Trump to Name His VP Pick Friday; RNC Countdown: Cleveland Prepares for Protests; LeBron James Leads Call to End Gun Violence at ESPY Awards
ALISON KOSIK, CNN ANCHOR: Tomorrow, we will know who will be Donald Trump's 2016 running mate. A flurry of last-minute meetings Wednesday. Why one candidate believes it's become a two-man race. We're excited.</s>JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Cleveland preparing for the possibility of violence on the streets. The Republican National Convention just days away. How leaders there are preparing to keep people safe.</s>KOSIK: Breaking overnight. A stunning and emotional call to end gun violence from the NBA's biggest stars. Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Alison Kosik. Good morning.</s>BERMAN: And I'm John Berman. Thirty-one minutes past the hour right now. Breaking overnight: Donald Trump announced he is one day away from revealing his choice of running mate. He did it on Twitter, writing, "I will be making the announcement of my vice presidential pick on Friday at 11:00 a.m. in Manhattan. Details to follow." Trump spent Wednesday in a whirlwind of meetings, phone calls and intense conversations with his finalists. He was talking on the phone with New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. Stuck in Indianapolis, allegedly, he says, because of a blown tire on his plane, Trump spent some extra time with Indiana Governor Mike Pence. There was dinner on Tuesday, breakfast on Wednesday. Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions flew from Washington for a meeting with a nominee. Was he going as a candidate himself or to advise? And former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, he decided he better get to Indianapolis, too. He says he now believes the competition is now down to a two-man race.</s>NEWT GINGRICH (R), FORMER HOUSE SPEAKER: I would say that he clearly, I think it's down to two, as he hinted in talking to Bret Baier. And Mike Pence is a great personal friend. We worked together in many projects over the years. He had a fine career in the U.S. House, ended up as the fourth ranking Republican in the House, really had done a fine job, and a very good governor of Indiana. And so, you know, at the same time, I think Mike is a good friend of mine. He would be similarly glowing if he was on the show talking about me. So, I think Trump has a tough call because he's got two really good, but really different choices. And I think it will be interesting to see. Certainly, I'm one of the people sitting by the phone waiting tomorrow to see what he decides.</s>BERMAN: You never hear that much candor, that many details of the V.P. selection process. CNN's Sunlen Serfaty is with Trump and has the latest on the veepstakes.</s>SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John and Alison. Well, Donald Trump holding just a flurry of meetings here at this hotel in Indianapolis, Indiana, on Tuesday, where he is still actively deliberating over his vice presidential pick. He has not made a decision yet. Sources telling CNN that right now his gut is with Chris Christie, but there are many people, both within his campaign and within his family, influential voices, who are also pushing for Newt Gingrich and Indiana Governor Mike Pence. Now, the Indiana governor spoke shortly after that meeting, where he said nothing has been offered or accepted. He is continuing to play it coy. Here's what he had to say.</s>GOV. MIKE PENCE (R), INDIANA: It was just very warm and just one family meeting with another. We were honored to have not only Mr. Trump, but a number of his children, son-in-law join us at the governor's residence. It's great to have them in Indiana. Great to have a chance to break bread. Nothing was offered. Nothing was accepted. But we had a great conversation about the country, challenges facing America. And my firm belief that Donald Trump is going to provide the kind of leadership that America needs.</s>SERFATY: And Donald Trump also taking the meeting with Senator Jeff Sessions from Alabama who flew here from Washington, D.C. midday on Tuesday. Sessions had been vetted by the Trump campaign, listed as potential vice presidential contender. But sources are telling CNN that was not the nature of this meeting. It was more of an advisory role, very clearly trusted, and could give advice to Trump as he weighs these final options and inches towards his final decision -- John and Alison.</s>KOSIK: OK, Sunlen Serfaty, thanks for that. And in just hours, a huge and perhaps decisive moment for the Never Trump movement, the beginning of their last best chance to stop Donald Trump from becoming the party's nominee. That would mean a change actually to the rules of the convention which starts Monday in Cleveland. Anti-Trump leaders hope to sway the delegates to vote their consciences to be unbound from the result of their state's primary. This as security fears mound in Cleveland. Officials expect thousands of protesters from dozens of groups to descend on the city. Authorities spent millions on riot gear, identify jail facilities to house nearly a thousand people, and arrange to keep the courts open 20 hours a day. The FBI says it has been watching for foreign and domestic terror signs, but no threats found so far. All the security preparations coming against the back drop of the escalating tensions over killings by and of police officers over the last two weeks.