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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Trump Makes Pitch to Black Voters; Another Shakeup for Trump Campaign; Simone Biles Wins Fourth Gold; USA Women's Basketball Advances. Aired 4-4:30a ET
Aired August 17, 2016 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:00:14] CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: A huge shake-up. Another big shake-up for the Donald Trump campaign. Two new key players elevated to the top. Who are they and how will it affect Trump's focus on policy?
GEORGE HOWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Details of the FBI's investigation into Hillary Clinton's e-mails now in the hands of Congress. Clinton camp pushing back asking that the entirety of the probe be put to the public. Will they get their wish?
ROMANS: And Simone Biles leaving Rio the way she started at the top. Another gold for the American phenom. More on her final show-stealing performance live from Rio.
Good morning, everyone. It is 4:00 a.m. You're up early or you're up late. It's EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.
HOWELL: So one or the other. I'm George Howell. Good morning to you. 4:00 a.m. in the East. And breaking overnight, another huge shakeup in Donald Trump's presidential campaign.
Donald Trump now naming Breitbart executive Steve Bannon as chief executive and pollster Kellyanne Conway as campaign manager. Paul Manafort does remain as chairman but his power is likely diminished with these new moves. Bannon is a critic of House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senator Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
All of this taking the spotlight off of Trump's attempt to focus on policy. Overnight, Donald Trump was in Wisconsin making a pitch to African-American voters with his law and order message. He gave his speech near Milwaukee, but not in Milwaukee, just days after the violent protests there, sparked by a police shooting. The shooting of an armed African-American suspect.
Trump made his appeal to African-American voters in a room with very few of them present. He called for more police in poor communities and targeted Hillary Clinton as anti-cop. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The war on our police must end. And it must end now. Those peddling the narrative of cops as a racist force in our society, a narrative supported with a nod by my opponent, shared directly in the responsibility for the unrest in Milwaukee and many other places within our country.
Every time we rush to judgment with false facts and narratives, whether in Ferguson or in Baltimore, and foment further unrest, we do a direct disservice to poor African-American residents who are hurt by the high crime in their community.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOWELL: Donald Trump there making the case in Wisconsin. More on Trump's big speech last night from Jason Carroll.
JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Christine, George, make no mistake, this was a law and order speech here in West Bend, but it was also an attempt to reach out to the African-American community.
Donald Trump when he took the stage here, he talked about the violence plaguing the inner cities. He said that the violence is an assault on all citizens who tried to live in peace. He talked about most of the victims when we see things like what we saw in Milwaukee or in Ferguson or in Baltimore. He talked about most the victims being African-Americans. And he says that Hillary Clinton shares responsibility for the unrest that we've seen in American cities for what he called fostering an anti-police narrative, and he says also for taking African-American votes for granted.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We reject the bigotry of Hillary Clinton which panders to and talks down to communities of color and sees them only as votes. That's all they care about. Not as individual human beings worthy of a better future. They have taken advantage. She and her party officials, there has been tremendous suffering because of what they have brought.
The African-American community has been taken for granted for decades by the Democratic Party, and look how they're doing. It's time to break with the failures of the past. I want to offer Americans a new and much better future.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARROLL: Donald Trump referenced the African-American community several times during his speech, which was delivered here in Washington County, which is a county that is overwhelmingly white, but having said that, the crowd really seemed to respond to Donald Trump's words. They even responded even more when he criticized Hillary Clinton saying that she does not have the, quote, "physical or mental stamina for the job," and he also pointed reference to her slogan, "I'm with her." He went on to tell the crowd, "I'm with you, the American people" -- Christine, George.
ROMANS: All right, Jason Carroll, in Wisconsin, thanks.
Starting today, Donald Trump gets his first classified national security briefing. The briefing prepared by the director of National Intelligence. It will mark the first time the Republican nominees gets access to classified intelligence.
