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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Obama on Government Shutdown; Netanyahu Slams Iran's New President; Bikers, SUV in Violent Confrontation; Thieves Foiled by Fencing Coach; Candy Crush Game Creator Preps for IPO

Aired October 02, 2013 - 04:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Pass a budget. End government shutdown. Pay your bills. Prevent an economic shutdown. Don't wait. Don't delay.

REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R), HOUSE SPEAKER: My goodness, they won't even sit down and have a discussion about this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZORAIDA SAMBOLIN, CNN ANCHOR: The government shutdown entering its second day. Workers furloughed. Monuments are closed and an agreement in Washington nowhere in sight.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: A wolf who thinks he can fool the eyes -- a wool over the eyes of the international community.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Not charmed at all. A stern warning from Israel's prime minister. He says don't trust Iran or its new leader.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JONATHAN BENT, 8-YEAR-OLD HERO: I've seen fire and flames everywhere.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This little kid is amazing. He actually really saved people's lives.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAMBOLIN: Wow, that's an 8-year-old boy. He is hailed as a hero. He saved several families from that inferno.

BERMAN: Can't wait to see that.

SAMBOLIN: My goodness. An 8-year-old boy. Love that. All right.

BERMAN: Good morning, everyone. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm John Berman.

SAMBOLIN: And I'm Zoraida Sambolin. It is Wednesday, October 2nd. It's 4:01 in the morning.

BERMAN: So how does it feel to be in day two of a government shutdown? It's pretty awful, right? The only thing that everyone in Washington can agree on, it is not their fault. That's what both sides say.

President Obama says that House Republicans caused the shutdown, waging an ideological crusade against his health care law. The Republicans' latest effort to fund only certain parts of government, that has failed, while they attacked the president for refusing to negotiate. Of course, most Republicans only seem willing to negotiate if detailing, defunding, or delaying parts of the health care law, if that is all on the table. Good thing nothing but our nation's future and well-being is on the line.

Here's Brianna Keilar.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The impasse in Congress is no closer to being resolved this morning.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The motion to table is agreed to.

KEILAR: With nearly 800,000 federal employees off their jobs for a second day, President Obama is blaming Tea Party Republicans for shutting down the government over their objections to Obamacare.

OBAMA: They demanded ransom just for doing their job.

KEILAR: He's urging Congress to act.

OBAMA: Allow the public servants who have been sent home to return to work.

KEILAR: Tuesday night House Republicans tried to fund the government piecemeal, starting with veterans, national parks and the city of Washington, D.C.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're -- we're ready to talk. And they have rejected that. And we have to send that back every day.

KEILAR: Their first attempt failed. Most Democrats voting no.

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D), MINORITY LEADER: This is a waste of time. It's not going any place.

KEILAR: What's worst, we're about to hit the debt ceiling. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew again warned Congress that if it doesn't raise the U.S.' ability to pay debts it will default October 17th. GOP leaders blamed Democrats for refusing to sit down and negotiate.

BOEHNER: My goodness, they won't even sit down and have a discussion.

KEILAR: President Obama said his signature program isn't up for discussion. OBAMA: The Affordable Care Act is still open for business and it is here to stay.

KEILAR: Frustrated taxpayers made sure their voices were heard, too.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People are tired of a Congress that can't govern this country. You guys are worthless.

KEILAR: Brianna Keilar, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SAMBOLIN: Three minutes past the hour. The shutdown has closed museums, parks and monuments. But barricade at Washington's World War II Memorial were not enough to stop a group of wheel-chair bound veterans who came to visit. They broke past those barricades and they toured the memorial site anyway.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES BROWN, WORLD WAR II VETERAN: Well, it fills you with pride, and make you proud that you were part of it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAMBOLIN: The veterans were part of the Mississippi Gulf Coast Honor Flight which helped fly the state's vets to Washington, D.C. free of charge to view the memorials.

BERMAN: The government shutdown setting off something of a courthouse scramble with government lawyers seeking to postpone trials and other court imposed deadlines in cases across the country. Some requests were granted. Others denied.

Judges refused to halt at least two major cases, one unchallenging the American and U.S. Airways merger and another seeking to hold Bank of America liable for mortgage fraud.

SAMBOLIN: So while the government closed, Obamacare was open for business. Millions of visitors on day one overwhelmed the system so much so that it caused delays and also caused some computer crashes. Government officials say 2.8 million people visited the healthcare.gov Web site. With 81,000 people reaching out to the call centers. Another 60,000 people requested those live chats.

