i'm boris sanchez. >> i'm christine romans. it is tuesday, august 23rd. donald trump turning up the heat. calling hillary clinton corrupt and describing her as criminality and probing links with the state department and the clinton foundation. this is hours before trump demanded that the foundation be shutdown. in a speech in akron, trump also targeted clinton on immigration. hours after his own planned speech on that subject was postponed. cnn's sara murray has more from ohio. >> reporter: good morning, boris and christine. this was supposed to be the week donald trump was talking about immigration. instead, he is using his time to hammer hillary clinton. he accused her in akron, ohio of pay for play. and called for a special prosecutor to look at the ties with the clinton foundation and state department. >> pay the clinton foundation huge sums of money and throw in big speaking fees for bill clinton and you got to play. the amounts involved, the favors done and the significant number of times it was done require an expedited investigation by a special p

boris sanchez is live for us now. what else did the governor say about people's concerns there?> reporter: right, fred. he said that about 1,000 people have had to be rescued out of their homes and cars, even people hanging from tree limbs trying to brave through this horrible flooding that we're seeing in louisiana. in this neighborhood that we're in right now, there have been very few pauses where the range has stopped. but the water has receded quite a bit. the debris line at this mailbox is how high the water was, 2 1/2 to 3 feet off the ground. and in the past couple of hours the water has mostly gone away. it's heading south and that's the big concern right now as it heads towards the towns and municipalities, they're going to deal with the water heading in that direction. you can expect more damage and potentially more rescues there. it's hard to get a grasp of how extensive the damage is. the governor described that earlier at the press briefing. >> what we know is we have record levels of flooding along rivers and creeks. and because these are record floods, we don't kn

heavy rain and flooding taking a huge toll on louisiana, cnn's boris sanchez is there. live for us, boris? >> reporter: the rain has been on and off all morning long. the water is starting to recede in this neighborhood but there's still plenty of danger, we'll explain why next. be the you who shows up in that dress. who hugs a friend. who is done with treatments that don't give you clearer skin. be the you who controls your psoriasis with stelara® just 4 doses a year after 2 starter doses. stelara® may lower your ability to fight infections and may increase your risk of infections and cancer. some serious infections require hospitalization. before treatment, get tested for tuberculosis. before starting stelara® tell your doctor if you think you have an infection or have symptoms such as: fever, sweats, chills, muscle aches or cough. always tell your doctor if you have any signs of infection, have had cancer, if you develop any new skin growths or if anyone in your house needs or has recently received a vaccine. alert your doctor of new or worsening problems, including h

boris sanchez is live with more. hi, boris. >> reporter: hey, good morning, carol. the floodwater is receding, but not in some areas. as a matter of fact, some areas like we're standing, it has gotten worst. the backwater flooding has entered this neighborhood, the last stop before the mississippi river, blocking roads, making it difficult for neighbors to get inside their homes. it is hard to get an idea on the kbrou ground how expansive it is. a lot of damage, widespread, tens of thousands of people are in shelters right now. more than 60,000 people have actually requested help with fema. it tells you, desperate need out there. there was a curfew last night in part to keep people out of dangerous situations. also to prevent crime. yesterday, last night, carol, there were ten people arrested for looting. >> all right, boris sanchez, reporting live from gonzalez, louisiana this morning. near baton rouge. thanks so much, boris. >>> a monster sized wildfire is moving fast in california. the blue cut fire, as it is being called, has burned 18,000 acres in 12 hours. sco

i'm boris sanchez. >>> i'm christine romans. the campaign manager talking about the biggest flip of the campaign. sources at the round table on saturday at trump tower say the candidate was not firm on what has been a foundation of his campaign. the mass deportation of undocumented immigrants. some feel trump would consider a path to legalization. we have chris frates with the latest from washington. >> reporter: good morning, christine and boris. you may remember that trump campaign hard in the primaries on the plan to deport the 11 million immigrants in the country illegally. on sunday, trump's campaign manager kellyanne conway suggests he may be softening. here she is on "state of the union." >> let me play something trump said back in november. >> you have a deportation force. you are going to do it humanely. >> are they going to be ripped out of their homes? >> they are going back where they came. from a certain country. that's the way it's supposed to be. >> does trump still support that? a deportation force removing the 1

we have more from boris sanchez in storm battered baton rouge. >> reporter: christine and alison, we're standing in what used to be the street. it is now part of the bayou. from what you can see, it is covered the neighborhood in 2 to 3 feet of water. this area did not get that much rain compared to other parts of louisiana. in fact, what happened is most of the flood water has moved in this direction and caused several bodies of water, swamps and rivers to overflow and submerge neighborhoods. it is really emotional out here. especially when you see people come out in canoes and go into the water with high boots to go in the homes to retrieve personal objects. i spoke to one woman in a home here. she told me at midnight last night, there wasn't that much water. she did not think her home would be flooded. at 3:00 a.m., she had to rush out the door because a foot of water entered her home. she got brand new furniture for her home. she did not care about the furniture, but the personal photographs that she was afraid would be destroyed. she was able to recover them. that speaks to the emo

