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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 Advance; Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired August 17, 2016 - 04:29   ET

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

[04:31:01] GEORGE HOWELL, CNN ANCHOR: More turmoil in the Trump campaign. Two advisers promoted overnight. Taking the focus off Trump's efforts to prove that he is the law and order candidate. We'll tell you how the moves could shake up the race.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: New polls show Hillary Clinton's pulling ahead but the e-mail issue keeps haunting her. Details of the FBI's investigation now in the hands of Congress. Why is the Clinton campaign asking the entire probe to be made public.

HOWELL: And one last stand for Simone Biles in Rio, securing one more gold medal at the summer games. We'll have more on her final Olympic performance. Live from Rio.

Good morning and welcome back to EARLY START. I'm George Howell.

ROMANS: Nice to see you here this morning bright and early.

HOWELL: Good to be here.

ROMANS: Thirty-one minutes past the hour. I'm Christine Romans. Nice to see all of you this morning.

Our big story overnight -- breaking overnight, another huge shakeup in Donald Trump's presidential campaign. Trump naming Breitbart executive Steve Bannon as chief executive. Pollster Kellyanne Conway is now campaign manager. Paul Manafort remains chairman but his power is likely diminished with these new moves. Bannon is an ardent critic of House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

All this taking the spotlight off of Trump's attempt to focus on policy. Overnight, Trump was in Wisconsin making a pitch to African- American voters with his law and order message. He gave a speech near but not in Milwaukee, just days after the violent protests there, sparked by a police shooting of an armed African-American suspect.

Trump made his appeal to African-American voters in a room with very few African-American voters present. He called for more police in poor communities. More police in poor communities. And targeted Hillary Clinton as anti-cop.

(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)

ROMANS: All right. Our Jason Carroll has more on Trump's big speech last night in Wisconsin.

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)

[04:35:06] 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.

HOWELL: Jason, thank you. Starting today, Donald Trump gets his first classified national

security briefing. The briefing prepared by the director of National Intelligence will mark the first time the Republican nominee gets access to classified intelligence.

We also have new information this morning about Donald Trump's TV ads. The Trump campaign saying it will roll out its very first general election ads this weekend. Targeting five battleground states where Trump is falling behind -- further and further behind in the latest polls.

Congressional staffers now have access to 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, I should say, will have to review the material in a special secure room, material that cannot be publicly disclosed without FBI permission. But the Clinton campaign says it would rather see the material released to the public rather than have it selectively leaked by Republicans.

The resurgence of the e-mail issue is not slowing Clinton down, though, on the campaign trail. You see her there. Her poll numbers show that she's pulling away from Donald Trump in key swing states like Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

ROMANS: All right. A lot going on this morning. Let's sort out today's political combat, and bring in Kristen Holmes, CNN White House producer. She's covering the Trump campaign for us.

Good morning, Kristen. Nice to see you bright and early this morning, 4:37 in the East.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN WHITE HOUSE PRODUCER: Good morning.

ROMANS: I want to bring with this -- good morning to you. Let's begin with this big shakeup in the Trump campaign. I mean, it's the second or third shakeup we've seen in the last few months. And you've got Paul Manafort remaining as the chairman of the campaign. But two other folks being sort of elevated to top spot. What does this tell us about what's going on inside team Trump? Are these -- Kellyanne Conway and -- you know, this executive from Breitbart, are they sort of going to help Donald Trump unleash the real Donald Trump or is it a slap at Paul Manafort, or this is just an evolution, a natural evolution three months before the election?

HOLMES: Well, I don't know that I'd call it a natural evolution. As you mentioned, the polls have come out in several of these swing states showing that Clinton is far ahead. But it's not just those states that typically lean Republican like Georgia are also showing tight races. We've also seen several negative headlines coming out of these Trump rallies, Trump saying that Obama was the founder of ISIS, and saying he was been sarcastic, then saying he was not really being sarcastic. The feud with the Gold Star family. So there's been a lot of issues within the campaign. Now sources do

tell CNN that friction had been mounting between Paul Manafort and Donald Trump so much so that people near the campaign thought that a shakeup was imminent. One source telling CNN that both of them, both Donald Trump and Manafort were telling friends about the problems within their relationship.

Now, you know, as you mentioned this is the second shakeup that he's had just in two months. Two months -- just barely two months ago we were talking about campaign manager Corey Lewandowski being ousted and Paul Manafort taking his place. And the way that we understood it from the campaign was that Paul Manafort would absorb that role. Now of course we're seeing that he has brought in two new senior advisers to take on the campaign manager role. That's. as you mentioned, Kellyanne Conway, who is a longtime associate of Donald Trump and a longtime adviser to Governor Mike Pence, as well as Steve Bannon, who is also a longtime associate of Donald Trump.

So we will see how this plays out, but, you know, just last night, in an interview with a Wisconsin an affiliate, Donald Trump was saying, I'm not going to pivot. If you start pivoting, then you stop being truthful. So we'll see what goes on but, you know, Republicans have been very unsure in the last couple of weeks, they've been biting their nails with those poll numbers hoping that it didn't affect local elections as well. As one Republican source told me, this is a good start but ultimately it comes down to the candidate.

