Transcripts For CNNW Early Start With Christine Romans And D

Get a jump on the days news with Christine Romans and Dave Briggs. Primary, Cnn Projects State Attorney General Bill Schuette will be the republican candidate in november. Former state legislative leader Gretchen Whitmer will be the democratic candidate. And cnn projects john james has captured the gop nomination for u. S. Senate in michigan. James, an africanamerican iraq war vet endorsed by President Trump. He will face off with democrat Debbie Stabenow in november. Former Trump Campaign chairman Paul Manaforts longtime righthand man back on the witness stand today. Manaforts Defense Lawyers expected to pick up where they left off yesterday, trying to undermine rick gates credibility in the eyes of the jury. Gates admitted to a host of transgressions. So far, manaforts defense team has not done much to pin the bank and tax fraud their client is charged with on gates alone. That part of their Cross Examination may come later today. More now from cnns jessica schneider. Reporter christine and phil, Paul Manaforts lawyers went on the attack against rick gates on occasion how to add information to a pdf document, and when gates said that when he got the document back, manafort had actually changed some of the numbers, falsifying some of their financial reports. Of course, rick gates was a close associate to Paul Manafort for 12 years, but now hes flipped. He pleaded guilty, and hes telling all he knows to prosecutors. So, it will be interesting when he is back on the stand for more Cross Examination this morning. Christine and phil . All right, jess that schneider, thank you for that. Legal woes multiplying for michael cohen. The Wall Street Journal reporting President Trumps former lawyer and fixer is now under investigation for tax fraud. Sources tell the journal the federal prosecutor in manhattan is looking into whether cohen underreported income from his taxi medallion business. The Taxi Licenses yielded hundreds of thousands of dollars over the last five years. The Wall Street Journal also reporting federal investigators are looking into possible fraud against the bank that financed cohens taxi medallion business. Cohen has not been charged with a crime, and he previously denied wrongdoing. Firefighters are still struggling to contain the largest wildfire in california history. At this point, the Mendocino Complex Fire has scorched nearly 293,000 acres. 75 homes have been destroyed. And the fire at this point is only 34 contained. Firefighters are up against hot, dry, and windy conditions. Cnns Stephanie Elam has the latest from mendocino, california. Reporter christine and phil, we are standing in the midst of some of the devastation from the Mendocino Complex Fire, which is actually two fires that started about the same time, burning near each other here. And you can see how hot this fire got. The devastation here, even in this rural community. You can see that it has really ravaged some of the properties that are here. And just to give you an idea of how bad the fire season has been, if you go down just blocks from where we are, theres another building thats burned down. You might think its from this fire. Its actually from a different one. All in all right now, there are some 17 fires that are burning in the state. And just to give you an idea of companies who have been close allies to the Trump Administration over the last few years. All right, elon musk may remove tesla from the scrutiny of wall street, taking it private in what would be the biggest buyout in history. Musk simply stunned investors with this casually worded tweet yesterday, writing that hes considering taking tesla private. Hes already secured the funding. He didnt say where he got the money, but going private would cost, oh, about 71 billion, by far the largest buyout ever. Musk faces pressure to turn tesla into a profitable carmaker, but tesla has burned through cash as it struggles to produce its first massmarket car, the model 3. One analyst says this could be a way to strike back at wall street. This could be a Temper Tantrum by elon musk as a way of saying that i dont have to be bothered answering questions to Market Analysts or commentators or journalists or being under the scrutiny of wall street. Hes a maverick. People who love him call him a maverick. Some on wall street call him arrogant. And he has been contentious on conference calls. Musk told employees that going private is the best path forward, adding that being subject to wild swings in our stock price is a major distraction and going private removes incentives to attack tesla. He often complains about short sellers, who investors who profit when the stock drops. Musks tweet sent teslas stock up 9 . Trading was halted and later resumed, closing up 11 . Its really unusual to see such an outspoken ceo talking about these sorts of things. The reason why youre public is so that you have public investors, you have shares sold to the public, and you need to be very open and honest with how your company is going, and he sometimes gets angry about that. Its this weird thing, where you actually get a view into what hes thinking in realtime, which carries a lot of value, but it is also unusual and strange and possibly irresponsible. I do think its his war with the shorts is playing huge in this. War with the shorts. Read his twitter. You can see what im talking about. Iowa College Student Mollie Tibbetts now missing for three weeks. Coming