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EARLY START

Trump Announces Immigration Speech; Trump Prepares To Debate Clinton; Obamacare Pullback Could Limit Options; Fed Chair Yellen Hinted At Interest Rate Hike This Year; Police: LAX Gunfire Reports "Unfounded"; 2 Arrested In Death Of NBA Star's Cousin; Italy Earthquake Recovery. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired August 29, 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] CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Does Donald Trump still think that 11 million undocumented immigrants throughout the United States need to go? The presidential candidate just announced he will give a major speech on immigration, but what will he say?

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: A tragic death in Chicago. NBA star Dwyane Wade's cousin was shot while pushing her three-week-old baby in a stroller. The high crime statistics in Chicago now in the national spotlight.

ROMANS: Overnight, reports of an active shooter at LAX caused chaos at this busy airport. The bizarre story behind what actually happened, and by bizarre, we mean there was a man dressed as Zorro waving a plastic sword.

Welcome back to EARLY START, I'm Christine Romans.

BERMAN: I'm John Berman, 30 minutes past the hour right now. And the wait to hear Donald Trump clearly explain his immigration policy may be over, or not. Overnight, Donald Trump tweeted "I will be making a major speech on illegal immigration," all caps, "on Wednesday in the GREAT State of Arizona".

Now, Trump's speech, if it happens because he's put some speeches off before -- it comes after a week of vacillation which raised questions about whether he was backing off a central campaign promise. With less than a month to go before the first presidential debate, time is running out for a clear, consistent message on immigration.

Let's get the latest from CNN's Dianne Gallagher.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: John, Christine, that first presidential debate less than a month away and a campaign officials tells us that Donald Trump did spend part of his Sunday getting ready for it.

We're told the Republican candidate and his advisers did some debate prep at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey. And one topic that will likely dominate the debate between Trump and Hillary Clinton, immigration. Specifically, what should happen to those 11 million undocumented immigrants who are here in the U.S., and is still one that is dogging the Trump campaign.

So late Sunday, Trump announced that he's going to be giving a major speech, this Wednesday, discussing illegal immigration. It's going to be in Arizona which has been key in the debate over what to do about it.

Of course, this follows last week where he gave some contradictory answers about whether he believes all of those in the country illegally have to be deported, as he's previously stated, saying at one point he wanted a softening of his policy and then later saying that some might actually see it as him hardening on the issue.

So what Trump is emphasizing now is that immediately after being elected he would deport criminals who are not in the U.S. lawfully and that there would be no path to legalization for undocumented immigrants unless they leave the country, apply to return, and then pay back taxes.

But what the campaign is avoiding saying is whether or not Trump still believes there should be a force to round up and then deport all of those who are here in the country illegally. Also, whether all of them must actually leave the country, saying that he wants it done in a humane way.

Well, politicians on both sides questioned exactly where he stood on some of those points and some analysts say that Trump is hurting himself by delaying his planned speech. Vice presidential nominee Mike Pence, though, defended Trump's approach on CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION".

GOV. MIKE PENCE (R-IN), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: But you see a CEO at work. You see someone who is engaging the American people, listening to the American people. He's hearing from all sides. But I promise you he is a decisive leader, he will stand on the principles that have underpinned his commitment to end illegal immigration in this country, and that's what people will learn more about in the days ahead.

GALLAGHER: So, of course, all eyes are going to be on Arizona for some answers, come Wednesday -- John, Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right, Dianne, thank you for that. Let's break this all down again this morning with Greg Valliere. He's a political economist and the chief strategist for Horizon Investments. He is live for us in Washington and he, of course, advises clients on what's happening in politics and how it's going to affect their money.

Let's start with Donald Trump this weekend and the debate prep. We're told he was at one of his golf courses working on his debate prep and I'm reminded of some of his past moments on the debating stage and wondering what that's going to mean for Hillary Clinton's debate prep as you try to, I don't know, separate policy from posture. So let's listen to a little bit of Donald Trump.

GREG VALLIERE, POLITICAL ECONOMIST, CHIEF STRATEGIST, HORIZON INVESTMENTS: Sure.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I watched him melt down and,I'll tell you, it was one of the saddest things I've ever seen.