HOWELL: Well, let's take a look at some of those poll numbers. Let's start with a look at how Donald Trump is doing with African-American voters. And when we look at that number, 1 percent, that's not so good. Let's also take a look at how Trump is doing in the state of Florida. A key swing state there. Trump behind Hillary Clinton there, 39 percent to her 48 percent. And also in the state of Virginia, this is a snapshot again of how Donald Trump is doing at the moment. Hillary Clinton 52 percent, Trump at 38 percent.

[04:40:10] So, Kristen, the question, with this shakeup at the top, and Trump preparing to be Trump, to continue what worked for him during the primaries, is the idea, is the thought within that campaign that this will work and this will appeal to more voters and broaden the tent, so to speak, in the general election?

HOLMES: Well, you know, a source told CNN that this is what Trump believes, that he believes that Kellyanne Conway, that Steve Bannon, bringing them on, is going to help him win. He told "The Wall Street Journal" in an interview that was published this morning that, I just want to win. You know, I'm bringing on people who can help me win. So of course, he think this is the best strategy.

You know, and we have seen -- as I mentioned, we had seen friction but also sources telling CNN that within the campaign Trump has started to feel boxed in. That people are trying to tell him what to do so this gives him a little bit more leeway because these are long-term associates who know him, who have worked with him in the past and will support how he wants to handle his campaign. ROMANS: You know, we heard from him last night in Wisconsin talking

about how black communities, African-American communities need more policing. Talking about a law and order, you know a real law and order message. Does this, I guess, HR move today, overshadow his message from last night, do you think? Is he -- you know, did he trip up here?

HOLMES: Well, one of the things that we noticed on this campaign is that, you know, it's always something like this. He gives a policy speech and then something else happens. And honestly, we've seen this on the Clinton side as well.

ROMANS: Yes.

HOLMES: She gives a policy speech, two minutes later, there's an e- mail dump. You know, it goes back and forth. So as we continue we will see if this does overshadow that. However, I think that he is trying to stay on message. These are two -- he has given two major speeches using teleprompters which we know he doesn't like. These are things that he's trying to give these policy speeches to reach out to different communities.

He also started an agricultural advisory board yesterday so obviously reaching out to several different communities there. So we will see, though, you know, how this plays out, if he continues to stay on message or if this HR shakeup makes things change.

HOWELL: We've seen Trump double down on many issues, and it seems that Trump is now tripling down on Trump being Trump.

Kristen, thank you so much.

ROMANS: Thank you so much, Kristen.

HOWELL: We'll stay in touch.

ROMANS: And one of those policy proposals we've heard recently, immigration, Donald Trump's immigration proposals running into some gloomy forecast from his own alma mater. The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania estimates Trump's plan to depot undocumented workers will result of four million fewer jobs by the year 2030. It projects Trump would deport 10 percent of the undocumented population each year. Researcher there say a lot of undocumented immigrants are taking jobs that no one else wants, that is their assumption of those researchers. Removing them would shrink the labor force.

Hillary Clinton's immigration proposals would also lead to job losses but 400,000 job losses over four years. The school, Wharton says, that due to Clinton's path to citizenship program which would make more workers legal and entitle them to safety net programs like unemployment benefits that would make some less likely to work.

However, researchers say that documented workers tend to be more productive. So the labor force would be a bit smaller, more workers would earn higher wages and that would boost the economy. Interesting, you know, sharpening their pencil and trying to figure

out over at Wharton what each of these candidates' policies would mean for job growth.

HOWELL: And the decisions on those policies will make a big difference.

ROMANS: Absolutely.

HOWELL: When it comes to these key voting blocs.

We're following a situation in the state of California. A wildfire there, tens of thousands forced to leave their homes as firefighters struggle to fight these fires. We'll have the details, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:48:03] HOWELL: Welcome back. The son of jailed Mexican drug lord El Chapo has been kidnapped. Police say 29-year-old Jesus Alfredo Guzman was one of six men seized by a group of armed gunmen who stormed a restaurant in the beachside Mexican resort of Puerto Vallarta early Monday morning. The kidnapping is seen as a blow to El Chapo who may be trying to maintain the Sinaloa drug cartel's dominance in that region from behind bars.

ROMANS: All right. The State Department says Russia's use of an Iranian airfield to conduct airstrikes against targets inside Syria 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 the development unfortunate, but says talks with the Russians to develop a joint military strategy against ISIS will continue.

HOWELL: Pennsylvania's 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 then lying about it under oath. Two state Supreme Court justices caught up in the scandal also lost their jobs and Kane's law license has also been revoked.

ROMANS: All right, 49 minutes past the hour. More than 80,000 people fleeing their homes in San Bernardino County, California, what's being called the Blue Cut Wildfire torching 18,000 acres in just 24 hours. Now threatening more than 34,000 homes. Governor Jerry Brown declaring a state of emergency in the region. Interstate 15, Highway 138, two key routes into and out of the area are shut down right now, complicating evacuation efforts.

