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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Trump Won't Rule Out A Path To Legal Status For Undocumented Immigrants; Clinton Begins Flying With Press Corps; Oil Jumps As Saudi Arabia And Russia Agree To Work Together; President Obama Pledges $90 Million In Aid To Clear Unexploded Ordnances In Laos; 1 Killed, 6 Wounded In Blast At CARE Compound In Kabul. Aired 5:30-6a ET
Aired September 06, 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: Yet another big shift in immigration policy for Donald Trump in what's becoming kind of a daily occurrence. Trump backs off one of his hardline stances. What did he tell reporters on his private plane? We'll let you know.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Hillary Clinton -- a news conference in the sky, for the first time flying with the traveling press. How did she respond to the barrage of questions? Find out ahead.
KOSIK: President Obama getting an apology from the president of the Philippines. What vulgarity did he throw at President Obama? We're traveling with the president on his trip to Asia.
And welcome back to EARLY START, I'm Alison Kosik. Good morning.
BERMAN: I'm John Berman. About 31 minutes past the hour. Nice to see you this morning. And this morning, both presidential candidates on the trail, in force, as we kick off this new stretch of the campaign season. And just in time, Donald Trump seems to have still another new position on illegal immigration.
Flying between campaign stops in Ohio the Republican nominee allowed a small media pool on his plane. This is the first time that really happened. They asked Donald Trump whether he might support a path to legal status for undocumented immigrants, something that he was distinctly -- that was distinctly not part of his major speech on immigration just one week ago. Now Trump says he would not rule that out.
The latest twist from CNN's Sara Murray.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Good morning, John and Alison. Well, Donald Trump added yet another layer of confusion to where he stands on the immigration debate, particularly what to do with the millions of undocumented immigrants who are living in the United States.
He told reporters on his plane, yesterday, that that is something he would deal with later down the line after he puts in place the security measures he's proposed. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you rule out that one possibility in that determination is --
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm not ruling out anything. No, no, I'm not going to rule out --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- a pathway to legal status.
TRUMP: No.
MURRAY: Now that is a far cry from what he said in his immigration speech less than a week ago.
TRUMP: For those here illegally today who are seeking legal status, they will have one route and one route only. To return home and apply for reentry like everybody else.
MURRAY: Now, Trump's muddled position on immigration threatened to overshadow the message he was trying to drive home yesterday, talking about jobs as he campaigned across the pivotal battleground state of Ohio.
And it is certainly clear that we are in the final stretch of this presidential campaign. Donald Trump will be hitting not one, but two important swing states today, North Carolina and Virginia. Back to you guys.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KOSIK: OK, Sara, thank you. And today, Hillary Clinton travels to Florida for a campaign event in Tampa. Another sign the final phase of the presidential race is upon us is that Sec. Clinton will be flying to Florida aboard her newly-christened campaign plane. It's a 737 that's also, for the first time, carrying her traveling press corps.
Mrs. Clinton under fire for not holding a news conference in almost nine months. Well, yesterday she took questions from reporters in flight and they asked her whether her recently released State Department emails demonstrate a casual attitude toward classified material.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You know, I went into the State Department understanding classification. I'd been on the Senate Armed Services Committee for years before I was Secretary of State. I take classification seriously. The fact I couldn't remember certain meetings, whether or not they had occurred, doesn't in any way affect the commitment that I had, and still have, to the treatment of classified materials.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: All right, let's talk about all these developments on earth and in the sky. We are joined by CNN politics reporter Eric Bradner, who is live for us in Washington.
KOSIK: Good morning, Eric.
ERIC BRADNER, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Good morning.
BERMAN: Eric, great to see you this morning. I guess let's start with air Trump, as it were. Donald Trump faced questions, really for the first time, about a political donation that he made over the last year. And this is fascinating because so much has been made about the Clinton Foundation alleged pay-to-play.
[05:35:00] Donald Trump's charity gave $25,000 to a committee for Pam Bondi, the attorney general of Florida, while her office was considering whether to join a lawsuit against Trump University. They didn't join that lawsuit. Later, for another reason, it turns out that that donation violated all kinds of laws and rules, and Trump paid a fine. It's very, very interesting this comes out. This is what Donald Trump said about it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I never spoke to her. First of all, she's beyond reproach. She's a fine person. I never spoke to her about it at all. Many of the attorney generals turned that case down because I'll win that case in court. But many attorney generals throughout the country turned that down. I never spoke to her about it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: There are a lot of Clinton defenders out there, Eric, who say wait a second, we're talking about donations here. There's one guy who's paid a fine for a donation.
BRADNER: That's right.