You are all talk and no action. What I've seen up here -- I mean, first of all, this guy's a choke artist and this guy's a liar.

JEB BUSH (R), FLORIDA, FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This is a tough business to run for president --

TRUMP: Oh, no you're a tough guy, Jeb.

BUSH -- and we need to have a leader that is --

TRUMP: Real tough.

SEN. TED CRUZ (R), TEXAS: And I'll tell you --

TRUMP: You are the single biggest liar. You probably are worse than Jeb Bush. You are the single biggest liar.

SEN. RAND PAUL (R), KENTUCKY: His visceral response to attack people on their appearance --

TRUMP: I never attacked him on his look and, believe me, there's plenty of subject matter right there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: So, a couple of things here. How important do you think the debates are going to be in terms of potentially changing the course of this election? And aside of the debates, I mean, is there room for an October surprise here?

VALLIERE: Well, I tell you, Christine, this is a big deal on September 26th. I think Trump will get some zingers in. Hillary might win on points. The issue, though, is if Trump appears to be a bully -- remember Rick Lazio in New York State when Hillary ran for the Senate?

[05:35:00] ROMANS: Yes.

VALLIERE: He sort of bullied her and it backfired among women, so I think Trump has to be careful on that. As far as a wildcard, I have a hunch there's two big stories yet to play out. We've talked, ad nauseum, about immigration and Hillary's emails and the Clinton Foundation. However, I do think the issue of Obamacare premiums are going to be a big wildcard. They're going up and they're going up big time.

And secondly, WikiLeaks. This creepy guy, Julian Assange, who's in London, claims he got tens of thousands of emails he's going to release in mid-October. So there's still room, I think, for wildcards. ROMANS: I want to follow up quickly on that Obamacare because we just -- today, the Kaiser Family Foundation has a new report showing that health plan choices are shrinking around the country --

VALLIERE: Yes.

ROMANS: -- and nearly one-third of U.S. counties will have only one single insurer, so there is a structural problem. I haven't heard it really, though, on the campaign trail much yet.

VALLIERE: Well, that's because everything's being drowned out by immigration and --

ROMANS: Right.

VALLIERE: -- the Clinton Foundation. But, you know, I think Trump's problem is that he's got to come up with an alternative to Obamacare --

ROMANS: Right.

VALLIERE: -- and most Republics cannot. But I tell you, this issue with premiums is going to be, I think, a pretty big deal.

BERMAN: The story on the campaign trail right now, Greg, is this debate about immigration. We have Donald Trump saying he going to --

VALLIERE: Yes.

BERMAN: -- give a speech this coming Wednesday. Again, you advise investors and, to an extent, you are on the betting markets of the election.

VALLIERE: Yes.

BERMAN: Do the betting markets like what Donald Trump has done with immigration this last week?

VALLIERE: I think the markets, like most all people, are confused. He contradicted himself with Anderson Cooper. He's gone back and forth. I thought his allies on the Sunday talk shows yesterday were not very clear. I don't think they know what he's going to say on Wednesday. So I think for the markets there's a sense that we'd like to get some predictability. Markets like no surprises but we still don't exactly where he stands.

ROMANS: Don't you think they're getting ahead of themselves? Markets here near record highs. You get the -- you know, interest rates so low.

VALLIERE: Yes.

ROMANS: A lot of this is Central Bank-fueled, of course.

VALLIERE: Sure. ROMANS: The rates are going to start rising. And when I talk to people they're assuming that whoever is president next year is going to get stuff done with Paul Ryan -- infrastructure, maybe tax reform.

VALLIERE: Yes.

ROMANS: Are they too optimistic?

VALLIERE: Well, I do think the stars are going to be in alignment, Christine, for something on tax reform, something on infrastructure. It sounds good now, in late August. The details could be a little bit difficult but I do think people like Ryan -- Chuck Schumer, who will be a big player. Whoever is elected president, I think they'll want to try do something in the first half of 2017.

BERMAN: Any way to move the needle for either of these candidates, you think, between now and two months from now?

VALLIERE: Sure.

BERMAN: I mean, it's been a pretty stable race.

