Trump Iowa Event Highlights Brashness; White House Giving Biden Space; World Market Chaos; French Train Attack
ALISON KOSIK, CNN ANCHOR: First, the U.S. economy looks healthy. Job growth is solid and unemployment is fall, the housing market is improving and crashes usually happen when the economy is close to a recession. Next, China's economic woes are scary but the effect on the U.S. is limited because only 2 percent of the revenues from the S&P 500 come from China. Finally, American businesses are doing well. At first glance, corporate earnings might look ugly but outside the flailing energy industry, other sectors are doing quite well. So kind of trying to get everybody to breathe in and breathe out and just hmm --</s>MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN ANCHOR: I was going to panic? No, I'm not.</s>KOSIK: Can I help you?</s>MARQUEZ: Yes, you talked me down off the ledge.</s>KOSIK: Excellent.</s>MARQUEZ: Thank you very much. EARLY START continues right now.</s>DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Sit down! Sit down! Go back to Univision.</s>KOSIK: Donald Trump on the attack, lashing out at his competitors and the media, booting a union a vision anchor from his news conference and taking new aim at FOX News.</s>MARQUEZ: And world markets in chaos this morning, but what will happen on Wall Street? The Dow diving hundreds of points this Tuesday. What to expect this morning? That's ahead. Good morning and welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Miguel Marquez.</s>KOSIK: And I'm Alison Kosik. It's Wednesday, August 26th. It's 5:00 a.m. in the East. And we begin this morning with Donald Trump and his combative news conference in Iowa. Trump on the attack, hitting opponents. And the media even ordering --</s>TRUMP: Who would you rather have negotiating against China, against Iran? What a deal that is, OK? You talk about incompetent people. Against anybody. Jeb Bush, Hillary Clinton, or Trump? I think so. I think so. You believe me.</s>KOSIK: Trump on the attack, hitting opponents and the media, even ordering a Univision anchor thrown out of the news conference. CNN politics reporter Sara Murray was there and has the latest.</s>SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Good morning, Miguel and Alison. It was a fiery Donald Trump that we saw on the campaign trail last night and all of the drama started before he even came into the main event. He had a testy exchange in a press conference with Jorge Ramos, at one point throwing the reporter out before letting his back in to ask his questions about immigration. Let's take a look at that.</s>TRUMP: Excuse me. Sit down. You weren't called. Sit down. Sit down. Go ahead.</s>RAMOS: No, no, Mr. Trump. I'm an immigrant, a citizen. Sir, I have the right to ask a question.</s>TRUMP: No, you don't. You haven't been called.</s>RAMOS: I have, I have the right to ask a question.</s>TRUMP: Go back to Univision. Go ahead. Go ahead.</s>RAMOS: This is the question: You cannot deport 11 million, Mr. Trump. You cannot deport 11 million people. You cannot build a 1,900 mile wall. You cannot deny citizenship to children in this country.</s>TRUMP: Sit down, please. You weren't called.</s>RAMOS: Those ideas. I'm a reporter and I have -- don't touch me, sir. Don't touch me, sir.</s>TRUMP: Go</s>RAMOS: I have the right to ask questions. I have the right to ask a question.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, if you're in order.</s>RAMOS: I have the right to request ask a question.</s>TRUMP: Good. Absolutely. Good. Good to have you back.</s>RAMOS: Thank you very much.</s>MURRAY: Now all of this is part of what Donald Trump is selling to voters, a guy who is brash, a guy who is blunt, a guy with who will tell voters like it is, we saw that in his exchange with Jorge Ramos. But we also saw it with his speech in Dubuque, Iowa, where he took on Marco Rubio. He took on Jeb Bush. He even took on Secretary of State John Kerry. Now, after this swing through Iowa, Donald Trump moved on this week, heading next to South Carolina where there are questions about whether he could even make it on the ballot in the Republican primary. We will be bringing more of that in the days to come. Back to you, Miguel and Alison.</s>MARQUEZ: Incredible. Donald Trump's other target? The media. Megyn Kelly escalating his renewed attack on the FOX News host.</s>REPORTER: Roger Ailes said you need to apologize to Megyn Kelly. Would you do that?</s>TRUMP: No, I would don't that. She actually should be apologizing to me, but I would not do that.</s>REPORTER: Why does she need to apologize to you?