps and Ledecky both hopping back into the pool, as well, Ryan and Alison.

KOSIK: You know what, Coy, you look at these Olympians -- I mean, they're inspiring just the way they compete but I know that a lot of them have some interesting back stories, Lilly King being one of them.

WIRE: Yes, that's exactly right. A story came out yesterday because after the race she tweeted that her friend Mel was with her all the way -- this one was for Mel. And if you look at Lilly King's Twitter bio it has a link there that says "Mel is the bomb.com". Well, Melony was a high school teammate -- or classmate, rather -- of Lilly King in Indiana. She was in the state Special Olympics there. They became friends. She meant a lot.

Melony passed away as a teen back in the year 2013 so this is someone who has meant a lot to Lilly King in her life -- has inspired her. And you think about some of those things that motivate these athletes -- take them to the next level. Young Melony was that for Lilly King and there she was on this big stage swimming for her friend.

KOSIK: Certainly an inspiration.

NOBLES: Really inspiring. Coy, thank you so much, we appreciate it. The Zika virus may be spreading across a wider section of South

Florida. Palm Beach County reporting the first suspected case that officials believe was contracted locally. The patient recently traveled to Miami-Dade County but it's not clear where he acquired the virus. The total number of non-travel related Zika patients in South Florida is now 17, with another 357 travel-related cases statewide.

KOSIK: A rough day ahead for air passengers who are flying on Delta. The Atlanta-based carrier announcing 100 flight cancellations today and at least 200 flight delays. And they're also warning those numbers, guess what, they can go even higher. Delta was forced to cancel over 1,000 flights on Monday because of a computer outage which stranded tens of thousands of customers.

NOBLES: And another thing that could add to the problems in airports is the weather. Heavy rain and flash flooding in the forecast this morning. Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri has the latest. Good morning, Pedram.

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Ryan and Alison, good morning, guys. The flooding concern, we're watching that across parts of the Gulf Coast states and mainly because of a storm system that's very slow to move out of this area. Also, a stationary frontal boundary to the north. So you put this together, the flash flood risk tremendously high across these southeastern states.

And, of course, the excessive heat still in place across large parts of the country, in particular, the Lone Star state of Texas. Look at these. We have heat watches stretching from Houston well to the north. Some of these areas, you won't believe the heat indices. So we know the temperatures are going to be close to 100 degrees but look at Houston, 108 degrees it will feel like this afternoon. As steamy as they come.

Shreveport, 107, Dallas will feel like 105. Even around New Orleans we'll be flirting with around a 100-degree heat index. But the good news is it does want to cool off later next week. We could bring it back down into the lower 90's across Dallas, certainly a pleasant change across that region. And we'll keep it rather cool because of all the wet weather around the southeast over the next coming couple of days.

And look at this, really tremendous rainfall. Six to ten inches possible in places like Tallahassee and points southward right along the Gulf Coast states there in the next couple of days, guys.

KOSIK: All right, Pedram, thanks very much. All right, let's take a look at what's coming up on "NEW DAY". Chris Cuomo's joining us now. Good morning, Chris.

NOBLES: Chris.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR, "NEW DAY": You like my haircut?

[05:50:00] KOSIK: I do like it.

NOBLES: It looks fantastic.

KOSIK: But what if we said no?

CUOMO: I wanted to look more like Ryan except I had this gray added on the sides.

KOSIK: It just suddenly popped up.

NOBLES: Yes, my blends in, Chris.

CUOMO: You'll have it. Yes, yours looks better, too. All right, so add this to the list of things we have never seen until this presidential election. Fifty GOP national security experts say they're not going to vote for their party's nominee, Donald Trump. We're going to talk to one of those experts. We also have the inside scoop on why the Trump campaign thinks this is good for them.

And then here's another thing that you never see in an election at this stage, a third party candidate entering the race. Most people have never heard of this man before yesterday but he could swing a red state and shake up this election. His name is Evan McMullin and he's going to join us coming up on "NEW DAY". That's what I've got, my friends.

KOSIK: And I've got the Grecian Formula waiting for you after the show. You can put it on the sides.

CUOMO: I told you, this was added.

NOBLES: It looks good, it looks good. Thanks, Chris.