. >> always glad to be here, christine, i'm glad you could join us, i'm boris sanchez, 4:00 a.m.n the east toast. we start with breaking news, a deadly earthquake in the mountains of italy. the 6.2 quake hit six miles north of norcia. and in the hardest hit town of amatrice, the mayor said buildings are destroyed and access to many areas are cut off. he's now pleading for outside help. let's go to barbie nadeu. she's editor of the daily beast, barbie, what are we learning -- >> reporter: this happened hours ago. all we keep hearing people were in their cars and buildings falling. in the area as well. >> so hard to hear barbie so well. we're going to get out of that conversation, come back to her in a minute. she's obviously very busy. at least 21 dead. half that town, half that town said to be gone. leveled, with the 6.2 magnitude earthquake. the italian red cross mobilizing all of its researches. medical personal and search and rescue crews already onsite in the disaster area. >> it's a first priority to find people under the building that collapsed to find the survivors. you ha

boris sanchez is joining us. vernor is planning to tour some of the hardest hit areas today. what are you seeing, boris? >> reporter: that number is staggering, more than a thousand r rescues. when you think about it, it's really incredible that officials have been able to get to so many people. so many roads are closed and so many towns are cut off. more than 100 roads and highways across the state are shut down. it's really easy to get yourself caught in a precarious situation. we were driving, heading to baton rouge. as soon as we were driving in the darkness, we were almost submerged in the water. we had to start backing out. this highway is essentially cut off. we saw several people in larger cars make it through, but eventually they had to head back, because on the other side of this bridge there were more road close yours. there's a lot of people stopped behind us right now, unable to head west, where the storm is moving, baton rouge. hopefully as the sun rises, we'll get a clearer picture of just how exten

let's check in with boris sanchez. >> reporter: good morning, carol.f those fatalities came here just east of baton rouge. and even further east of us, there are homes that are still under water and the flood water in those areas is rising partly because of back water flooding where bodies of water have overflowed and inundated neighborhoods. more than 100,000 people have lost everything. their homes completely destroyed. where we are now in this neighborhood, the water has receded significantly in just the past few hours. there's actually a swamp about 50 to 100 yards behind us and as you can tell, submerged homes in this neighborhood. one man gave us a tour of the neighborhood on his boat yesterday. his house was totally submerged, but he was helping his neighbors get back to their homes to salvage what they could, save pets stranded as well. just goes to show you the heart of the people here in louisiana. one more note, carol. it is expected to continue raining today. there's a good shot an inch of rain will fall across this area. >> boris sanchez,

boris sanchez, thanks so much. we'll be right back. stop... start saving at hilton.com book direct... and get the lowest price online i am totally blind. i lost my sight in afghanistan. if you're totally blind, you may also be struggling with non-24. calling 844-844-2424. or visit my24info.com. when you hit 300,000 miles. or here, when you walked away without a scratch. maybe it was the day you realized your baby was not a baby anymore. every subaru is built to earn your trust. because we know what you're trusting us with. subaru. kelley blue book's most trusted brand. and best overall brand. (avo) love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru. get zero percent on select subaru models during the subaru a lot to love event, now through august thirty-first. >>> we want you to meet this week's cnn hero. there are lots of organizations that help the homeless by providing food, shelter medical supplies. what about washing their clothes? nicholas marchese turned a van into australia's first mobile laundry mat. >> most people take for granted putting on a