BERMAN: There is one guy who gave a donation right now that could be seen as pay-to-play here. So why hasn't this been a bigger problem for Donald Trump?
BRADNER: Yes, so the difference is, is for Trump this is one instance that we know about, right? This is a bad one. It's pretty clear and it looks a lot like bribery, right?
But, on the other hand, there's been this constant stream of stories about the Clinton Foundation and various donors, whether we're talking about individuals or corporations or corporations on behalf of individuals, that have given and then gotten access to Clinton or her aides during her time as Secretary of State.
And so this is sort of the rebuttal, right? It's like well, but Donald Trump did this and he got caught and busted by the IRS, had to pay a fine. So it really sort of limits Trump's ability to prosecute Clinton over the Clinton Foundation stuff.
But, you're right, this hasn't gotten a ton of attention on Trump's side. I think it's in part because it's sort of -- he's always in the middle of some form of controversy and the Trump University news has been out for several months.
KOSIK: All right, switching gears to Hillary Clinton. She did a whole lot of talking yesterday on the campaign trail. And news flash, she's human, she coughed. But it was interesting to see that she had a couple of coughing fits yesterday, but it was also interesting to see how she handled it. Listen to a quick sound bite here.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINTON: (Coughing) Every time I think about Trump I get allergic.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOSIK: And some are saying that was actually quite funny. It was her first unscripted joke that made people laugh. We had Kellyanne Conway tweeting something different, saying "Must be allergic to media. Finally spent a minute with them." But, you know, this was quite funny. You know, we're all human, we cough, so it's sort of building that persona for Hillary --
BRADNER: Right.
KOSIK: -- that she -- she's human, she can make a joke, she can roll with it.
BRADNER: Yes, you know, people close to Hillary Clinton have always said she's very warm and very funny in person but campaigning is not her strong suit. She's always admitted that she likes governing and doesn't really like campaigning, especially the part that involves dealing with the press. So, yes, she doesn't really have these types of moments very often.
I thought the Kellyanne Conway response was funny, too. In part, because you read that and it almost reads like a message to the Trump campaign like, hey, let's stay on message. Stay focused on Hillary Clinton here, don't devolve into conspiracy theories about her health -- about her bigger health problems, right, because that's something that a lot of conservatives and Trump supporters have been pushing lately despite no proof. So, yes, it was a funny moment and funny response from Trump's campaign manager.
BERMAN: You know, it's interesting, as well. Yesterday, "The Washington Post" came out with a report talking about how U.S. intelligence officials are looking into whether or not Russia is trying to influence the U.S. election. Hillary Clinton picked right up on that in her flying news conference. Listen to what she said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINTON: This is like Watergate, only now in cyber time. So breaking into the Democratic National Committee, either physically or into electronic files, to withdraw information to be used for political purposes, it is stunning that we are facing this, and especially from a foreign power.
(END VIDEO CLIP) BERMAN: I am curious whether or not this will resonate with voters. This is something -- whether it's something voters will base their decisions on. But it's interesting for Democrats and Republicans right now, that's for sure.
BRADNER: Yes, I mean, if she's going to make a Watergate comparison she needs an American president involved. But this shows the benefit of flying with her press corps flying on the same plane. She gets to drive a message like this.
[05:40:00] KOSIK: All right, Eric Bradner, thanks so much for getting up early with us.
BRADNER: Thank you.
KOSIK: And it's time for an EARLY START on your money. We are seeing a lot of green arrows around the world right now. Asian shares, they closed mostly higher. European markets are mostly higher, as well. The U.S. stock market back in action again today after being closed for the Labor Day holiday and, right now, futures are pointing to a slightly higher opening.
Oil prices are jumping on hopes that Saudi Arabia and Russia have agreed to an agreement to work together. Prices jumped three percent Monday and are now just sitting above $45 a barrel. The two major oil producers said they may limit output in the future, raising hopes that other big OPEC nations may freeze production.
The world, right now, is awash in oil so any hopes of tackling the global supply glut will send prices higher. We have been seeing oil prices going up from the $26 per barrel low that they hit back in February, but they're still down more than 50 percent since 2014. But this is -- if this agreement actually takes fruition we'll see how manipulation of the market makes those oil prices go up if there is a cut on production or a freeze on production.
BERMAN: There's a lot of room for oil prices to go up, as well, too.
KOSIK: Yes.
BERMAN: The market seems to have been following it. All right, President Obama getting an apology after the president of the Philippines seemed to call him -- wait for it -- the son of a whore. So how is this affecting the President's trip overseas to Asia? Will the President accept this apology? That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:45:42] KOSIK: Welcome back. President Obama is in Laos this morning for the ASEAN Southeast Asian Summit. Today, the president announcing $90 million in aid to erase one of the last tragic legacies of the Vietnam War.