VALLIERE: Sure, I think there's a lot more to come, whether it's health records, whether it's Donald Trump's taxes. As I said, whether it's more leaks of emails. Again, we're still in late August. I have a hunch there's a lot more juicy stuff to come.

ROMANS: All right, Greg Valliere, we'll have you come by --

VALLIERE: All right.

ROMANS: -- and tell us what it means -- what it all means when it happens. Thank you.

VALLIERE: All right.

ROMANS: Nice to see you this Monday morning. Let's keep talking money here -- an early start on your money.

Global stock markets mixed right now after Fed Chairman Janet Yellen laid the groundwork for that interest rate hike this year. The week is full of economic data that will certainly cause plenty of speculation on the timing of said rate hike. In the U.S. right now futures are slightly lower, about 14 points lower. Nothing really to write home about.

Trouble in Obamacare. As we mentioned a few moments ago, a third of U.S. counties may have just a single health insurer on the Affordable Care Act exchange next year. That's according to a new study by the Kaiser Family Foundation. The report found that a pullback from insurers could mean one option only in 31 percent of counties, two options in another third of the country. That would give Americans far less choice than this year.

So what's going on here? Companies like United Healthcare and Aetna have said they've lost so much money through the exchanges that they are limiting their exposure. Many smaller companies have even shut down. The marketplace was designed to hold down prices by creating competition among insurers, but a smaller number means that those that remain may raise premiums this year. A lot of people have been screaming about how you feel health care -- about the cost of health care so much now.

BERMAN: All right, overnight passengers were evacuated, all flights in and out of LAX stopped for a time. The story behind a really unbelievable security scare. A terrifying scene. One bizarre angle here -- someone in a Zorro costume was detained. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:43:55] ROMANS: All right, welcome back, 43 minutes past the hour. Overnight, chaos at LAX. Los Angeles police declaring reports of gunfire at the airport unfounded. They say no shots were fired at the airport and no injuries reported, thankfully. The mistaken report caused a terminal evacuation, snarled traffic. The airport is also reporting a ripple effect, delaying arriving and departing flights due to this 30-minute ground stop ordered by the FAA. Officials blaming all of this on loud noises.

The airport's official Twitter account noted police also detained a man in a Zorro costume. Unclear, so far, if the man in the Zorro costume and all that other chaos are even related.

BERMAN: All right, Chicago police have charged two men with murder in the death of NBA player Dwyane Wade's cousin, Nykea Aldridge. Police say the men under arrest are brothers, both gang members on parole for gun convictions. Officials say the brothers were shooting at a man who had dropped off some women nearby. They say the brothers thought the man might be armed so they chased him, started shooting, and missed, hitting Aldridge instead.

CNN's Rachel Crane sat down with Nykea Aldridge's mother, who spoke about her daughter's total devotion to her four children.

[05:45:00] (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RACHEL CRANE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John and Christine, it was incredibly moving having this conversation with Diann, Nykea's mother. She said that she wanted to celebrate her daughter's life. That she was a fashionista. She described her as simply awesome. She loved to do her hair, she was a wonderful writer, she like to write poetry, and her whole life was about her four children.

DIANN ALDRIDGE, MOTHER OF SHOOTING VICTIM NYKEA ALDRIDGE: She was just trying to make a better life for her and the kids, you know. That's the most important thing in her life was her kids -- to make sure that they got out of situations that she had been in.

They tell each other they miss their mom. They want their mom. It just hurts to hear kids saying they want their mom and their mom won't be in their lives anymore, only through spirit, only through -- only through pictures. That's the only way they know their mom for the rest of their lives. The only thing they have to go on is what they had. It's just hard for a kid. It's really --

Oh God, it's heartbreaking not to have her here to raise her own children. I truly, truly, from the bottom of my heart, I forgive them, I forgive them. I can't bring her back but I forgive them. And I just pray to God that they pray to God to ask for forgiveness for what they've done. They've taken a person's life, senselessly.

CRANE: Just heartbreaking hearing the pain that that mother is going through, and remarkable that through that pain she still has a message of forgiveness for the men who committed this crime. And unfortunately, this is not the first time that Diann has gone through this kind of grief. Her eldest daughter was also killed from gun violence 10 years ago. Back to you, John and Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: Rachel, thanks for that. Amid all the attention on Aldridge's death there has been more gun violence in Chicago. The Chicago Police Department says four people have been killed, 24 injured just since Saturday afternoon. Four people killed, 24 injured just since Saturday afternoon.

