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Did Trump's Second Amendment Comment Hint At Violence Against Hillary Clinton?; Omar Mateen's Father Praises Clinton; Icahn: Economy Will Tank Without Trump; U.S. Wins 4 More Golds In Rio Tuesday; Regulating Amusement Parks. Aired 5:30-6a ET
Aired August 10, 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] RYAN NOBLES, CNN ANCHOR: CNN politics reporter Sara Murray is traveling with the Trump campaign. She has the latest from North Carolina.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICS 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 off yet another political firestorm with this comment.
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Hillary wants to abolish -- essentially, abolish the Second Amendment. By the way -- and if she gets to pick -- if she gets to pick her judges nothing you can do, folks, although the Second Amendment people, maybe there his. I don't know.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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 have 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)
ALISON KOSIK, CNN NOMINEE: All right, thanks, Sara.
And to help us sort through the blizzard of reactions to Trump's offhand but highly controversial comment, let's bring in Steven Sloan, the CNN Politics managing editor for content. Good morning.
STEVEN SLOAN, MANAGING EDITOR FOR CONTENT, CNN POLITICS: Good morning.
KOSIK: So there is really no shortage of reactions about this off the cuff the comment about the Second Amendment, the right to bear arms. And shortly after he gave this comment came a statement from the Trump campaign and later Donald Trump, himself, talking with Fox News. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS HOST: So obviously you're saying that there's a strong political movement within the Second Amendment and if people mobilize and vote they can stop Hillary from having this impact on the Court, but that's not how the media's spinning it. What's your reaction to it?
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've 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: All right, so should we believe Donald Trump, that this was referring to the power of the vote and not an attempt to try to hurt Hillary Clinton?
SLOAN: Well, that's certainly the argument that he's going to try to make over the next few days as this controversy, I'm sure, will continue to rage on, Alison, you know, but here we are again. This is the pattern that we see really for more than a year now as we have another controversy that Donald Trump is in the middle of. And he would push back and say oh, you just -- everyone is just not hearing this the way my supporters heard it and blaming the media. And so, he's proven amazingly resilient.
But this was supposed to be a week, as Sara said just a few minutes ago -- this was supposed to be a week where he was getting back on script and here he is again and yet another controversy, so getting back on message is proving tough.
NOBLES: And Donald Trump's going to wake up in his hometown this morning in New York City and see this copy -- or this cover of the New York "Daily News" where it says "This Isn't A Joke Anymore" and the "Daily News" calling on the Republicans to abandon Trump. Now, obviously, the "Daily News" has not really been all that supportive of Donald Trump from the beginning.
It's certainly not his paper but it continues to lead us to this question about Republican leaders and how long they're going to hang on with him. We saw Susan Collins from Maine yesterday say that she's not going to vote for Donald Trump, but Paul Ryan continues to express support for him.
And then Joe Scarborough, last night in "The Washington Post" -- which is going to be in "The Washington Post" this morning -- he's also suggesting that the Republican Party abandon Donald Trump. Will this have any resonance? Is there going to be an opportunity here for people like Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell to say we need to do something about our nominee?
SLOAN: Well, I think a lot of the leadership in Congress is trying to -- they're walking a fine line here and letting their members kind of go as they will here. I don't know that we'll see an entirely new line from Paul Ryan or Mitch McConnell here but you saw Paul Ryan, last night, saying this is like a joke -- this sounds like a joke that went bad. So it's a tough position for them to be in as they try to protect their majorities in Congress.
KOSIK: But we are seeing the Clinton camp use this moment to their benefit. I want you to listen to something that Tim Kaine, the Democratic vice presidential nominee, said in Austin, Texas yesterday.
[05:35:00] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. TIM KAINE (D-VA), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Nobody who is seeking a leadership position, especially the presidency, the leadership of our country, should do anything to countenance violence, and that's what he was saying.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOSIK: So the Clinton campaign using this as yet one more example to sort of beat the drum that they've already been beating, that Trump is not fit for president and doesn't have the temperament.
SLOAN: Yes, this gets right to the heart of the Clinton campaign's argument that was outlined throughout the convention last month that Donald Trump just does not have the temperament to be president, and I think they'll use this to just reinforce as the latest example of this.
