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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

New Trump Controversy; Aiming for Gold: Team USA on Fire; First Texas Fatality from Zika Virus. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired August 10, 2016 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:13] RYAN NOBLES, CNN ANCHOR: Donald Trump accused of inciting violence against Hillary Clinton. What he said.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN ANCHOR: The U.S. women's gymnastics team winning back-to-back gold. Michael Phelps picking up his 21st gold medal. Team USA is on fire.

Good morning and welcome to EARLY START. I'm Alison Kosik.

NOBLES: Thanks for joining us this morning. I'm Ryan Nobles. It is Wednesday, August 10th, and it is 4:00 a.m. in the East.

There's fierce new controversy engulfing Donald Trump this morning after he made comments that critics interpreted as inciting violence against Hillary Clinton. This as Trump tried to reassert control of his message, following a couple of rough gaffe-filled weeks.

CNN politics reporter Sara Murray traveling with the Trump campaign. She has the latest from North Carolina.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Good morning, Alison and Ryan.

This was supposed to be the week where Donald Trump was sticking to the script, but instead, he set up yet another political firestorm with his comment.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Hillary wants to abolish, essentially abolish the Second Amendment. By the way, if she gets to pick -- if she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks. Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I don't know.

MURRAY: Now, the Clinton campaign quickly seized on that remark as an apparent threat against Hillary Clinton, saying that Donald Trump was promoting violence.

As for the Trump campaign, they insisted that was not the case at all, saying he was simply talking about coalescing the support of Second Amendment voters behind the Republican nominee. And this is the kind of support that Donald Trump needs. He is lagging behind Hillary Clinton in key battleground states like Ohio in the latest round of swing state polls, but it's offhand comments like that that has given some voters, including Republicans, pause about whether or not they can support the GOP nominee.

As for him, he heads to two key battleground states today, Virginia and Florida, where the latest polls show him neck and neck with Hillary Clinton in the Sunshine State.

Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KOSIK: All right. Sara Murray from North Carolina.

And the National Rifle Association quickly weighing in on Second Amendment controversy, tweeting its support for Trump. The NRA also launching a new ad against Hillary Clinton, painting her as an out-of- touch elitist who would leave gun owners defenseless.

Clinton herself staying focused on her own message, not commenting on Trump's remark. As her campaign is expanding into -- is expanding its staff particularly in red states of Arizona and Georgia where it sees Trump lagging in the polls.

CNN's Jeff Zeleny is on the trail with Clinton. He's got the latest from Miami.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Ryan and Alison, Hillary Clinton heading today for the first time since the Iowa caucuses last February. She's running close to Donald Trump there. A new poll shows she's ahead by only four percentage points. She's making this Iowa trip among a flurry of outrage and controversy over what Donald Trump said at a rally in North Carolina on Tuesday.

Now, she has not commented at all about the Second Amendment charges that he made, saying reporters at the Second Amendment rally may rally against her.

But Tim Kaine, her running mate, is not being so quite. He said this last night in Texas.

SEN. TIM KAINE (D-VA), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Nobody who is seeking a leadership position, especially, the presidency, the leadership of the country, should do anything to countenance violence, and that's what he was saying.

ZELENY: Those words from Tim Kaine, sharply condemning Donald Trump. But don't look for Hillary Clinton necessarily to follow his lead. She is trying to broaden her appeal to Republicans who have been turned off by Donald Trump. She'll be doing that today in Iowa and on Thursday when she delivers her own economic message in Detroit.

Today marks 90 days exactly before Election Day in November -- Ryan and Alison.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBLES: Jeff, thank you.

This morning, a blizzard of reaction to Donald Trump's Second Amendment comment. "The New York Daily News" proclaiming on its cover, out on newsstands this morning, this isn't a joke anymore, and declaring that, quote, "Trump must end his campaign for the White House."

Connecticut Democratic Senator Chris Murphy, who backs tightened gun control, tweeting, quote, "Don't treat this as a political misstep. It is an assassination threat, seriously upping the possibility of a national tragedy and crisis."

And then there's former CIA chief, General Michael Hayden, one of the 50 leading Republicans who signed a letter condemning Trump's candidacy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEN. MICHAEL HAYDEN, FORMER CIA AND NSA DIRECTOR: When I heard that for the first time, that was more than a speed bump, all right? That's actually a very arresting comment. If someone else would have said that outside the hall, he'd be in the back of a police wagon now with the Secret Service questioning him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[04:05:02] NOBLES: Well, Trump supporters are vehemently rejecting the claim he was suggesting violence against Hillary Clinton. Listen to what former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani slammed the Clinton campaign and the media for buying its claims.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUDY GIULIANI, FORMER NEW YORK CITY MAYOR: They spin out that what he meant by that was that it was a joke. And that what he meant by that was that they would kill her.

Now, OK, now, to buy that, you have to be corrupt. Because if you said that to me, I would say to you, are you out of your mind? I saw it. I heard it, I know what it meant.