up, why her father believes shes still alive. And why Secretary Of State mike pompeo may be headed back to pyongyang. A live report after this. Alright, i brought in new max protein. To give you the protein you need with less of the sugar you dont. Ill take that. [cheers] 30 grams of protein and 1 gram of sugar. New ensure max protein. In two great flavors. burke so we know how to cover almost anything. En almost everything even vengeful vermin. Not so cute when theyre angry. And we covered it. Talk to farmers. We know a thing or two because weve seen a thing or two. We are farmers. Bumpadum, bumbumbumbum the white house is offering to send Secretary Of State mike pompeo back to pyongyang for a meeting with kim jongun in a response to a letter sent by the north Korean Leader to President Trump. National security adviser john bolton not ruling out a second summit between the two men, but first, he wants to see less rhetoric and more action on denuclearization from the kim regime. Lets go live to hong kong and bring in cnns will ripley. Will, youve been all over this from the beginning. Whats your sense of where things actually stand right now . Reporter it seems as if there is gridlock after secretary pompeos most recent trip to pyongyang. Basically, the north koreans felt that the u. S. Walked in there, made all of these unilateral demands without being willing to give some of the things that the north koreans want that they say will build confidence, like Easing Sanctions step by step over time as opposed to all at once at the end of the denuclearization process, and the north koreans also want a peace treaty formally ending the korean war, and they have expressed dismay that the United States hasnt pushed further to make that happen. They called it a bold move when i was speaking with a source about it a couple weeks ago. Their Foreign Minister talked about it over the weekend in singapore when he was at the same Security Summit with Secretary Of State mike pompeo and they shook hands briefly. They exchanged letters, or the u. S. Exchanged its letter to the north koreans in response to kim jonguns letter to President Trump, but there was no meeting. So, thats where we stand right now, gridlock. And a source told me a couple days ago that the north koreans feel to break that gridlock, the best solution from their perspective is a sitdown, a round two summit with President Trump and kim jongun. Because even though the north koreans have criticized the State Department and internal politics in the u. S. , their messaging has consistently praised the president. They say he has a vision and they think that their leader and the president are the two best people to sit down and execute that vision. So, when could this summit potentially happen . Well, we know that the United Nations General Assembly kicks off next month in new york. A lot of World Leaders fly in for that, phil. Could kim jongun be one of them . As the president likes to say often, stay tuned. That would be a circus, but an interesting one. A fashion nacinating dynamic. Will ripley, thank you. To iowa now, where the reward for a missing student is now over 300,000. Mollie tibbetts father says he believes his daughter is still alive. I think the longer this goes on, in the absence of finding her, that she could be someplace where we can still get her back. Rob tibbetts says he believes his daughter may have gone willingly with someone she knew. His daughter was last seen jogging nearly three weeks ago. Wayne cheney is someone who lives near the search area. He has been questioned by the fbi. He told the Des Moines Register he refused to take a polygra polygraph, saying i have nothing to hide. He has not been charged in connection with this case. Mollies father, rob, will join us on cnns new day at 7 30 a. M. Eastern. The city of chicago vowing to put hundreds of Additional Police officers on the streets. The move coming after 66 people were shot over the weekend. 12 people died. Chicagos police chief says 430 officers are being put on street duty while 200 more will be on patrol over the weekend. Some officers will have their hours extended or vacations canceled. Officials say others are also being reassigned from other duties. All right, is tiger woods about to snap a tenyear streak without winning a major . Andy scholes has more in this mornings bleacher report, next. The Digital Divide is splitting this country. We have parents who are trying to get their kids off of too much social media and computers, and then we have parents who would only hope their children have access. Middle school is a really key transition point, right. The stakes start changing. Students begin to really start thinking about their futures. What i like about verizons approach is that its not limited to just giving kids new tools, its really about empowering educators to teach in different ways, and exposing kids to more active forms of learning. Giving technology is not a total solution. Teaching technology, now that is. Where were changing withs . Contemporary makeovers. Then, use the ultimate power handshake, the upper hander with a double palm grab. Who has the upper hand now . Start winning today. Book now at lq. Com. Send you on a journey to get to your bonus cash back. First they make you sign up for bonus cash back and its only on a few categories. And when those categories change, you gotta sign up again. When does it end . with the capital one quicksilver® card, you earn unlimited 1. 