Return to Transcripts main page

EARLY START

Source: Trump Campaign Now "Streamlined"; Four Gun Control Amendments Fail in the Senate; 911 Transcripts Released From Orlando Terror Attack; Cavaliers Bring Trophy Home to Cleveland. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired June 21, 2016 - 05:00   ET

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


RYAN NOBLES, CNN ANCHOR: A major shakeup in Donald Trump's campaign. Trump telling his campaign manager, "You're fired".

[05:00:02] CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Four gun control amendment failing in the Senate. Democrats and Republicans at each other's throats.

NOBLES: And the Orlando gunman's own words. What he said to police during the deadly terror attack.

Good morning and welcome to EARLY START. I'm Ryan Nobles.

ROMANS: Nice to see you this morning. I'm Christine Romans. It is Tuesday, June 21st. It is 5:00 a.m. in the East on the nose.

Happening this morning, Donald Trump set to meet with top evangelical leaders. The meeting coming just one day after Trump abruptly fired his campaign manager Corey Lewandowski. Trump and Lewandowski have shared a strong bond since the start of the campaign. But sources within the Trump camp say the firing was a long time coming after months of tension, stemming in part from what the sources described as Lewandowski's struggle with Trump family members for control of the campaign.

The sources say Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner were central to Lewandowski's downfall. Until yesterday, Lewandowski seemed to be made of Teflon when he was arrested for simple battery against a reporter back in March, Trump quickly waved off suggestions that he'd fire Lewandowski. Those battery charges were later dropped.

Lewandowski still standing by Trump yesterday, telling CNN's Dana Bash he will do everything he can to help Trump win in November.

For more, let's bring in CNN politics executive editor Mark Preston.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICS EXECUTIVE EDITOR: Good morning, Ryan and Christine.

Trump campaign sources tell CNN the firing of Corey Lewandowski is going to be a good thing, because it was time to streamline duties within the campaign. This source adds that campaign chairman Paul Manafort who had been fighting with Lewandowski over control of the campaign can now finally start making long overdue hiring decisions to begin trying to match the massive ground operation that Hillary Clinton already has in place.

Sources tell CNN that Lewandowski's departure comes after complaints had reached a critical mass.

The family, notably Ivanka, Donald Trump's daughter, were not happy with his work, and one adviser tells CNN that Manafort told Trump, it was either Lewandowski or himself. Not both of them that could stay at the top of the campaign.

In an interview Monday, the presumptive GOP nominee had nothing but positive things to say about his former campaign manager.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESUMPTIVE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: He's a good man. We've had great success. You know, I got more primary votes than anybody in the history of the Republican Party by a tremendous amount, not by a little bit.

I think Corey is terrific. I watched him before. He was terrific toward me. Said I was a talented person. He's a talented person. He's a good guy. He's a friend of mine. But I think it's time now for a different kind of campaign.

PRESTON: Now, Lewandowski wasn't the only departure from the campaign yesterday. Trump aide Michael Caputo who had been working on convention preps tweeted out, "Ding dong, the witch is dead", immediately after Lewandowski was fired. Hours later, Caputo resigned, calling the tweet an unforced error -- Ryan, Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBLES: Overnight, four different gun control amendments defeated in the U.S. Senate, amendments spurred by the horrific terror attacks in Orlando last week. But as expected, blocked Monday by a snarl of partisan gridlock. Democrats are using the measures defeat to attack Republicans. Hillary Clinton issuing a one-word statement, quote, "enough" above the names of the people killed in Orlando.

Senator Chris Murphy who led the 15-hour filibuster last week that forced Monday's vote telling "The Washington Post" ahead of the vote that he believes Republicans are partially responsible for the attacks, like the one in Orlando. He said, quote, "Republicans have decided to sell weapons to ISIS." Senator Elizabeth Warren echoing Murphy's words in a tweet of her own.

This fight, though, is not over. Moderate Republican Senator Susan Collins expected to unveil her own compromise proposal as soon as today.

ROMANS: All right. Let's sort through all of the morning's big political stories Tuesday style.

We're joined by CNN politics reporter Eugene Scott.

And he is here with us in New York this morning. So nice to see you.

EUGENE SCOTT, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: You as well.