welcome back to "early start." >> i'm boris sanchez.e trump campaign is remaining ambiguous of the most stunning flip of his campaign if it happens. sources present at the round table at trump tower say the candidate was not firm on the foundation of his campaign. the mass deportation of the undocumented immigrants. some say trump would consider a path to legalization. others said they did not get that vibe. we have chris frates with the latest from washington. >> reporter: good morning, christine and boris. you might remember that trump campaigned hard in the primaries on the plan to deport the 11 million immigrants in the country illegally. on sunday, trump's campaign manager kellyanne conway signalled the hard line stance may be softening. here is dana bash pressing conway on "state of the union." >> let me play something from what mr. trump said previously. listen to what he said in november. >> you have a deportation force. >> will you rip people out of their homes? >> if they came from a certain country, they will go back to that

cnn correspondent boris sanchez is covering this story for us from louisiana. so, boris, what more can you tell us about this closed-door briefing? >> well, what can we expect from the governor is a message that this is definitely not over. the rain has stopped falling in most of louisiana, there's still a lot of danger out there. lot of floodwaters, areas that are flooded, the water is still rising because the water is moving. so many of the areas that were flooded were because of bodies of water, lakes, rivers and tributaries that overflowed. as a matter of fact, we're getting close to an area where there wasn't much rain, i spoke to a woman who lived there who said even as of last night they had gotten a few inches of rain. early this morning, her home had a foot of water, the water that came in from different parts of the state just overexplode in her area. where we're standing, the rain has begun to fall again, this is still a very dangerous situation. they're expecting that bayou that essentially took over a neighborhood to go up by at least another foot b

cnn's boris sanchez is following the latest for us. imagine, a lot of people, there's lots of rescues still going on around you? can boris hear me? >> no? all right we've got difficulty with boris' shot. we'll get back to him in just a moment. we'll get you to the latest in that situation in louisiana. christi, back to you. >>> let's talk about a conviction that's overturned in a murder chase captivated the country. remember the popular netflix documentary and the impact it had. well, wait till you hear what has happened now. from over 30 billion connected devices. just 30 billion? a bold group of researchers and computer scientists in silicon valley, had a breakthrough they called... the machine. it changed computing forever. and it's been part of every new technology for the last 250 years. everything? everything! this year, hewlett packard enterprise will preview the machine and accelerate the future. see star trek beyond. lots of vitamins a&c, and, only 50 calories a serving... good morning, indeed. v8. veggies for all. hi. hey. yo

our boris sanchez is in baton rouge for us tonight for us. >> reporter: poppy, we're standing in the middle of what used to be an intersection in this neighborhood, and now it's become mart of the man aczech bayou, which is actually just behind these homes. you can see just how high the water level is. going into these homes and destroying just about everything inside. i can tell you this area specifically and this neighborhood actually didn't get a whole lot of rain compared to a lot of other areas in louisiana but rather it was the flow of the flooding from other location that's really caused the bayou to rise dramatically. and in a matter of hours a woman told me that late last night she looked outside and there was really not much flooding. and then early this morning getting close to 3:00 a.m. about a foot of water started coming into her home. and you can really get an idea of the emotional toll that this flooding is taking when you see people's personal objects floating in the water. there in the distance you see a trash bin. earlier we saw some sandals and a children's toy, a

boris sanchez is one of the hardest hit areas in baton rouge. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. it is surprising when you hear 20,000 rescues taking place, that video you were just mentioning, those were volunteers. we've seen scenes like that all across the state. boat owners coming out into the most affected areas, trying to rescue people who are in dire need of help. what is happening now is really interesting. this area in itself did not get pounded with a lot of rain, but rather, there is a swamp behind these homes. it is the manshack bayou. as it moves in louisiana and the ground became in sashated with water, it had to go somewhere. they were going inside to homes to salvage what they could, many of them that live here were also weary the water was going to continue to rise, and it really dramatically has. a lot have camped out with their neighbo neighbors, waiting around to see what would happen. here is what one told me. >> the highest i've ever seen it. i've been here since 1983. i want to be able to wake up tomorrow morning wit

. >> national correspondent boris sanchez there. asking the question when is the rain ever going to stop. derek van dam is here. derek, from what you've seen, it is a bad situation. is it going to get worse? >> it's been consistent since thursday evening local time. there is some light at the end of the tunnel, george. i got to show you an absolutely remarkable video coming from a rescue effort in baton rouge, louisiana. i'm going to let you listen to this. this woman survived a near drowning in this flood water thanks to some very courageous men. the woman's convertible was about 2/3 submerged. she can be heard asking for help. >> we're breaking the window. the car keeps sinking and one of the men jumps from the both on to the car, starts to tear through the convertible's fabric roof just moments before he pulls the woman from the sinking vehicle. watch this. unbelievable. and, george, it actually is more incredible what he does now. she calls and pleads for him to go underwater to look for her dog who is still trapped in the vehic