</s>CHIEF CALVIN WILLIAMS, CLEVELAND POLICE DEPARTMENT: Dallas was a wake-up call for a lot of people. It causes a lot of law enforcement and people in the country to step back and look at what we are doing and how we're doing it.</s>BERMAN: Hillary Clinton blasting what she described as Donald Trump's corrosive effect on the Republican Party. Standing in the Illinois Statehouse, where Abraham Lincoln begun his political ascent, Clinton argued that Trump is perverting what Lincoln's party once stood for. Clinton called that a loss and a threat to American democracy. Senior political correspondent Brianna Keilar has more.</s>BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alison and John. As the country reels from the police-involved shootings of black men in Minnesota and Louisiana and the killing of police officers by a black man in Dallas, Texas, Hillary Clinton is casting herself as uniter and trying to cast Donald Trump as a divider. Coming to the old statehouse here in Springfield, Illinois, where Abraham Lincoln gave his famous House Divided speech.</s>HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESUMPTIVE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: And that is why I believe Donald Trump is so dangerous. His campaign is a divisive as any we have seen in our lifetimes. It is built on stoking mistrust and pitting American against American. It's there in everything he says and everything he promises to do as president.</s>KEILAR: Hillary Clinton citing Trump's proposal for banning Muslim immigrants, as well as his talk about deporting undocumented immigrants. And questioning in the past, President Obama's citizenship. It is not that Hillary Clinton doesn't have some vulnerabilities herself when it comes to raise. For instance, in the '90s, she supported anti-crime measures passed by her husband that many say contributed in part to this era of mass incarceration that she now derides. But her vulnerabilities seeming to be eclipsed by some of the things that Donald Trump has said. Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton will continue her outreach to minority voters today. She'll be talking to the oldest and largest Hispanic-American organization in the country, LULAC, this morning -- John and Alison.</s>ROMANS: All right. Our thanks to Brianna Keilar. And the heartbreak is continuing in Dallas. Families and fellow police officers and families honor the victims of the sniper attack one week ago. Funerals for two others will be held tomorrow and Saturday. We get more now from CNN's Kyung Lah.</s>KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John and Alison, Dallas begun the painful process of saying farewell to three of its sons, three funerals for three fallen officers. Lorne Ahrens, age 48, the father of an 8 and 10-year-old, husband to a fellow cop, a heart as big and 6'4", 300 pound frame. Sergeant Michael Smith, 55, father of two girls who sat next to their mother as they said good-bye. Sergeant Smith was a Dallas cop for 30 years. Dallas Area Rapid Transit Officer Brent Thompson married two weeks ago to a fellow cop. Two more cops scheduled to be buried soon as Dallas continues the process of saying farewell to lives taken too soon -- John, Alison.</s>BERMAN: All right. Our thanks to Kyung Lah. Four of the NBA's biggest stars calling for an end to violence. Carmelo Anthony, LeBron James, Chris Paul and Dwyane Wade, they opened last night's ESPY Awards with a promise to speak out for social justice. Each of them vowing to follow the lead of legends like Muhammad Ali and Jackie Robinson and use their influence to bring about change.</s>DWAYNE WADE, CHICAGO BULLS: The racial profiling has to stop. The shoot-to-kill mentality has to stop. Not seeing the value of black and brown bodies has to stop. But also the retaliation has to stop. The endless gun violence in places like Chicago, Dallas, not to mention Orlando, it has to stop. Enough. Enough is enough.</s>BERMAN: Dwyane Wade very powerful. LeBron James called on all professional athletes to go back to their communities and invest time and resources to help build them. This generation of athletes much more socially conscience than we have seen in a long time. It's very interesting to see.</s>KOSIK: Absolutely. And you look at young people who look up to these celebrity stars, these sports stars and they're certainly stepping into the roles and trying to be mentors for the community and for their fans.</s>BERMAN: Nice to see.</s>KOSIK: New information on the final moments of the Minnesota man shot and killed by police as his family prepares to say their final farewells.