[04:05:04] We also have new information this morning about Trump's TV ads. The Trump campaign says it will roll out its very first general election ads this weekend. Targeting five battleground states. Trump is falling further behind in the latest polls.
Congressional staffers now reviewing secret documents and notes turned over by the FBI from its investigation into Hillary Clinton's private e-mail server. The bureau making the extremely rare decision to turn over investigative material from a closed case in the name of transparency. Staff from the House Oversight Committee will have to review the material in a special secure room, material that cannot be publicly disclosed without FBI permission.
Now the Clinton campaign said it would rather see the material released to the public than have it selectively leaked by Republicans. The resurgence of the e-mail issue not slowing Clinton. Polls show her pulling away from Donald Trump in swing states like Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
HOWELL: There is a lot to talk about this morning.
ROMANS: Sure is.
HOWELL: A political shake-up, a lot of changes. Let's bring in our political producer Kristen Holmes covering the Trump campaign for us.
Kristen, good morning. Let's talk about this shake-up in the Trump campaign. This is big news.
KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN WHITE HOUSE PRODUCER: Yes, huge. And remember, this is the second big shake-up we've seen in essentially the last two months. It was just barely two months ago that we were sitting here talking about how Donald Trump had Corey Lewandowski, his longtime campaign manager, leave the campaign and was putting Paul Manafort in charge. And now here we are again with a new shake-up.
As you mentioned earlier, it's Kellyanne Conway, she's a Republican strategist and pollster. She will serve as campaign manager. And Steve Bannon will be chief executive. Now as big as this, as surprising as it may be, it's not completely out of this realm. You know, we have been reporting that Republicans have been biting their nails as they've seen headline after headline, negatively, impacting the Trump campaign, those poll numbers dropping.
You know, and there's been a general worry that those -- Trump's poll numbers, which you mentioned are dropping across the country particularly in those battleground states, would affect the local races as well. So this is another shake-up. We'll see what happens.
Kellyanne Conway and Steve Bannon are longtime associates of Donald Trump. Kellyanne Conway also an adviser to Governor Pence.
ROMANS: Sure.
HOLMES: So we'll see how this impacts the election moving forward. And also, you know, just to note here, a Republican source told me this morning, he said, look, this is a step in the right direction. But ultimately as we've seen, it comes down to the candidate.
ROMANS: Does this mean a diminished role for Paul Manafort? We know that he's been in the news this week because of, you know, reports about, you know, payments he may have taken from pro-Russian-Ukrainian officials or Ukrainian candidate -- presidential candidate. What do we know about what this means for Paul Manafort?
HOLMES: Well, we've reached out to the campaign on that. But what we do know is that this likely is a form of demotion, taking this job. As we remember, you know, just two months ago, as I mentioned, Corey Lewandowski stepping down as campaign manager. They were saying they weren't going to fill that role. That Paul Manafort would have all of that power. That he would be the chair and also take control of the campaign manager position.
Now we have two new senior advisers stepping into that role. So this will likely be a demotion for Paul Manafort. But we will have to wait and see how that plays out.
HOWELL: I want to listen to Donald Trump just the other day reaching out to African-American voters. I believe we have a sound bite of that. And we can talk about it on the other side. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I'm running to listen to your voice. To hear the cries for help from so many people in our nation. The quiet voices in our society, not the loudest demonstrators need to have their demands heard.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOWELL: Kristen, that was Donald Trump the other night, just last night. But let's take a look at Donald Trump's poll numbers with African-Americans if we had that. Donald Trump not doing very well when it comes to African-American voters.
ROMANS: One percent.
HOWELL: I'd say not very well, 1 percent. So, you know, does this pivot for Donald Trump at this point in his campaign? Does it work? And mind you in a room with very few African-American voters present.
HOLMES: Well, exactly. And actually one of my favorite words that I've used during the Donald Trump campaign is the word pivot because I feel like we've say it over and over again, OK, this is the pivot. The campaign says this is the pivot, and then we go back. But I will say in this case this is something that Donald Trump needs, it's what his campaign needs. He needs to be reaching out to African-Americans and minorities in general, as well as women. So this is a step in that direction.