The Obama administration says it is working to fix all of the problems and actually speed up the site as well.

BERMAN: Strong words from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the United Nations concerning Iran's new leader. Netanyahu telling the General Assembly that despite appearances, Hassan Rouhani is not to be trusted. And Netanyahu says when it comes to keeping Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, Israel is prepared to go it alone.

We get more now from CNN's Jim Sciutto.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NETANYAHU: This is a bomb --

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He had none of the eye-catching props from last year.

NETANYAHU: A red line should be drawn right here.

SCIUTTO: Instead, the Israeli prime minister came equipped with a stream of stinging one-liners against Iranian president, Hassan Rouhani, and his charm offensive.

NETANYAHU: Rouhani is a wolf in sheep's clothing. A wolf who thinks he can pull the eyes -- the wool over the eyes of the international community. He assures us that all of this is not intended for nuclear weapons. Any of you believe that? Rouhani thinks he can have his yellow cake and eat it, too.

SCIUTTO: Prime Minister Netanyahu concluded with a message that seemed intended as much for Washington as Tehran.

NETANYAHU: Israel will not allow Iran to get nuclear weapons. If Israel is forced to stand alone, Israel will stand alone.

SCIUTTO: The moment the speech ended, an Iranian diplomat fired back with some threatening words of his own.

KHODADAD SEIFI, IRANIAN COUNSELOR: The Israeli prime minister had better not even think about attacking Iran. Let alone planning for that.

SCIUTTO: The fiery exchange highlights the challenge the U.S. will face in bringing its closest ally in the region, Israel, on board with any potential agreement on Iran's nuclear program.

AARON DAVID MILLER, WOODROW WILSON CENTER: It doesn't necessarily mean it's a deal made in heaven for the Israelis. But it seems to me either there'll be a deal that broadly meet both of those concerns or there will be no deal at all.

SCIUTTO (on camera): Iranian officials had a stinging one-liner for President Obama as well. Foreign Minister Javad Sharif reacting to the president's comments that only stiff sanctions have brought Iran to the table, tweeting that Obama's remarks were, quote, "disrespectful and macho."

Not quite the historic phone call moment from last Friday. There may be an opening in U.S.-Iranian relations but disagreements and distrust remain.

Jim Sciutto, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SAMBOLIN: Thank you, Jim.

A team of international inspectors is now in Syria to begin the task of overseeing the destruction of the country's chemical weapons. The group has some nine months to complete its mission which is to locate, seize and destroy all of the Assad regime's estimated 1,000 tons chemical weapons arsenal.

BERMAN: North Korea rejecting a disarmament deal from the South saying its nuclear program can never be a political bargaining chip. South Korean had offered development aid in exchange for Pyongyang giving up its nuclear weapons. The North Korean officials speaking at the United Nations General Assembly blamed the, quote, "hostile policy of the United States for continuing tensions on the Korean Peninsula."

SAMBOLIN: And we're learning now about the economic fallout from the deadly attack at the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi, Kenya. Moody's predicts it will cost Kenya between $200 million and $250 million in lost tourism revenue alone. Sixty-seven people died in that attack including 18 foreigners.

BERMAN: Let's get an early look now at the weather. Here's Chad Myers.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, everyone. I'm meteorologist Chad Myers. Taking a look at your airport delays today. Houston, New Orleans, St. Louis, and Memphis. There will be thunderstorms around especially throughout the afternoon and Seattle as you get going, some low clouds this morning. Planes may have to separate just a little bit.

There are the scattered showers in the Ohio Valley right on down into New Orleans. There's something developing in the Caribbean that we're going to watch later on in the weekend. It could have some implications for the Gulf of Mexico. Especially around Saturday into Sunday if it gets its act together. Partly cloudy across the northeast today. Pleasant in New York, 84. Nice day in Dallas. Ninety showers to the east and showers into Memphis at 84.

SAMBOLIN: Thanks, Chad.

Nine minutes past the hour. An 8-year-old Tennessee boy being hailed a hero for saving his family and his neighbors from that. It was a raging apartment fire.

Jonathan Bent says he was sleeping at an elderly neighbor's apartment when her screams woke him in the middle of the night. The third grader then went knocking on neighbors' doors as the building started to go up in flames.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENT: She said Jonathan, Jonathan, and her cigarette dropped and it caught fire. I seen fire and flames everywhere.