The "Chicago Tribune" reports there have been 2,808 shooting victims so far this year. That is on pace to far exceed last year's total, 2,988. And some -- there's a lot of attention being paid to this case because it's a celebrity's cousin, but I think the more notable thing here is the background of the accused. Just out on parole, gun violations in the past, violent crimes in the past. I think that's something that Chicago really is looking at this morning.

BERMAN: I've got to say, my heart goes out to that mother right now. Let's take a look at what's coming up on "NEW DAY". Chris Cuomo joins. What's going on, Chris?

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR, "NEW DAY": You know -- and it's worth another beat. Happy Monday to you both. Not so happy for Chicago because we know it's a reality. Yes, Dwyane Wade's a big star, something happens to a member of his family.

Anything that brings attention to the situation will wind up being seen as a positive but whether it's people rotating in and out of incarceration, the problem has always been the same there. Until they address why they have the crime, the crime itself is going to be symptomatic.

But we'll stay on that story this morning and follow up on these bigger issues as you guys just did right now so well and that will reflect on what's going on, on the hustings -- the campaign trail. When's the last time we heard one of these candidates talk about how to stop a problem like what we're seeing in Chicago?

Well, guess what? Donald Trump is going to give a big speech on policy -- immigration. It's going to happen this week, maybe Wednesday. We'll take you through when it might happen, what it will be. And it's a very important speech for him because of the back and the forth, the softening, the hardening. What's going on with his immigration policy? We'll find out.

Plus, we're going to talk about tropical weather that could be coming toward the U.S. -- the two storms moving through the Atlantic. Meteorologists are keeping a close eye on them. We'll tell you why. That's what we've got, my friends.

ROMANS: All right, thanks, Chris. Nice to see you this morning.

CUOMO: Good to see you.

BERMAN: All right, you may see something new in the skies today. We're going to tell you about new rules for drones and an early start on your money, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:53:30] ROMANS: Welcome back. It's almost a week now since a devastating earthquake hit central Italy killing at least 281 people, but the focus shifting from rescue to recovery now. The question facing some of the hardest hit mountain towns is whether to rebuild. CNN's Fred Pleitgen is live for us in Amatrice. And Fred, I know that in that town, in particular, they're starting to try to figure out how to raze some of these buildings.

FREDERIK PLETIGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you're absolutely right, Christine, and that's actually what's going on right now. In fact, we can show you that right here. You can see that excavator that's on top of that pile of rubble. That's actually in the process of taking down that house over here.

If you look the foreground you can see some of the firefighters. What they're actually doing is -- the people here, who are obviously not allowed to go into this quake zone -- they're asking the firefighters to bring some of their personal belongings out of these houses. Before then, unfortunately, some of these houses are going to have to get taken down.

The reason why they're doing that is because we still have a lot of aftershocks that are going on here in this are right now and so, therefore, they're taking down some of these houses simply to make it more safe for the rescue crews to work.

We can take a little bit more of a look here. They're bringing in a baby carriage right now and taking that out of the zone. So a very sad sight for a lot of the people who live here, of course. They've gone through this earthquake and many of them now are going to lose their houses altogether.

What the authorities here are telling us, Christine, is they say they know that there are still bodies buried beneath the rubble in some of these places. They're trying to get to them but some are in such complicated positions that it's difficult. They say they are going to retrieve all of the bodies before they then really start the cleanup operation -- Christine.

[05:55:00] ROMANS: All right, Fred Pleitgen for us in Amatrice. Thanks, Fred.

BERMAN: All right, tropical storms that might be heading to Florida and the Carolinas this week. We want to get the latest now from meteorologist Pedram Javaheri.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hey, good morning, John and Christine. Yes, you know, this is the time of year we watch very carefully and look at this. Not one, but four tropical interests, at least, over the last couple of hours that have popped up, tropical depression eight and nine.

The most pressing concerns at this point when it comes to imminent threat to land. And when you take a look, climatologically speaking, this latter portion of August -- beginning in really, mid-September when you see the peak in activity historically, again, for tropical activity across this part of the world.