[04:10:04] But as you said, again, you know, this was a room mostly filled were white individuals. So we have to see if this message continues. If he can stay on message with this outreach to minorities. You know, as we've seen on the campaign trail, there have been a lot of minority groups that have issued statements against Donald Trump. So this is -- this is what Donald Trump needs to be doing right now. He needs to be reaching out to these groups and trying to build up relationships so that he can get those votes.
HOWELL: I think what will be interesting, though, especially with this change at the top is which Donald Trump will we see? Will it be the Trump that is newly on message or will it be Trump being Trump? We'll just have to wait to see how that shakes up.
ROMANS: All right, Kristen, thank you.
HOLMES: Exactly.
ROMANS: We'll talk to you in about half an hour. Thank you for getting up early for us.
Hillary Clinton traveling to Ohio today. Her mission convinced middle class voters her tax plan would help them. Donald Trump wants to do the same. So let's compare these two plans.
Clinton would essentially keep current tax rates the same but raise taxes on the wealthy. She would impose a minimum 30 percent tax on people making over $1 million a year and a 4 percent surcharge for those making more than $5 million a year. She would create a sliding scale for the capital gains tax raising it for certain investors and she would tax carried interests as regular income.
Trump is looking to cut taxes. Simplifying the current seven brackets to just three. Then he didn't give specifics on what income levels the brackets cover. So we don't know who would get the biggest tax cuts. He would lower the business tax rates to 15 percent. Right now it's 35 percent. Trump would also drop the carried interest deduction which he says is good for Wall Street and bad for American workers. And he wants to make child care expenses fully tax deductible.
He's sort of re-made his tax plan, George, more in line with Paul Ryan and House Republicans after an earlier tax plan that really gave a big tax cut to the rich.
HOWELL: And transition into the general election.
ROMANS: That's right.
HOWELL: A bizarre case out of Mexico. The son of the notorious drug lord El Chapo kidnapped. Was he targeted? And how does that impact the war on drugs? That story next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[04:16:13] ROMANS: The son of jailed Mexican drug lord El Chapo has been kidnapped in Puerto Vallarta. Police say 29-year-old Jesus Alfredo Guzman was one of six men seized by a group of armed gunmen who stormed a restaurant on the beachside Mexican resort of early Monday morning. The kidnapping is seen is as a blow to El Chapo who may be trying to maintain the Sinaloa drug cartel's dominance in that region from behind bars.
HOWELL: The State Department says Russia's use of an Iranian airfield to conduct airstrikes against targets inside Syria that it could be a violation of a U.N. resolution. Russia used Iranian territory for the first time on Tuesday, launching long-range bombers to attack targets in three Syrian provinces in support of the Assad regime. Secretary of State John Kerry calls that development, quote, "unfortunate," but says talks with the Russians to develop a joint military strategy against ISIS will continue.
ROMANS: To Pennsylvania now where the embattled attorney general Kathleen Kane steps down today, two days after a jury convicted her on nine criminal counts for perjury and conspiracy. She was found guilty of leaking secret grand jury information to the media to discredit a rival prosecutor and then lying about it under oath. Two state Supreme Court justices caught up in the scandal others also lost their jobs and Kane's law license has been revoked.
HOWELL: Want to tell you about a wildfire this morning, forcing more than 80,000 people out their homes in San Bernardino County, California, torching 18,000 acres in 24 hours. It's being called the Blue Cut wildfire and now threatens more than 34,000 homes.
The governor of that state, Jerry Brown, declaring a state of emergency in the region. An unknown number of structures have already been burned to the ground. Two key routes in and out of that area, Interstate 15 and Highway 138, are shut down at the moment, complicating the evacuation efforts.