Of course, the Trump campaign will continue to push back and say everyone's just misinterpreting and that's not really what he meant, but this give another great opportunity for the Clinton campaign to make their argument about Donald Trump's temperament.
NOBLES: And Steven, switching gears a little bit now, let's talk about Hillary Clinton and kind of a bizarre moment last night at her rally in Kissimmee, Florida where a television reporter in West Palm Beach spotted the father of the shooter in the Orlando nightclub massacre sitting behind Hillary Clinton. And then they caught up with him afterwards and he expressed his support for the former Secretary of State. Take a listen to Seddique Mateen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SEDDIQUE MATEEN, FATHER OF ORLANDO SHOOTER: Clinton is good for United States versus Donald Trump. And I wish that my son joined the Army and fought ISIS and destroyed ISIS. That would be much better.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NOBLES: Obviously, the Clinton campaign quickly pushing back on the idea that they embrace Seddique Mateen's support. But Steven, could this be something that Republicans try and jump on and make an issue of?
SLOAN: Absolutely, and you've already seen that from some Republicans who are trying to link him to the Clinton campaign. This was something that I'm sure the Clinton campaign did not want to deal with. They said yesterday morning look, this was an open event, anyone could have attended. He was not a guest of the Clinton campaign. But by the end of the day they were forced to disavow any support from him.
KOSIK: Never a shortage of things to talk about. Steven Sloan, thanks so much for helping us wade through it all.
SLOAN: Good to see you.
NOBLES: Thanks, Steven.
KOSIK: Thanks very much. Billionaire investor Carl Icahn thinks the economy will tank unless Donald Trump is elected president. Listen to what he told CNN's Richard Quest.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CARL ICAHN, CHAIRMAN, ICAHN ENTERPRISES, TRUMP SUPPORTER (via telephone): If Trump doesn't win and you get more of the same that you've had for the last eight years, we have a major problem in our economy than we do already because we don't have jobs for the middle class -- good jobs.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOSIK: And some of those major problems that he mentioned include slow growth, low wages, too little manufacturing, and far too much government regulation. Now, Trump has said he'd love to have Icahn as Treasury Secretary or to help negotiate trade deals with China, but Icahn said yesterday he would never take a Cabinet position if Trump wins and that he prefers to be more of an informal advisor.
NOBLES: Michael Phelps, the "Final Five" -- the United States athletes going for the gold and getting some big wins. All the highlights, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:42:35] 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 that U.S. women's gymnastics team crushing the competition in the all-around team final, winning their second consecutive gold medal in the events.
KOSIK: My favorite event. CNN's Coy Wire following it all, live from Rio. Good morning.
COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, guys. We've got to talk about Michael Phelps here. I mean, the greatest Olympian of all time. He had some extra motivation yesterday because he was avenging his loss in the 200-meter butterfly in the last Olympics to South African Chad le Clos. And remember that whole shadowboxing incident that le Clos was doing in front of Phelps Monday during warmups and made that whole Twitter meme go viral with the Phelps face -- that frown that he was --
Well, they were in the pool last night, it was on. Phelps took an early lead in this one and he held on. All right, 20th gold medal in all. Le Clos not even finishing in the top three, guys. Where was he? Did Phelp's face get to him, or what? A beautiful moment after the win. Phelps celebrating with his 3-month-old son, Boomer. A special moment, indeed.
Now, Phelps snagged another gold medal in the night with the 4x200 freestyle relay team -- Ryan Lochte, Conor Dwyer, Townley Haas, they team up. That's 21 Olympics golds, in total now, for Phelps. And listen to this, only 12 countries have won more gold, total, than Phelps -- unbelievable.
More unbelievable, American Katie Ledecky dominating in the pool again. The 19-year-old taking home the gold in the 200-meter freestyle, not normally her strongest event. She was in fifth place after the first 50 meters and then she takes off. She beats Sarah Sj?str?m from Sweden, winning her second gold medal here in Rio. She'll defend her 800-meter freestyle gold from 2012 later this week. That is her money event.
But check out this pic that Katie's family sent to us earlier this year. It's her, at 10 years old, getting a chance to meet Phelps, one of her heroes. And it's safe to say now, guys, that Katie Ledecky is the one who's going to be sitting behind a table, a hero to young swimmers across the country.