ROMANS: Take me inside what happened yesterday with Corey Lewandowski, because a lot of people thought many times there would be a new change of direction and tone, and Trump always stuck by Lewandowski. It looks as though now he is definitely out, both Trump and Corey Lewandowski saying nice things about each other yesterday.

But take us inside that drama.

SCOTT: Well, we saw very early in the spring, we saw Paul Manafort coming in during the spring and people thought there would be a change then, but we didn't see things get to the place where the campaign decided that enough was enough until these last few weeks when things were getting really out of control in terms of criticism towards Mr. Trump regarding things about what he said about the judge and the things he said after Orlando.

I think what his top advisers, including his children realized, was that if the campaign was going to improve its ratings that's polling with the voters, that there needs to be significant change at the top.

[05:05:02] And they went with Corey.

NOBLES: And it seems as, though, Trump kind of understood that there is a need for a change. He listened to his children and listen to what Trump said to Bill O'Reilly last night about the style of Corey Lewandowski.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, FOX NEWS/MONDAY)

TRUMP: With Corey, I'm proud of him. He did a great job. But we are going in a different route.

BILL O'REILLY, FOX NEWS HOST: All right. So, a different style. It's a different style and you're bringing in some --

TRUMP: A little different style.

O'REILLY: All right.

TRUMP: Yes, a little different style.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBLES: You know, it is interesting, Eugene. I saw some chatter on Twitter yesterday pushing back on the idea that Lewandowski was the problem. I mean, Lewandowski was in charge when Trump racked off a lot of wins in the primary and then it was when Manafort came in that things started a little bit in the other direction. Is this a wise idea for Trump to change what's worked for him up to this point?

SCOTT: Well, we're certainly hoping so, is what Trump supporters would say, because something has to change, something has to change. If things continue to go with the way they are, he's not going to recover the gap between himself and Hillary Clinton. It was interesting hearing him say that it was style that he found most problematic, because that's something that Trump, he himself is criticized on often, but hasn't been that willing to change.

So, it seems like it is something he wants to see people on his top staff level take a different approach, but perhaps not himself yet.

ROMANS: He said style, but maybe statements, instead --

SCOTT: Sure.

ROMANS: They style of the statements. I mean, look at some of the things that Trump as said recently that had been hard for him to get over. The comments of the heritage of the judge. That is something and on the campaign trail where Corey Lewandowski with him on the campaign trail, he has gone back to that before, right?

The veterans charity stuff, that was something that was kept dogging them. Those comments and response to the Orlando terror attack of arming people in the nightclubs and the insinuation of President Obama had terrorist sympathies. These are all things that I think, you know, sources are saying that his family members, Ivanka Trump want him to backing away from, but he kept delving into.

Let me ask you about this, new fund raising numbers as well. That's a point of contention here if you are running a modern, sophisticated campaign. You know, Hillary Clinton, look at how much money she has on hand compared on hand to Donald Trump.

The staffing. You know, Donald Trump, what, 69 to her 600.

SCOTT: Yes.

ROMANS: Is this a chaotic campaign? Is this a viable campaign? What do these numbers tell you about what happened to next 140 days?

SCOTT: Yes. What these numbers tell us is that Donald Trump needs to get more people on board behind him. Not just attending rallies and retweeting and social media engagement, but actually putting money where their support is. It's going to be an expensive campaign. We all know that for a while. And it's not going to make the leaps he needs to make unless people get behind him. We have seen that.

The Republican Party has launched efforts to increase fund raising to close the gap. It is believed the gap can be closed in the next couple months at least a bit because they had successful fund raising efforts in these last couple weeks. But how close he will actually get to Hillary Clinton remains to be seen.

I think a lot of people are very surprised that this gap is that big, because the thought is that Donald Trump could close it himself if he wanted.

NOBLES: And I wonder, too, if his campaign is starting to understand the difference between a primary race and a general election race, and just the sheer vastness of it. You know, you're talking the entire country, and you're talking about boots on the ground in these individual states. I mean, in order for them to match what Hillary Clinton already has in place, it's going to require a lot more people and a lot more money, isn't it?