ROMANS: All right. Fire in California. Water in Louisiana. Deadly flooding in Louisiana. 11 people lost their lives. Eleven. And more than 40,000 homes are under water now. The damage is extensive, we can report, a third of the state's parishes qualify for emergency federal aid. Officials say since the weekend, 30,000 people now have been rescued. Nearly three feet of rain fell on parts of the state. Just misery for many parts of Louisiana. You can see the pictures really tell the story.
HOWELL: Just feel so helpless. I mean --
ROMANS: That's right.
HOWELL: Homes are under water. Not much you can do about it.
ROMANS: All right. 18 minutes past the hour. One last hoorah for Simone Biles. The American gymnast nabbing another gold in Rio. We've got the highlights next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[04:23:17] ROMANS: All right. Team USA Simone Biles ended her Olympic competition in Rio, you know, the same way she started it. Triumphantly. Biles topped the field in floor exercises to grab her fourth gold medal of the games. Good for you.
CNN's Christine Macfarlane has it all covered live from Rio. Good morning. It's dark behind you. But we know morning is creeping in there upon you, Christina.
CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN WORLD SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: I'm good, thank you, Christine. Yes, the morning is creeping in. And I'll tell you what, Simone Biles really has captured the hearts and minds of people here in Brazil. It was fantastic to see her take her fourth gold of the games just yesterday especially when she slipped off on that beam routine. You remember, she got a bronze medal which means she of course won't be able to complete the record of five gold medals in one game.
But it was a perfect routine she put in on the floor, almost spotless. In fact she got 15.966 which is just untouchable. And of course, she finished ahead of her teammate Ali Raisman who is the defending champion in this event form London 2012. Raisman coming away with the silver medal. And we also saw, of course, the one everyone was waiting for. The trademark, Simone Biles on the floor. That is the double layout with a second half turn. I've been talking about it all week, looking forward to it.
So Simone Biles becomes only the fifth lady to take four Olympic golds in one game. And it was truly spectacular to watch.
Now meanwhile, the women's U.S. basketball team brushed aside another opponent on Tuesday night but not without being challenged for the first time at these games. Japan hung tough in the first half with incredible pace and tempo trailing the U.S. by just 10 points halftime. That was as far as they got, 20 minutes later, and after a few adjustments normal service resumed.
[04:25:05] The U.S. taking it by a landslide. 110-64, meaning their winning streak of 47 games at the Olympics is intact. And their bid for a sixth consecutive Olympic gold still on the card.
Now after completing the first leg of his bid to win the triple-triple here in Rio, Usain Bolt looks on track to take the 200 meters. The Lightning Bolt strolled his way through the heat on Thursday -- on Tuesday to get through to Thursday's semifinal running 20.28 seconds, confirming afterwards that he even jogged the final 15 meters. He was that far ahead.
And remember, it's not just the medals he's after in this event. He's also looking to go sub-19 seconds, and attempt to break that world record. And I wouldn't put it past him.
And just a final story for you here. There was a really touching end to Tuesday's action when New Zealand's distance runner Nikki Hamblin and U.S. runner Abbey D'Agostino collided during the 5,000 meter semifinal on the track in the athletics field. And as Hamblin lay on the track D'Agostino got up but then decided to stop and helped Hamblin get back to her feet, telling her that they had to finish the race together, sacrificing some 10 or 15 seconds of her own time. Now sadly they finished in last place but we believe they've both been reinstated for the finals. It's a fantastic story. And it just encapsulates what the Olympic spirit is all about.
ROMANS: Absolutely. Christina, I mean, good sportsmanship. I mean, I'm watching this with my kids every night, basically, and stories like that I think are the most important part of the Olympic Games as we all watch this together as a competition.
Christina, thank you so much. Nice to see you this morning.
MACFARLANE: Thank you.
ROMANS: All right. Donald Trump pledging to be the law and order president but can he keep the order in his own campaign? We got another shakeup on the way to tell you about this morning.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