</s>TRUMP: Because I thought her questioning and her attitude was totally inappropriate. So, it just -- if you look -- all you have to do is look on the Internet today and you'll see who people favor in that one. But I couldn't -- it's a very small element in my life, Megyn Kelly, I don't care about Megyn Kelly. But no, I would not apologize. She should probably apologize to me but I just don't care. Look, I have a lot of respect for Roger. We'll see. I mean, you know, maybe, maybe not. I really don't know. I think they cover me terribly. FOX News, I think they cover me terribly and I'm winning by double digits on every poll, so I don't know. Maybe it matters, maybe it doesn't. I don't think I get good treatment by -- from FOX.</s>MARQUEZ: Fascinating fight. FOX News anchors and chairman Roger Ailes standing firmly behind Kelly in the battle with Trump. Several hosts tweeting their support and Ailes releasing a statement saying, "Megyn Kelly represents the very best of American journalism and all of us at FOX News Channel reject the crude and irresponsible attempts to suggest otherwise."</s>KOSIK: And onetime front-runner Jeb Bush will be campaigning in his home state, Florida, with a town hall in Pensacola at 1:30 p.m. Eastern. Last night in Colorado, speaking at a VFW, Bush made a thinly-veiled jab at the man who took his place at the head of the pack -- who else but Donald Trump.</s>JEB BUSH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm not a talker. I'm a doer. There is a lot of really good talkers running for president and --</s>MARQUEZ: And some good news for Hillary Clinton as they campaigns today in Iowa. She is doing just fine in the state where she will face her first electoral test early next year. A new poll of likely Democratic caucus-goers in Iowa finds Hillary way out in front with 54 percent supporting her candidacy. Bernie Sanders trails way behind at 20 percent, and Joe Biden who is thinking about entering the race is barely in double digits at 11 percent.</s>KOSIK: Happening today, Vice President Biden speaking with members of the Democratic National Committee, trying to sell them on the administration's Iran nuclear deal. The conference call comes as Biden edges closer to deciding whether he'll enter the race for president. The latest on that from CNN White House correspondent Michelle Kosinski.</s>MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Alison and Miguel. Right, the White House has been absolutely barraged with a question over a possible Biden run. I mean, is the vice president going to be in this impossible position now? Having to choose between his vice president and former secretary of state? Could this change the day- to-day work or operations within the White House? And what exactly was said between the president and vice president at that lunch this week? But the White House isn't wading into it. What they have offered so far repeatedly is praise for Biden but they said yesterday that those conversations between the two of them are going to stay private and the decision to run for president is an intensely personal one. They want to give Biden the time and space to do that. Even when you ask the question in a more general sense, like, couldn't a Biden run potentially be good for, say, the Democratic Party? But the White House won't go there. Not ruling out, though, that at some point, the president might choose to endorse someone. So, I think from now on, what we are going on to see is virtually everything Biden does is going to be viewed with this added layer of meaning. Yesterday, he was at this funeral in Ohio for a former congressman but then again Ohio is battleground state and polling there is showing he might do better than Hillary Clinton against a rival like Donald Trump. Today, he is going to be lobbying members of the Democratic National Committee for the Iran deal and couldn't that, too, be good for, say, a campaign? As we know, those close to him are saying that a campaign is something that he is leaning toward -- Alison and Miguel.</s>MARQUEZ: And the Pentagon's inspector general is investigating whether top military officials are rewriting intelligence reports to make it look like the war against ISIS in Iraq is going better than it actually is. According to "The New York Times", the investigation started after intelligence official told authorities he had evidence military commanders were improperly reworking the conclusions of intelligence assessments being prepared for policy makers and even President Obama.</s>KOSIK: Ambassador Caroline Kennedy and her senior staff at the U.S. embassy in Japan used personal e-mail accounts to conduct State Department business. That's according to a report from the State Department's inspector general. The report cites several instances where sensitive, but unclassified information, was sent and received on personal accounts. Former secretary of state Hillary Clinton is already under fire for using a personal e-mail server to conduct government business.</s>BERMAN: And all eyes on Wall Street. Something you might know about this morning. The Dow diving hundreds of points Tuesday. Will stocks rebound today? We'll tell you about it, next.