5 cash back on every purchase, everywhere. Its like a cash back oasis. Whats in your wallet . Season is set to tee off tomorrow, which means i will not leave my couch all weekend. Will tiger woods end his major drought . Andy scholes has more in this mornings bleacher report. Good morning, guys. Tiger hasnt won a major since the 2008 u. S. Open, so its officially been more than a decade now. He played well at the british open last month, finishing tied for sixth. Will the 100th Pga Championship be where tiger finally gets back on top . Well, he says hes just happy to be playing again. Just for me to be able to have this opportunity again, its a dream come true. Ive said this many times this year. I didnt know if i could do this again. And lo and behold, here i am. A wnba team had to forfeit a game because of a nightmare day of travel. Wnba Teams Travel On commercial flights, and the Las Vegas Aces were scheduled to play in d. C. On friday, but after delays and cancellations, it ended up taking them 26 hours to get from vegas to d. C. They arrived just four hours before tipoff and decided they were just in no shape to play the game. The wnba tried to push tipoff back an hour, but the aces still said they didnt feel it was healthy to play. The league ended up ruling that the result of the game would be a forfeit. It was costly for the aces, who are now 2 1 2 games out of the final playoff spot. All right, mariners at the rangers last night. Felix hernandez makes Adrian Beltre look silly on this strikeout. And watch felix. He just starts laughing at the swing beltre made. He then points to the dugout, tells him to go sit down. Fast forward to the sixth inning and beltre gets his revenge with this blast. Thats a home run to center. Beltre gets the last laugh. Rangers win, 114. Finally, the series between the fargo more head redhawks and the chicago dogs may be the best independent League Series of all time. After a bangbang play at third base last night, the dogs manager was so upset at the safe call, he decided to take third base, and then he walks over to the side and hes going to give the base to a kid. Now, this came a night after a Redhawks Player was so mad at being called out on strikes, he went into the dugout, got a trash can, and then placed it at home plate where the umpire normally stands. And you know what, guys, we have seen tens of thousands of tantrums in baseball over the last century. Never seen that before. So, i definitely give that Player Points for creativity. You know, andy, were going to know were on your bad side when all of a sudden you show up after the tease and its just the trash can in your chair. And like, its an inventive move. Thats why august minor league baseball, you know theyre in a good place when thats starting to happen. And to think of that on the fly. Props to that player. Andy, thank you so much. Up next, all eyes on ohio with a special election race thats still too close to call. And high drama in the courtroom as the star witness against Paul Manafort is confronted about an extramarital affair. Lets do this. Ugh were gonna be late, were gonna be late hold on, dont worry, theres another way [siri beep beepa] directions to the greek theater. Can i get a connection . Can i get can i get a connection . I can see it in my, see it in my reflection. Ohhh can i get a connection . Tryna find the old me this is not a screensaver. Game. This is the destruction of a cancer cell by the bodys own immune system, thanks to medicine that didnt exist until now. And today can save your life. In ohios 12th district, if it is any indication, a blue wave may, in fact, be coming in november. In a special election many considered a bellwether for the midterms, the race between Republican Troy Balderson and Democrat Danny Oconnor is still too close to call this morning. An encouraging outcome for democrats in a deep red district, no matter how it plays out. Still, there are more than 8,000 outstanding provisional and Absentee Ballots that could take days to count. Balderson currently leads oconnor by less than one percentage point. Both candidates spoke late last night, oconnor refusing to concede, balderson quick to claim victory. Id like to thank President Trump. [ cheers and applause ] america is on the right path, and were going to keep it going that way. Over the next three months, im going to do everything i can to keep America Great again. As we see division and discord tearing apart our country, we must remember that each and every one of us are gods children and that all of us need to be treated with dignity and respect. And i think we could use a lot more of that spirit in washington these days. President trump taking some time out from his Working Vacation to declare balderson the winner and take credit for it, even though the outcome is not quite yet official. The president tweeting, when i decided to go to ohio for Troy Balderson, he was down in early voting, 63 36 . That was not good. After my speech on saturday night, there was a big turn for the better. Now troy wins a great victory during a very tough time of year for voting. He will win big in november. Several other primaries to tell you about, including another race too close to call in kansas. Secretary of state kris kobach, a Hardliner On Immigration who received President Trumps endorsement locked in a tight race with jeff colyer. And in missouri, attorney general josh hawley is the winner of the gop primary for the senate. Republicans are hoping he can unse