Now as dominant as this U.S. swimming team has been so far in Rio, the U.S. women's gymnastics team just as amazing, if not better. Led by Simone Biles who already is arguably the greatest gymnast in U.S. history, unstoppable, beating second place Russia by more than eight points. They were just on a completely different level. That's back- to-back golds in team competition for the Americans.
[05:45:00] The Americans racking them up, guys, in the medal count, leading the way with 26. You have China just behind at 17, and Japan in third with 14 in total. We have a lot more action today, exciting stuff. U.S. men's and women's basketball teams hit the court, and the men's team getting their toughest competition, arguably, of the Rio Games. They'll be playing Australia, guys.
NOBLES: Coy, so much talk on social media about this green pool at the aquatic center. You know, I saw a lot of people on Twitter suggesting that maybe it's because someone peed in the pool. Did your mother tell you that when you were a kid?
KOSIK: I mean, is anyone going to test that water?
WIRE: Somebody or everybody, it was that green. I think we have some photos of this thing. But yes, this was one of those things where if you're a swimmer you're like no, you go ahead and dive into that thing first. So apparently they're saying likely not enough chlorine.
Officials say it was not harmful to the athletes and they believed it. They went and jumped right on it. No cases thus far of anything bad happening physically to any of the competitors but look at these images. I mean, oh my goodness, could you imagine coming down here in the world's biggest stage of games and you're diving on into that?
KOSIK: Well, at least they weren't glowing green when they stepped out of the water.
NOBLES: That's right, that's right.
KOSIK: Coy Wire, thanks so much.
WIRE: That's right, like slimer.
KOSIK: Exactly.
NOBLES: Thanks, Coy. Delta's canceling more flights today in the wake of the massive computer outage that brought the airlines to its knees Monday. Delta officials saying that at least 90 flights have been canceled this morning but they promise normal operations will resume later today. Delta says that it's canceled more than 770 flights just Tuesday, due to Monday's outage.
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 and 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 is set to release a long-awaited report on the Baltimore police that says that officers routinely violated the rights of residents by conducting unlawful stops and using excessive force. The report also found 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: In North Carolina, a self-described neighborhood watchman is facing murder charges after a shooting outside his home this past weekend. Police say the suspect, Chad Copley, told a 911 operator he wanted to protect his family from a "bunch of hoodlums". They say he fired a single shotgun blast from inside his garage killing 20-year- old Kouren-Rodney Bernard Thomas.
NOBLES: All right, let's get a look at what's coming up next on "NEW DAY". Nope, we're not. OK, we are going to take a break then, is that right? All right, we'll be right back.
KOSIK: See you in a bit.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:52:25] NOBLES: A waterpark in Kansas City, Kansas will reopen this afternoon, just 10 -- I'm sorry, just days after a 10-year-old boy died riding the world's largest water slide. That slide will remain closed for the rest of the season. Elsewhere, a Ferris wheel accident at a Tennessee county fair in which three young girls fell out of a gondola is being blamed on a mechanical failure.
These two incidents prompting new questions and new calls for tighter regulation of amusement parks. We get more now from CNN's Rene Marsh.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RENE MARSH, CNN AVIATION & GOVERNMENT REGULATION CORRESPONDENT: Alison and Ryan, it's a patchwork of oversight when it comes to amusement parks and safety advocates say it's creating a dangerous loophole. A child is in intensive care in Johnson City, 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 168-foot tall waterslide in Kansas City, Kansas.
It's the second amusement park accident in just two days. The concern now, there is no set standard for safety regulations at these parks. 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 strict 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 waterparks, traveling fairs, and carnivals -- Alison, Ryan.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KOSIK: All right, Rene, thanks very much. The Zika virus has killed a newborn baby girl in Houston. This is the first fatality in Texas linked to the virus and officials are saying the girl's mother traveled to Latin America during her pregnancy. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott now asking President Obama for Zika funding. And there are four more cases of the virus being reported in Florida. There are now 21 patients in South Florida who contracted the virus from mosquitoes.