KOSIK: Thanks. More record highs for the stock market despite warnings from Wall Street insiders. So question is, is it time for a major pullback in the market? We're going to get an EARLY START on your money, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:55:15] NOBLES: Police in Kansas investigating the death of a 10- year-old boy on the world's largest waterslide. They say he suffered a fatal neck injury at the end of the ride. The slide has been the main attraction at the Schlitterbahn Waterpark in Kansas City since it opened two years ago, but there have been concerns about safety. More now from CNN's Kyung Lah.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Alison and Ryan, 10-year-old Caleb Schwab got on the world's tallest waterslide. It is 168 feet, seven inches tall, 17 stories high. Riders there hit up to 50 miles per hour. Now, witnesses say that it didn't happen on that first big drop, but it was the second hill. A 50-foot drop where something went terribly wrong.

A park guest says that a number of riders on Sunday who had ridden that particular ride said that there was some sort of problem with the harness. The park's spokeswoman said that she was not aware of that issue. Now this is the very first death ever reported at this waterpark. It did open in 2014 but that opening was delayed at least three times. One of the concerns, sandbags were launching out of the raft -- Alison, Ryan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KOSIK: All right, thank you, Kyung Lah, for that.

Let's get an EARLY START on your money. We're looking at Dow futures struggling to find direction this morning. Stock markets in Europe are in the green. We saw shares in Asia finishing mostly higher overnight, and we're seeing oil prices move slightly lower. The S&P 500, though, hitting an intraday high yesterday before retreating and finishing with a slight loss.

The new record comes as Wall Street is warning that stocks could be due for a big pullback. Goldman Sachs warning investors last week, stay out of stocks for the next three months. A group of high-powered investors met this past weekend in Maine and concluded that a drop is coming but it won't happen just yet because they have the crystal ball.

Cheap interest rates and ongoing problems overseas will keep the party going on Wall Street for the moment. Some do feel, though, that U.S. stocks are overvalued but they look better than the alternatives at the moment.

We're also watching oil prices this morning. Crude jumping yesterday about three percent after OPEC announcing it was going to go ahead and host an unscheduled meeting in Algeria next month. Prices had been down below $40 a barrel for the first time since the crash earlier in the year.

OPEC has been struggling with whether or not to cut production in order to push prices higher, and so far no deals have been reached. And member nations, they continue to churn out oil. One interesting development ahead of next months' meeting, officials from Russia may be attending. It's actually the world's biggest oil producer but is not a member of OPEC.

And everybody kind of wringing their hands as to what to do when they say they can't control -- I'm talking about OPEC -- really controlling those oil prices like they used to. And they're seeing economies like Venezuela who is so dependent on oil -- their economies crashing. Even Saudi Arabia, the leader of OPEC, having to put some budget cuts in place.

NOBLES: Right, right, right. Alison, thank you for that.

KOSIK: Sure.

NOBLES: And prominent Republicans warning that Donald Trump would be reckless as president and a danger to national security. "NEW DAY" begins right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Fifty former GOP national security officials signing a letter to stop their party's nominee.

TRUMP: She is the candidate of the past. Ours is the campaign of the future.

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Trump's policies would throw us into a recession.

TRUMP: I want to jumpstart America. It won't even be that hard.

CLINTON: Don't let a friend vote Trump.

NOBLES: Team USA on fire.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lilly King striking gold. Setting a new Olympic record, Ryan Murphy.

KOSIK: Day four in Rio. The U.S. women's gymnastics team going for back-to-back gold.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Michael Phelps back in the pool going for this twentieth gold medal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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

CUOMO: Will Phelps win gold in the butterfly, yes or no?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Of course.

CUOMO: There it is. Good morning, welcome to your new day. It is Tuesday, August 9th, 6:00 in the East. Alisyn is off, Brianna Keilar joining me. Thanks for being here.

KEILAR: Of course.

CUOMO: We appreciate it. We have another first for you in this presidential election. In an open letter, a group of 50 former national security officials warn that Donald Trump, their party's nominee, would be the most reckless president in U.S. history. This blow comes the same day that Trump gave a big economic speech to reset this campaign.

KEILAR: And now this morning, another blow to Trump with a key Republican senator saying she cannot vote for him. All of this as Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton spar over their economic vision for the country. Let's begin our coverage with CNN's Jason Carroll -- Jason.

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And good morning to you, Brianna.