SCOTT: Very much so. As much support as Donald Trump has, he has quite a few critics and quite a few people who actually do not want to see him win. And they will get behind Hillary Clinton to do whatever they need to do to make sure that she is victorious. So, he's going to have to rely on more than what he has done so far to make that happen.

ROMANS: Trump has said, you know, those numbers, the 69 staffers compared to her 600. Look what I can do with 69 people. He turns it around as a sign of strength for him. Interesting.

All right. Eugene, nice to see you. Glad you're here this morning.

SCOTT: Thank you. Glad to be here.

ROMANS: We'll talk to you again in a few minutes.

Let's talk about money here for a second. Can Hillary Clinton save the middle class? That's the question she's going to try to answer later today with her big economy speech. Her goal: to convince Americans she can run the economy better than Trump and that she cares about the middle class as much as Bernie Sanders.

She is likely to do three things in her speech. She's likely to talk about income inequality. She's likely to talk about taxes and she's likely to criticize Donald Trump. She will want to paint him as a man who reneges on deals, who takes on loaves of debt, and uses other people's money to get ahead and then leaves them with the bill when an adventure fails.

Clinton still needs to win over Sanders supporters, by the way. The middle class is earning about $54,000 a year today. It is almost the same as it was 20 years ago when Bill Clinton was president. The American family doesn't feel like it had a raise.

All the presidential candidates have talked about it, but voters want to hear solutions.

[05:10:03] The economy has come a long way from the worst of the Great Recession when President Obama took office. She will likely tell voters they are better off today than they were then. But she has to have an eye to the middle class who doesn't feel like they've really gotten ahead.

NOBLES: You are interested in the specifics. Does she go infrastructure or minimum wage?

ROMANS: Yes, minimum wage, infrastructure, what will she talk about specifically. I bet she hits Donald Trump on his changing statements whether there needs be of an increase in minimum wage. NOBLES: All right. Pledging allegiance to ISIS. What Omar Mateen

told police about his deadly rampage in Orlando, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NOBLES: A full transcript of the Orlando terrorist 911 call to police has now been released by the FBI this time though without redactions. The chilling conversation lasted less than a minute. The killer referring to himself as a, quote, "Islamic soldier", and when he asked his name, the gunman replied, "My name is I pledge allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi of the Islamic State."

[05:15:07] More now from CNN's Ed Lavandera in Orlando.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christine and Ryan, controversy swirling around the release of a partial transcript of phone conversations that Omar Mateen had with investigators and a 9/11 dispatcher during the deadly rampage here at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida.

In that 911 call, which lasted about 50 seconds, the original transcript omitted any reference to ISIS and the leader Abu Bakr al- Baghdadi. Many Republicans in Washington are very critical of the FBI for doing that. They called for the full release and transparency in that.

And then, a few hours after releasing that transcript, the FBI included those references to ISIS and its leader. Those phone calls included three different phone calls that Mateen had with the Orlando police crisis negotiators, 28 minutes worth of conversations where Mateen threatened that there was a bomb in a car outside. He would ignite if anybody would do anything, quote, "stupid".

But those calls not fully released. The audio of that was not released, but just simply partial transcripts of the phone conversations that Mateen had during his three hours inside of the Pulse nightclub before he was gunned down just after 5:00 a.m. last Sunday -- Christine and Ryan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right. Ed for us this morning in Orlando -- thanks, Ed.

The Supreme Court has decided not to hear a challenge to Connecticut's ban on assault weapons. That ban was enacted after the Sandy Hook massacre in 2012. Gun rights activists challenged that ban. They called it a violation of the Second Amendment. They say they intend to resurrect that challenge once the high court has nine justices again. Connecticut's law bans the sale of all military style semiautomatic weapons and magazines that hold ten rounds or more.

NOBLES: The Oakland, California police department mired in scandal now has its fourth police chief in the past ten days. A number of officers had been accused of sexual misconduct, others allegedly sent racist texts. Three chiefs resigned and the city has taken control of the department's administrative and personnel decisions. Community leaders are calling for a complete overhaul of the Oakland police department.

ROMANS: Two-year-old Lane Graves will be laid to rest in Nebraska. The toddler died last week after being grabbed and dragged by an alligator lurking in a lagoon at Disney World where his family was vacationing. A desperate search ended the next day when Lane's brother was recovered. Disney has since installed temporary barriers and warning signs at its resort beaches and it says it's working on a more permanent long-term solution.