HOWELL: The host of the one of the country's most prominent political talk show has died. Sunday marked the first time in 34 years that John McLaughlin missed a taping of his show, "The McLaughlin Group." He released a statement apologizing to his viewers explaining that he was under the weather. [04:50:06] McLaughlin created the syndicated show in 1982. A former

Jesuit priest and journalist, McLaughlin died on Tuesday at the age of 89 years old. The cause of his death has not yet been released.

ROMANS: Hasn't missed a day of work in 34 years. Wow.

HOWELL: That is amazing.

ROMANS: All right. One airline expanding business class to the entire plane. We're going to --

HOWELL: Awesome.

ROMANS: I know. We're going to take you inside the cabin when we get an EARLY START on your money next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOWELL: Aiming for the gold, Team USA's Simone Biles ended her Olympic completion in the same way she started it, taking another gold medal. Biles topped the field in floor exercise, winning her fourth gold medal of the games.

Let's go live to CNN's Christina Macfarlane live in Rio covering it all. Christina, good morning.

[04:55:05] CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN WORLD SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, George. Yes, Simone Biles really has captured the hearts and minds of the Brazilian people here. And it was great to see her come away with her fourth gold of the games on the floor routine on Tuesday especially after she slipped and came away with the bronze on the beam just the day before. But I'll tell you, it does not matter that she hasn't come away with five Olympic gold medals here because she nailed this floor routine. It was faultless.

She was 15.966, the final score, that was absolutely untouchable. Even her teammate Ali Raisman couldn't do it. She came away with the silver medal. And of course, we saw her signature move, the Simone Biles, one we've all been waiting for. That was the double layout with a second half turn. You know, the move that she goes twice her height on the floor. And it's a move that no one can touch her with, not even the men.

So Simone Biles becoming only the fifth lady to walk away with four golds in one Olympic Games. Still a remarkable achievement.

Now meanwhile, in the women's USA basketball, the team brushed aside another opponent on Tuesday night but not without being challenged. For the first time in these games Japan hung tough in the first half with incredible pace and tempo trailing the U.S. by just 10 points at halftime but that was as far as they got. 20 minutes later, and after a few adjustments, normal service resumed, the U.S. then taking it by a landslide 110-64. And their winning streak of 47 games at the Olympics intact. And as well that bid for a sixth consecutive Olympic gold still on the cards. Now after completing the first leg of his bid to win the triple-triple

here in Rio, Usain Bolt on track to take the 200 meters. The Lightning Bolt strolled his way through the heat Thursday semifinal running 20.28 seconds on Tuesday, confirming afterwards in fact that he even jogged the final 50 meters. He was that far ahead. And it's not just the medals he's after at this event. He's also looking to go sub-19 seconds in an attempt to break the world record. I wouldn't put past him.

A final story, George, that was really touching end to Tuesday's action when New Zealand distance runner Nikki Hamblin and U.S. runner Abby D'Agostino collided during the 5,000 meter semifinal. Now 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.

They both finished in last place but they have been reinstated and will go through to compete in the finals. It's a fantastic story of sportsmanship to round off the day.

HOWELL: Absolutely. Just seeing that, you know, that's the beauty of the Olympics.

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 pulled back slightly from record highs yesterday just a bit. Looking at Dow futures right now they are flat. Stock markets in Europe lower, shares in Asia closing mostly higher. A check on oil, it's down, but you know, it's made some big jumps in the past few days. It's now above $46 a barrel.

Global central banks are unloading America's debt, selling America's debt. Foreign central banks sold a net $192 billion of U.S. treasury bonds in the first six months of the year. That's more than double the pace in the same period last year when they sold $83 billion.

You know, this is the largest selloff of U.S. debt since at least 1978. That's according to the Treasury Department. China, Japan, France, Brazil, Colombia, leading the pack of countries dumping U.S. debt. Selling their holdings of the U.S. treasuries.

Now treasuries are considered one of the safest aspects in the world. So why would these central banks be selling? Well, many countries need the cash to help prop up their currencies if they are losing values. So that's -- that was at play there in that big move.

Delta Airlines is getting down to business, giving business travelers their own plane. Launching an all-suite business class plane that will fly internationally. Passengers will get their own personal space.

HOWELL: Wow.

ROMANS: A flat bed seat, an 18-inch entertainment system. Individual storage. Their own little door. The airline says prices won't change much from the current Delta One ticket. It will also retrofit its Boeing 777 fleet with the new seats by 2020.

The announcement come in the wake of a rough week for Delta. Computer outages caused widespread cancellations and delays. So a lot of those business travelers were really furious earlier this week. But this is what they're planning to do for business travelers in the future.

HOWELL: But how much will it cost?

ROMANS: I know. Same with the Delta One ticket price which I think is still more than I can afford.

(LAUGHTER)

HOWELL: That's right.

EARLY START continues right now.

Another big shakeup for Donald Trump and his campaign. Two new key players elevated to the top. Who are they? And how will they impact Donald Trump's attempt to focus in on policy? We'll look.

ROMANS: The details of the FBI investigation into Hillary Clinton's e-mails now on the hands of Congress and the Clinton camp pushing back, asking the entirety of the probe should go public. Will they get their wish?

HOWELL: And Simone Biles leaving Rio --