TRUMP: Nobody in that room thought anything other than what you just said. This is a political movement. This is a strong powerful movement, the Second Amendment.

You know, Hillary wants to take your guns away. She wants to leave you unprotected in your home. This is a tremendous political movement.

The NRA, as you know, endorsed me. They're terrific people, Wayne and Chris and all of the people over there. And, by the way, they're already -- I just saw, they tweeted out basically they agree 100 percent with what I said. And there can be no other interpretation. Even reporters have told me -- I mean, give me a break.

(END VIDEO CLIP) KOSIK: Meantime, House Speaker Paul Ryan that Second Amendment remarks sound like a joke on "bad", and he's hoping the GOP nominee clears things up fast. Ryan, fresh off a landslide primary win in his home state of Wisconsin, reaffirming his support for the Trump/pence ticket. But he made clear endorsement is not a blank check and he called for the end of divisiveness without mentioning Trump by name.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. PAUL RYAN (R), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: In times as uncertain as these, it's easy to resort to division. It's simple to prey on people's fears. That stuff sells, but it doesn't stick. It doesn't last. Most of all, it doesn't work.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSIK: Despite Trump's much publicized hesitance to endorse Ryan in his primary race, the speaker was able to win candidly.

We get more now from CNN's senior political reporter, Manu Raju.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: Paul Ryan rolling to victory here in Wisconsin in a race that never was expected to be close but really only got national attention after Donald Trump said he would not endorse Paul Ryan, in a rather surprising move. Suddenly, Paul Ryan's primary challenger, Paul Nehlen, who is not known, a political novice, seized on that division between the party's nominee and the House speaker.

But it really amounted to much of nothing. Trump later endorsed Paul Ryan and Paul Ryan won handedly. One reason why he won handedly, Donald Trump is not particularly popular in this district. This is a district that Ted Cruz won overwhelmingly in the April presidential primary. And that's also one reason why Paul Ryan is not afraid to criticize Donald Trump.

Now, I asked Paul Ryan at his press conference after the primary, what he thinks about Donald Trump's comments about Second Amendment enthusiasts possibly taking matters into their own hands, and this is what he had to say.

RYAN: I heard about the Second Amendment quote. It sounds like a joke gone bad. I hope he clears it up very quickly. You should never joke about something like that.

RAJU: Now, today's victory really showcases the strength of the party establishment over a lot of these Tea Party and conservative insurgents. We've seen this and have been in race after race, in congressional level, beating a Kansas conservative by the name of Tim Huelskamp last week and also an Indiana Senate candidate earlier when Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, defeated the candidate that he did not want to run in that race as well.

It showed that the party leadership knows how to win on the congressional level, but when it comes to the presidential level, that's a whole different problem -- Ryan and Alison.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KOSIK: All right. Manu, thanks very much.

And Hillary Clinton is ready to give a big speech on her jobs plan today in Iowa. She's likely to be talking about spending on infrastructure and hiking the minimum wage to $15 an hour while criticizing the economic plan that Donald Trump outlines earlier this week.

A study from Moody's Analytics shows that if Clinton wins in November, and pushes through all of her economic proposals, the economy would add 10.4 million jobs over four years. That's a big jump from the 7.2 million forecast under current law. GDP would rise at a 2.7 percent annual rate compared to the current estimate of 2.3 percent.

Now, Moody's is an independent research group, but the lead author of that report is Mark Zandi, who donated to the Clinton campaign last year. However, he's also served as an economic adviser to former Republican presidential candidate John McCain.

NOBLES: The final five, officially, the best women's gymnastics team in the world, claiming gold for the second time in a row. We'll have their winning moment, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:14:08] NOBLES: American athletes awash in red, white, blue and gold at the Rio Olympics led by swimmers Michael Phelps and Katie Ledecky, not to mention the U.S. women's gymnastics team crushing the competition in all around team final, winning their second consecutive gold medal in that event.

CNN's Christina Macfarlane, she's following it all. She's live for us again this morning in Rio.

Good morning, Christina.

CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning, Ryan.

And, surely, we can say this is the greatest gymnastics team in history. If not in this era, it absolutely came out and obliterated the competition last night, the U.S. gymnasts. They were eight points clear of Russia, they were the closest rivals who ended up in the silver position. And they won in every discipline.

In fact, they were so dominant that by the time their starter Simone Biles came out to take to the floor in the final routine, they had already wrapped up the gold medal.

[04:15:04] Simone Biles, of course, looking to become the third gymnast to win five Olympic golds in one Olympic Games. And I wouldn't put it past her. The U.S. women, of course, now becoming the first team to win back-to-back gold medals in the team since the Romanians did it way back in 2000 and 2004. But I'll tell you, these ladies always had their lime light stolen by

a certain Michael Phelps in the swimming arena who just captivated the audience. He had the swim of redemption last night in the men's 200 meter butterfly.