. >> cnn correspondent boris sanchez and the cnn photographer are covering this story from louisiana. i want to begin with boris, and what you have been seeing. >> fred, we're on the road headed to an area that didn't get that much rain but the real danger, the danger that governor was alluding to, a lot of these wetlands, tributaries, connected to other areas where there's been flooding are now going to get swamped with a ton of floodwater. i spoke to one woman who said there was very little rain in her neighborhood but going late into last night and early this morning, all that water came into her home. about a foot of water went into her home now he's standing outside with her sons trying to get stuff out of there. in another area, not far from here, there were family, volunteers, gathering, bringing in boats to try to get to family members. i spoke to one woman who said she hadn't spoken to her sister for half an hour. her sister had to flee her home with her young children. she went down with the help of her husband and an airboat in the process of trying to rescue them. we have

cnn's boris sanchez live in louisiana with more. boris, this situation lacked the initial violent impact that we see with a hurricane, so for some people outside louisiana, it's been easier to ignore. but it's not getting any better there. tell us about it. >> reporter: exactly, chris. that's what's so unprecedented about this. this wasn't a named storm or a very powerful storm, but it was one that was consistent and dropped almost 7 trillion gallons of water on the state of louisiana. in some places, fortunately, the water is receding. in others, like where i'm standing right now, it's not going anywhere. you can see behind me there are homes that are inaccessible right now. you simply can't get inside. there are also still dozens of highways and roads that are closed. i should point out, as a matter of fact, on the other side of the street, you can't see it now because it's dark, but the ascension parish courthouse is also inundated. it's not just homes, it's also government buildings that are shut down. more than 60,000 people hav

"early start" with christine romans and boris sanchez begins now. >> donald trump stepping up his attacks against hillary clinton. he's calling for a special prosecutor to investigate ties between her time at the state department and charitiable foundation. the republican nominee not holding back. >>> hillary clinton facing the release of thousands more documents uncovered during her time as secretary of state. how is she responding? >>> and president obama getting set to visit louisiana where he will survey damage from the flooding. what else to expect from the president's trip. welcome to "early start." i'm

. >> cnn's boris sanchez is live for us in louisiana.we heard from the governor last hour warning people to evacuate flooded areas if they've been told to do so. >> reporter: that's right. the governor coming out and saying about 1,000 people have had to be rescued from their cars and homes and some even had to cling to trees to get to safety in these terrible flood waters. we're sitting in a neighborhood right now that was completely flooded out. you could see the high watermark on the home behind me, the different color of the brick where the water was. this home got 3 feet of water. the homeowner is inside right now cleaning everything out. she didn't want to talk to us. her dad told us she was emotionally upset. yesterday there was a break from the rain and there was sunshine here. they didn't think anything like this was going to happen. a couple of hours passed and they were suddenly flooded out. the governor saying if you don't have to be on the road, stay home and stay out of the flood water itself because it could be extremely d

our boris sanchez is in the flood zone with more. boris? >> reporter: poppy, now that the floodwaters are starting to recede in some parts of louisiana, we're getting a sense of how bad this flooding was, how strong these waters were. we're in an industrial yard here in louisiana. that's a body shop. you see that pickup truck crushed like a child's toy, flipped over. there was a tractor in this area earlier, helping people get across this flooded area. the truck got stuck in the water and had to be pulled out itself. you see huge pieces of asphalt that have just been lifted off the ground and tossed around like pieces of paper onto the street. i want to point something out, you see it across the street here in that area just off the street, that white pickup truck, that was actually a man that was trying to cross the road while it was flooded out. he clearly did not make it across. he had to be rescued by officials. one of the 1,000 rescues that firefighters, paramedics, and other emergency officials have had to make here in louisiana, beca

our boris sanchez is live with me today in louisiana. e governor, john bell edwards coming out and conducting a fly over of the disaster areas declaring a state of emergency for the next month boris? >> that's right. poppy. you can imagine the devastation you can see from the air compared to what we are seeing here on the ground. you mentioned a thousand rescues that have taken place. they are still ongoing. we heard confirmation that firefighters were getting people out of their homes in high water. this is the town of aneed. this is kind of an industrial yard. there is a body shop right there that does auto repamplt you see that truck that got flipped like a toy. that was actually on the other side of the building. just shows you how strong these flood waters were. you can see all around the asphalt that just got ripped up and thrown about. a short while ago there was a man in a tractor helping folks get to their homes. the tractor ended up getting stuck in theert with a. if you look across the street here, that white pickup truck's bec