And he's also making headlines for abruptly canceling a meeting with the president of the Philippines, who says he now regrets his recent obscenity-laced comments -- how they came across as an attack against the U.S. president.
CNN's Michelle Kosinski is live from Laos. Good morning.
MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Alison. It is difficult to overstate how unusual this is. I mean, you know, President Obama always tries to put the best face on these kinds of meetings, as any leader would do, even when there are glaring differences between them.
But here, you have another leader, the new president of the Philippines, lashing out, calling President Obama a profane name to reporters then threatening to curse him further -- and this would have been their first meeting -- if President Obama so much as brought up the vigilante-style killings of some thousands of people during the Philippines drug war that's going on right now.
So the White House canceled this straightaway. I mean, they told me that those comments were an indication that this was not, by any means, going to be a constructive meeting. And furthermore, it would be a disservice to the Filipino people to do this now.
So today, Duterte, of the Philippines, apologized. He said he regrets that his comments were taken as a personal attack on President Obama and that he wants to meet with him at some point constructively, he says, in the future.
For now, though, here today in Laos, President Obama is focusing on building that relationship, starting with $90 million over the next three years to remove some 80 million unexploded bombs of the more than 270 million that the U.S. dropped on Laos during the Vietnam War -- listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I also know that the remnants of war continue to shatter lives here in Laos. Many of the bombs that were dropped were never exploded. Over the years, thousands of Laotians have been killed or injured. Farmers tending their fields, children playing. The wounds, a missing leg or arm, last a lifetime. And that's why, as president, I've dramatically increased our funding to help remove these unexploded bombs.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOSINSKI: And President Obama, tomorrow, plans to meet with some of the victims -- Alison.
KOSIK: All right, Michelle Kosinski, live from Laos. Thanks very much.
BERMAN: Speaking of Laos, I'm joined now by Chris Cuomo to take a look at what's coming up on "NEW DAY". Chris, what have you got?
KOSIK: Good morning.
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR, "NEW DAY": Ah, J.B. Good morning, you, and Alison Kosik. Post-Labor Day, right? New phase, heading into fall, kids heading into school, Berman's teams fade or get exposed in some bad way. So we have a campaign reset for you, a new poll. We'll take you inside what is definitely a very tight race, but why? We're going to show you and get you caught up on all the factors that matter, according to this poll and in general, and we're also going to tell you what is just pure bunk.
Plus, our Jeff Zeleny met with Vice President Joe Biden and Democratic V.P. nominee Tim Kaine on the campaign trail. Hear what the current V.P. says that Hillary Clinton needs to do to gain the trust of voters. We have a busy morning. We hope you join us. See you soon, and I don't mean you, John.
KOSIK: Ooh.
BERMAN: Thanks so much, Chris. Looking forward to not seeing you soon.
KOSIK: What would it mean (laughter) -- I'll try to move on here. Guys still with the jokes, it's cute. What would it mean if you could update your car's software, just like your iPhone?
BERMAN: It would change my life.
KOSIK: I would change mine, too. All right, we're going to get an EARLY START on your money, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:53:45] KOSIK: Breaking overnight, a deadly attack on a relief agency in Afghanistan. One person was killed, six others wounded after a car bomb exploded outside the gates of the CARE compound in Kabul. Three attackers who stormed the compound were killed hours later after a long battle with Afghan security forces.
And this follows three other bombings in Kabul earlier in the day. The Taliban claimed responsibility for twin blasts outside the Afghan Ministry of Defense. At least two dozen people were killed and almost 100 injured.
BERMAN: Russian President Vladimir Putin trying to put a positive spin on the possibility of a deal with the United States for a ceasefire in Syria. The Russian leader told reporters that an agreement may come within a few days. Now, talks at the G20 Summit in China failed to produce a deal, but the two sides agreed to keep on negotiating.
CNN senior international correspondent Frederik Pleitgen following developments live in Moscow for us. Fred, you know, what does the deal hinge on right now?
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it still hinges on a lot of differences that the two sides have over exactly how that deal is supposed to look like because we have to keep in mind that this is more than a ceasefire agreement between the U.S. and Russia. It would also lead to cooperation on the battlefield, as well, especially in coordinating the two country's air campaigns.
[05:55:00] And that's really where the U.S. has that major issue. They still say that the Russian airstrikes in Syria are producing way too many civilian casualties at this point in time. They want the Russians to curb that very, very quickly.