NOBLES: Well, summer is definitely here. Record setting heat spreading into the Rockies.

Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri has the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Christine and Ryan, good morning to you both.

Watching these temperatures, another day here were record temps expected across portions of the intermountain west. The bulk of the heat once to be this place a little farther to the East. You take a look at what we have in store for Tuesday, places like Colorado Springs, mid and upper 90s, record temperatures expected there. Cheyenne, Wyoming, same story, same score, work your way out toward Casper, Wyoming, temps just shy of 100 degrees there. Their records dating back to 1988, and, of course, Las Vegas expecting another toasty day at 114 degrees.

And pretty widespread 100 plus temperatures still around the desert southwest. Some areas can get up to 120s. In fact, look what happened in Death Valley on Monday afternoon, global high temperature right there at 126. That was a daily record. Needles, California, at 125. Set their June all-time record as well with these temperatures.

So, here's how it looks. Picture choice, just about everyone toasty here. Denver into the upper 90s, Washington around 90 degrees. Here around New York City, temps into the upper 80s. And, again, the bulk of the heat centered across the middle portion of the country, in parts of the intermountain west, with the 100s coming back in the middle part of the week, guys.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right, Pedram. Thank you for that.

All right. There is joy in Cleveland after their first pro-sports title in forever. LeBron James and company bringing the NBA championship trophy home to C-town. The crowd goes wild.

Coy Wire with the bleacher report, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [05:23:38] NOBLES: The Cavaliers getting heroes welcome in Cleveland and the party there, it may never end, but it is really just getting started.

ROMANS: Coy Wire has more in this morning's bleacher report.

Hey, Coy.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Christine and Ryan.

Cleveland hasn't had a championship team since the Browns were the NFL's best all the way back in 1964. So, this moment was 52 years in the making. Thousands of fans mobbed the airport in Cleveland just to catch a glimpse of LeBron James and those Cleveland Cavaliers. They were fresh out of Las Vegas for a quick pit stop.

But then they arrived and emerge, with the best carry-on in basketball. The Larry O'Brien trophy. Big shoutout to King James with that t-shirt. The Ultimate Warrior. He is either an old WWF fan like I am or he's taking a sneaky jab at Golden State Warriors. Either way, touche.

Championship parade will be in the streets of Cleveland. That's set for tomorrow.

Now, the apple apparently doesn't fall far from the tree. LeBron James Jr. only 11 years old. He already has scholarship offers to play a Duke and Kentucky. This according to ESPN. Remember, LeBron James Sr. was the number one overall pick going directly to the NBA in high school. Nowadays, players have to complete at least one year in college before going pro. It looks like young Bronnie is going to have a slew of suitors with scholarships in hand whenever he's ready to go to the next level.

Let's go to the soccer pitch. To be the best, Team USA will have to bet that best. Tonight, the Copa America semifinals, the U.S. men's national team is going to face Argentina and one of the greatest players to ever walk the planet, Lionel Messi.

They're going to play in front of 70,000 plus, a sellout crowd at NRG Stadium where the Houston Texans play. If the U.S. were able to pull off this victory, they advance to the finals and claim one of the best upsets in soccer history. It's going to be a hot one. Kickoff set for 9:00.

Finally, the baseball catch of the day. It didn't come from a player. It came from Olivia. Look at the grab. Behind the head. She sprints over to the youngest sweetest fan she can find and delivers it. You got to love this one.

Ryan and Christine, not a bad way to start the day.

ROMANS: That's cool. Really cool.

All right.

NOBLES: Coy, before you go. As a former Buffalo Bill, now we have seen what happened in Cleveland, it is Buffalo's turn now, right?

WIRE: It's our turn, baby. The streets of Buffalo, the parade, I can see it now, sea of red and blue, all kinds of Buffalo wings. It's going to be outstanding.

ROMANS: All right. Coy Wire, nice to see you.

NOBLES: Thanks, Coy.

ROMANS: A huge overhaul in Donald Trump's campaign. Campaign manager fired after months of turmoil comes to a head. We've got that for you, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)