thank you so much, boris sanchez preach that. >>> up next donald trump going on offense against the media. >> crooked hillary. i'm running against the crooked media, that's what i'm running against. >> trump's campaign manager paul manafort explains those claims in his own words next. hthis bad boy is a mobile trading desk so that i can take my trading platform wherever i go. you know that thinkorswim seamlessly syncs across all your devices, right? oh, so my custom studies will go with me? anywhere you want to go! the market's hot! sync your platform on any device with thinkorswim. only at td ameritrade. jack knocked over a candlestick, onto the shag carpeting... ...and his pants ignited into flames, causing him to stop, drop and roll. luckily jack recently had geico help him with renters insurance. because all his belongings went up in flames. jack got full replacement and now has new pants he ordered from banana republic. visit geico.com and see how affordable renters insurance can be. you . >>> welcome back. we want you to meet this week's cnn hero. there are many organizations that h

. >> and i'm boris sanchez.s of central village, six miles north of the city of norcia. in the hardest hit town of amatrice, the mayor says that buildings have been destroyed. there are people still under the rubble, and access is cut off in many areas. he's now pleading for outside help for the very latest let's bring in cnn contributor and editor bureau chief of the daily beast. barbie nadeau live from italy. barbie, we've been talking to you all morning, what is the latest? >> reporter: well, you see behind me rescue operations. people are trying to use their bare hands to remove the rubble. people are known to be in that building, ground floor apartment in that bedroom in the building. there's been frantic efforts to try to move the rubble. then silence, as they call the names of the people they believe are inside that building. we see even beyond that, though, gist a devastation. this is an enclave with about 20 residents. everybody knows each other's names. everybody's got each other's back. that's why the

boris sanchez is in the midst of the flood zone. >> reporter: now that the flood waters are starting to recede in some parts of louisiana we are getting a clearer picture of the extent of the damage, how bad the flooding was, how strong the waters were. over to the left of me -- we are in an industrial yard here in amight, louisiana. that's a pickup truck crushed like a child's toy, flipped over. that truck was on the other side of that building. there was a tractor here earlier that was helping people get across this flooded area to get to their homes and come back. the tractor got stuck in the water and had to be pulled out itself. you can see huge pieces of asphalt that have been lifted off the ground and tossed about like pieces of paper onto the street. i want to point something out. you see it across the street here in that area just off the street. that white pickup truck, that was truly a man that was trying to cross the road while it was flooded out. he clearly did not make it across. he had to be rescued by officials. one of the 1,000 rescues that firefighters, paramedics a

cnn's boris sanchez live in baton rouge. the worst is not over there, boris. what's the situation?reporter: certainly not, chris. the rain may have stopped, at least in some places several hours ago, there's still more in the forecast, but the real problem is where all the flood water is headed. we're in a neighborhood now just outside of baton rouge where not much rain fell at all, but as you can see, this neighborhood is totally submerged. part of the reason is that behind these homes is the bayou. as that wetland overflowed, it came into this neighborhood. you see people's possessions floating in the water. yesterday we saw a children's toy just moving down the street. it's a very, very precarious situation for people here, especially as they're going out in the roads, either trying to escape the water or trying to go check on their homes. yesterday we saw some very impressive video from a cnn affiliate. a group of volunteers rescuing a woman who had become stuck on the street. i want to play it for you in full. >> her dog. >> get my dog. >> i can't get the dog. maybe she's gone

sanchez. joining us from new york, boris epstein, the senior adviser to the trump campaign.gresswoman, did hillary clinton miss an opportunity by not accepting the invitation from president pena first? >> i don't think so. i mean hillary clinton is focused on what she needs to do to win the presidential election. that's talking to voters here in the united states. i think it's pretty fool hearty for donald trump to take a break and travel outside the country to somehow try to elevate his stature when we're less than 100 days from the election and he's doing so poorly in the polls. clearly he's not focused on what he needs to do here in order to win the presidential election. >> we're actually 69 days away from the election. boris, let me let you respond to that. why did he decide to accept the last-minute invitation? >> first of all donald trump is up in a lot of the polls, up in the l.a. times poll, tied in several others, she's either up with or tied in florida, ohio and very close no pennsylvania and michigan. we're doing absolutely fine in the polls and he's take a few h