And the main interest at this point is tropical depression nine. It could become Hermine. And then, of course, it would be Ian, the next storm that we saw off the Carolinas. But with this particular storm the concern with this is really going to be heavy rainfall. The steering currents in the atmosphere at this point are all wanting to guide the storm off to the north and eventually to the east. Notice a couple of outliers that want to take it back out towards Texas.

But we do believe that this storm will impact somewhere around Tampa, potentially north of Tampa late Thursday and potentially Friday with heavy rainfall being the main threat. At this point there's a lot of dry air, a lot of wind shear above the storm so not going to strengthen tremendously. But north, the rainfall amounts could be very heavy, not only across western but also on the eastern side of Florida as more tropical moisture surges in -- guys.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right, we know you'll be watching it for us. Thanks so much.

Let's get an early start on your money this morning. Global stock markets mixed after Fed Chief Janet Yellen laid the groundwork for an interest rate hike this year. She talked about rosy data, a strong labor market last week, but it could be a solid monthly jobs report Friday that will help determine whether that bump in rates is in September or maybe December this year. You can see futures -- Dow futures now down 21 points.

Trouble in Obamacare. A third of U.S. counties may have only a single health insurer on the Affordable Care Act Exchange next year. That's according to a new study by the Kaiser Family Foundation. The report found a pullback from insurers could mean one option only in 31 percent of counties, two options in another third.

So, why the pullback? Companies like United Healthcare and Aetna have said they simply lost too much money to the exchanges while many smaller companies have shut down.

The federal government is officially opening America's skies to drones today. New FAA rules for commercial use go into effecttoday, meaning you may soon see drones used for crop monitoring, search and rescue, filmmaking, firefighting.

The new rules restrict flying at night, so no flying at night. You can't go higher than 400 feet. They must weigh less than 55 pounds and always be in sight of a human operator, and that human operator has to be licensed by the FAA.

BERMAN: And a human operator cannot be a drone, also.

ROMANS: No, no. And I will drone on for two more minutes on this. No, they're good for many businesses. It also means you won't see drones delivering your packages anytime soon under these rules. But the FAA says that this is all kind of a work in progress. They'll be more rules later on.

BERMAN: You know, these things are everywhere.

ROMANS: Yes.

BERMAN: I mean, these things are everywhere so some rules and some regulations may not be a bad thing. All right, there was a security scare at LAX overnight. We're going to tell you what caused this busy airport to get travelers and to halt arriving and departing flights. "NEW DAY" picks that up right now.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

CUOMO: Good morning, welcome to your NEW DAY. It's Monday, August 29th, 6:00 in the East.

And we do have breaking news, this big scare at LAX, Los Angeles International Airport, leading to chaos and widespread panic. Why? Reports of a gunman -- loud noises sending travelers running through terminals and actually onto the tarmacs.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: Police shut down the airport but found nothing other than a man in a Zorro costume, which we'll explain in a moment. The incident forcing the FAA to temporarily issue a ground stop. CNN's Paul Vercammen is live at LAX with all of the breaking details. What do we know, Paul?

PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Alisyn, we do know that 68 arriving flights were delayed. We know that 12 flights were diverted to nearby Ontario Airport in Southern California. They are still trying to sort of this mess and, of course, there were many flights that did not leave on time because of the ground stop.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VERCAMMEN: Chaos overnight at Los Angeles International Airport. Reports of an active shooter sending travelers running out of several terminals. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We just saw people sprinting the other way. I was in the bathroom and all of a sudden there was a flood of people that came running into the bathroom saying there's a shooter. I mean, everyone is in a huge panic.

VERCAMMEN: Panicked passengers using emergency exits to get away, some ending up in restricted parts of the airport. The scare leading to a full ground stop of air traffic as police searched the airport. LAX later confirming that the source was likely a loud noise.

The false alarm causing a ripple effect of headaches for travelers. Massive gridlock on the freeways leading into LAX and passengers back inside the airport now facing delays as airlines work to get things back on track.

The scare at LAX comes just two weeks after a similar incident caused widespread chaos at New York's JFK Airport.