And then the big question that the two sides also have is which rebel groups do you strike and which ones do you not strike? The Russians are saying that a lot of the rebel groups that are on the ground there, in Syria, are working together with al Qaeda and working together with ISIS.
Whereas, the U.S. says some of these groups are actually vetted by the U.S. are now only opposed to Bashar al-Assad and those should be left alone. And so there are still a lot of technical details, as both sides say, but they do seem to be quite major technical details that are still in the way.
And then, of course, you also have the issue of humanitarian access, especially to places like Aleppo, which, John, is under siege again by Bashar al-Assad's forces since Sunday. So the big question is how do you get humanitarian goods in there and who secures them?
The president, after his meeting with Vladimir Putin, said there are still issues of mutual trust that are preventing an agreement at this point in time. As you've noted, Vladimir Putin seemed a lot more positive, saying that there could be an agreement within the next couple of days.
What both sides can agree on, John, is that it's very important to reach an agreement very quickly because of the terrible suffering of the civilians there. Both sides said they want negotiations to continue and reach a deal as fast as possible, John.
BERMAN: Yes, it's likely that thousands, if not millions, of people in Syria, right now, are caught in the middle of this. They care less about the gaps of trust, they want action, and soon. Frederik Pleitgen for us. Thanks so much.
Conservative political activist Phyllis Schlafly has passed away, the founder of the Eagle Forum. She spent decades as a critic of feminism and gay rights. Schlafly well-known for her opposition to the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s. She remained politically active right up until very, very recently. She endorsed Donald Trump in this election. Donald Trump, overnight, called Schlafly a conservative icon who led millions to action. Phyllis Schlafly was 92.
KOSIK: All right, let's get an EARLY START on your money. We are seeing a lot of green arrows around the world right now. Asian shares closed mostly higher. European markets are mixed. And the U.S. stock market will be back in action today after being closed for Labor Day yesterday. Right now, futures -- they are pointing to a slightly higher open -- opening.
And the company whose satellite was destroyed in a huge rocket explosion last week will get $50 million or a free flight as compensation. The Spacecom satellite was blown to pieces when the SpaceX rocket exploded at the launch site in Florida. And Spacecom has been hit hard in the aftermath of the explosion. Its shares dropped nine percent on Thursday. Trading was then suspended and the stock plunged another 34 percent when trading resumed.
And like your smartphone, your car may soon get regular software updates to fix problems and go ahead and add new features. Tesla already does this but now more carmakers are likely to follow in its footsteps.
That's according to a brand new study by ABI Research, and that's a company that studies technology trends. And it says that almost one- third of the defects that lead to recalls could actually be fixed with an over-the-air software update, saving automakers up to $6 billion a year, and saving drivers lots of time, too, if we don't have to take our cars to the dealer to get those upgrades.
BERMAN: Ah, yes, alright. Well, thank you all for that. All right, you are two minutes away from brand new CNN polling, offering a new snapshot of the 2016 race. This is going to be some pretty big news. What does it all mean? "NEW DAY" has the new numbers right now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINTON: Every time I think about Trump I get allergic.
TRUMP: And we're going to stop the drugs, get rid of the bad ones, build the wall.
JOSEPH BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm absolutely confident she is doing it by the book.
CLINTON: Making a political contribution to the Florida attorney general. There's so many things that are questionable about that.
OBAMA: The remnants of war continue to shatter lives here in Laos.
BERMAN: President Obama's overseas trip overshadowed by a diplomatic spat.
OBAMA: I always want to make sure that if I'm having a meeting it's actually productive.
RODRIGO DUTERTE, PRESIDENT, THE PHILIPPINES: You must be respectful.
COLIN KAEPERNICK, QUARTERBACK, SAN FRANCISO 49ERS: The media painted this as anti-American. That's not the case at all.
OBAMA: He's exercising his constitutional right.
BEN CARSON (R), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He has created a big division that didn't have to be there.
KAEPERNICK: This is really about human rights. It's about the people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo and Alisyn Camerota.
CUOMO: Wow, that's new for Labor Day. Alisyn Camerota just agreed with me about something.
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: It's a new era.
CUOMO: I feel good.
CAMEROTA: I'm starting fresh.
CUOMO: Good morning, it is a NEW DAY -- Tuesday, September 6th, 6:00 in the east. And up first, the post-Labor Day push. This is the sprint to the finish in the race for president and that race is tight. We have for you this morning a full accounting of what is driving this race, rightly and wrongly.
And we have a look at what happened when Hillary Clinton took questions from the press this weekend.
CAMEROTA: OK, so this morning we have this new CNN national poll and it shows the race is as tight as possible.