Now, it was such an incredible victory not because he beat his nemesis Chad le Clos, you remember, stole the gold medal off him in this event way back in London 2012. But, you know, it's been a long road for Phelps to get here. Remember, he retired back at London 2012. He had had a turbulent time away from the pool.

But he was almost at his best last night, he took his 20th gold medal, and when he managed to touch the wall ahead of his rivals, he sat in the poll, he put his finger in the air and said "I am number one." And there was a touching moment where he went over and touched his newborn baby Boomer on the cheek. Before returning to the pool to do the same for the men on the 200 meter to take his 21st Olympic gold medal, it really was a sight to behold.

Between these two golds, of course, we saw a certain Katie Ledecky taking her third medal of the tournament and her second gold. She was competing in the 200-meter freestyle against the tough competition. I'll tell you, almost middle of out on it towards the end. She's now, of course, the first to win the 200 and 400-meter freestyle, the first since 1972.

But I just want to bring you a quick update in what's happening in women's football last night, because we saw the U.S. team, the World Cup winning team go through to the quarterfinals, but it wasn't quite in the way that they wanted. Now, they finished 2-2 to Colombia who took the first of the competition. And they stumbled early on. A very embarrassing miss their keeper Hope Solo with the ball between the legs. And they were actually leading 2-1 and let that slip away to finish 2-2. They are, of course, looking to defend their title here, their gold medal in the week to come.

Not a good day if you're world number one Serena Williams. She crashed out of the tournament on Tuesday to world number 20, Elina Svitolina. And I'll tell you what, this is not what we're accustomed to seeing from Serena Williams. She hit 37 unforced errors and five double faults in one game. This from a lady who has won 22 grand slams.

Now, she looked to be clutching her shoulder maybe there's a problem there but she's now out, along with the men's world number one, Novak Djokovic who you remember crashed out of the competition yesterday.

I just want to end on a rather free note called pool gate, the synchronized swimming pool that turned green on Tuesday. On Monday, it was blue, Tuesday, it was green. No one knows what's going on here. The ladies who are competing in the event said they couldn't each see each other underneath the pool, but organizers say the pool was perfectly clean, but it's still a mystery that's still to be solved -- Ryan.

NOBLES: Christina, I guess, if you want to go know, you got to jump in the green water. At least that's what's happening in Brazil right now.

(LAUGHTER)

NOBLES: Christina, thank you for that report.

KOSIK: Chaos erupting last night in Ferguson, Missouri, on the second anniversary of Michael Brown's death. Shots ringing out after a protester was hit by a car. According to police, that protester was trying to block traffic. The driver of the vehicle is cooperating with authorities, but the victim was moved from the scene before police arrived and has not been located.

NOBLES: The Justice Department set to release a long-awaited report on the Baltimore police that says cops routinely violated the rights of residents by conducting unlawful stops and using force. The report also found that police practices disproportionately affected the city's African-American population.

The federal investigation of Baltimore's police methods followed the death of Freddie Gray who suffered a fatal neck injury while in police custody.

KOSIK: So there have been two major accidents in two days. The question is, are amusement parks safe? That's next.

(COMMERICAL BREAK)

[04:23:54] NOBLES: A water park in Kansas City, Kansas, will reopen this afternoon just days after a 10-year-old boy died riding the world's largest water slide. Now, the slide will remain closed for the rest of the season. And a Ferris wheel accident at a Tennessee County fair in which three young girls found out of a gondola is being blamed on mechanical failure.

Now, these two incidents are prompting new questions and new calls for tighter regulations of amusement parks.

We get more now from CNN's Rene Marsh.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RENE MARSH, CNN AVIATION AND GOVERNMENT REGULATION CORRESPONDENT: Alison and Ryan, it's a patch work of oversight when it comes to amusement parks, and safety advocates say it's creating a dangerous loophole. A child is in intensive in Johnson City in Tennessee and a county fair has been forced to shut down all of its rides. This just one day after a 10-year-old boy died from a neck injury after riding a 115-foot tall water slide in Kansas City, Kansas.

It's the second amusement park accident in just two days. The concern now, there's no set standard for safety regulations at these parks.

[04:25:01] There are more than 400 amusement parks in the United States with more than 330 million visitors per year. No federal agency is responsible for oversight. It's up to the states to regulate but some are more than others. The trade group that represents amusement parks tells CNN serious incidents are extremely rare. The most recent data from 2014 shows of the millions of people who visited amusement parks in the United States, there were more than 1,100 reported injuries.

But that number does not account for water parks, traveling fairs and carnivals -- Alison, Ryan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KOSIK: All right. Rene, thanks.

The Zika virus has killed a newborn baby girl in Houston. This is the first fatality in Texas that's linked to the virus. Officials are saying the girl's mother travelled to Latin America during her pregnancy. Texas Governor Greg Abbott now asking President Obama for Zika funding.

And in Florida, four more cases being reported. There were now 21 patients in South Florida who contracted the virus from mosquitoes.

NOBLES: Donald Trump under fire yet again, this time for potentially inciting violence against Hillary Clinton. That story, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)