NOBLES: And there is some breaking news this morning. German police conducting raids on the homes and businesses of three terrorism suspects. Officials in the German states of North Rhine-Westphalia and lower Saxony say the raids are underway in several cities. Now officials believe the suspects recruited members and supporters for ISIS. One of the accused also suspected of providing financial and logistical support to ISIS. [05:55:00] And the rift between Russia and Turkey is over. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Erdogan meeting in St. Petersburg, then announcing the two nations are restoring bilateral relations. The announcement coming nine months after Turkey shot down a Russian war plane near the Syrian border. The reboot with Russia comes at a time when Turkey's relationship with its NATO allies is becoming increasingly strained.
KOSIK: OK, let's get an EARLY START on your money. Hillary Clinton is set to give a big speech on her jobs plan today in Iowa and she's likely going to be talking about spending on infrastructure and hiking the minimum wage to $15 an hour while criticizing the economic plan Donald Trump had outlined earlier this week.
Now, 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 2.7 annual rate. Compare that to the current estimate of 2.3 percent.
One thing to keep in mind, though. Moody's is an independent research group but the lead author of that report is Mark Zandi, who donated money to the Clinton campaign last year. However, he also served as an economic advisor to former Republican presidential candidate John McCain.
All right, let's take a quick look at the stock market this morning. We're seeing Dow futures flat after finishing just slightly higher yesterday. Stock markets in Europe are lower and shares in Asia closed with modest losses overnight. We are also seeing oil prices down.
The Nasdaq, though, sitting at its highest level of all time, following a rise yesterday. The Index actually up more than four percent on the year. This is really an incredible recovery after we saw the Nasdaq take a 10 percent hit at the beginning of the year.
So with corporate earnings season coming to a close analysts are saying you know what? They don't expect any major swings in the market anytime soon but they do say stocks could continue to set records if the U.S. economy stays on course. Now, the Dow is less than 100 points away from a fresh record high. The S&P 500, it needs just a small gain to get there, as well.
Gas prices are going to be dropping below $2 a gallon this fall and stay there through the winter. That's the new forecast from the U.S. Energy Department. The drop is mostly because of the prolonged slump in oil prices that we've been seeing. Also, the seasonal switch to the winter blend of gasoline which makes it cheaper to make.
The national average is forecast back above $2 a gallon next March but the experts, they don't see prices going above $2.50 a gallon anytime next year. As for today, the national average for a gallon of regular is sitting at $2.13. That's actually down 26 cents from a month ago and almost 50 cents lower than this time last year. Ah, music to our ears if we're getting in the car and going and taking that road trip this summer.
NOBLES: No excuse not to plan that road trip now. Donald Trump going off the cuff and causing yet another controversy for his campaign. Was he inciting violence against Hillary Clinton? "NEW DAY" starts right now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Hillary wants to abolish the Second Amendment. Nothing you can do, folks, although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is.
KAINE: It is a window into the soul of a person who is just temperamentally not suited to the task.
TRUMP: She's a dangerous person who doesn't tell the truth.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just don't believe this is a serious statement of any kind.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He is a business person. He misspeaks a lot.
NOBLES: Team USA picking up seven more medals.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is the greatest gymnastics team in history.
KOSIK: Michael Phelps picking up his 21st gold medal.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Katie Ledecky taking her third medal of the tournaments.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo and Alisyn Camerota.
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: All right, a lot to talk about this morning. Big Olympic news and big political news, as well. Good morning, welcome to your NEW DAY. It's Wednesday, August 10th, 6:00 in the East. Alisyn is off, Brianna Keilar and I are here for you.
And the campaign for president has taken another turn. Donald Trump suggesting that Second Amendment supporters could do something to stop Hillary Clinton. Was he hinting at a show of force or was it a call to hit the polls?
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Now Trump is blaming the media for twisting his words, his off the cuff remarks drawing condemnation from both sides of the aisle. The question, did Trump cross the line with his rhetoric? Let's begin with our coverage. We have CNN's Jason Carroll live in Virginia with more -- Jason.
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And good morning to you, Brianna. You know, the campaign really pushing back hard on this. Trump says that no one who was in that room yesterday thought he was trying to incite violence in any way but, once again, what Donald Trump says and what he says he means stirring up quite a bit of controversy.