GINA BENT, MOTHER: I've never had a hero, but I do know --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAMBOLIN: Oh, gosh.

BERMAN: That is awesome.

SAMBOLIN: Fantastic. So thanks to Jonathan and the firefighters, everyone in the apartment building managed to get out safely. That mother should be very proud.

BERMAN: You know, ever since kids, you know, they do so many fire drills at school. Sometimes they know than adults do.

SAMBOLIN: Yes.

BERMAN: Because they're much more attune with the right ways of doing it.

SAMBOLIN: Yes, we just panic.

BERMAN: Exactly.

SAMBOLIN: Knocked on every door. That's incredible.

BERMAN: Good for him. What a great kid.

All right, coming up --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAYANA MIESES, EDWIN MIESES' WIFE: My husband got off his bike to help the guy. And whatever he did, he got scared he went -- peeled off and he paralyzed my husband on the way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Biker bullying gone bad. Two men on motorcycles now arrested in a frightening incident caught on camera. But the controversy of just who attacked whom is just beginning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FRANCO SCARAMUZZA, FENCING COACH: The first thing that went through my head is somebody should do something. I didn't want to be a hypocrite who, you know, just tweeted about it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAMBOLIN: Well, this is a real-life superhero. A fencing coach springing to action when he sees two crooks robbing a couple on the street. He was in full gear also. There you go.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: All right. Welcome back to EARLY START, everyone.

Two bikers are under arrest following the violent confrontation between a group of motorcyclists and a drive of an SUV in New York City this past weekend. Police, they're still investigating. A video of the incident posted online, though, has been viewed more than a million times on YouTube.

The story now from CNN's Randi Kaye.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): You are watching video from a motorcycle helmet cam, unfolding in realtime. It was posted on YouTube. What you're about to see will change lives forever.

The drive of the SUV, out for a drive with his wife and 2-year-old daughter, bumps the back tire of one of the motorcycles that slowed down in front of him. See it there? In response, dozens motorcyclists circled the Range Rover, police say, denting it, then slashing the tires. Police say the motorcyclists may all be members of a group known as the Hollywood Stunts.

Then this chase takes a dangerous turn. Watch as the SUV's driver barrels through the mob, hitting three more motorcycle riders. Now watch it again. Police say the driver feared for his life. The conflict now escalates. The motorcycles chase the SUV. When they catch up to it, one biker opens the door of the SUV. But the driver quickly floors it. This time, he gets away.

Eventually, he's forced off the West Side Highway and on to the streets of Manhattan. Stuck in traffic, the Range Rover has nowhere to go. And the motorcyclists know it. First, one rider rips off his helmet and uses it to bash in the driver's window. Then two more quickly join him all of them in rage. Just before they pull the driver out of the car the videotape ends.

RAY KELLY, COMMISSIONER, NEW YORK POLICE DEPARTMENT: He's taken out of the car, he is assaulted. He received some stitches at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital.

KAYE: Police say the driver's face was slashed but his wife and young daughter were not injured. The driver was treated and released but not this man seen here in this Facebook photo. His name is Edwin Mieses and his family says the SUV driver hit him on his motorcycle. Now they say he's paralyzed from the waist down. Mieses is from Lawrence, Massachusetts. Dayana Mieses is his wife.

MIESES: My husband got off his bike to help the guy. And whatever he did, he got scared, he went peeled off and he paralyzed my husband on the way.

KAYE: Mieses is in the music business. His friends call him Jay Mieses. And they set up this Facebook page for him. The couple has two children, ages 15 and 9. Yolanda Santiago is his mother.

YOLANDA SANTIAGO, EDWIN MIESES' MOTHER: I'm devastated. I'm devastated. All his ribs fractured. His lungs are so badly bruised that he's still on the ventilator. KAYE (on camera): The SUV driver hasn't been charged with anything but police have charged 28-year-old Christopher Cruz with reckless endangerment, reckless menacing and endangering the welfare of a child. Police believe Cruz was struck by the vehicle then assaulted it along with two other bikers. One of those men also turned himself in to police late Tuesday afternoon.

(Voice-over): Police are looking at video footage to try to determine if any other charges will be filed in this case.

Randi Kaye, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SAMBOLIN: Seventeen minutes past the hour. The airport in Jacksonville, Florida, resuming normal operations this morning. The airport was evacuated for a time last night after a report of suspicious packages. Authorities say one device was found and rendered safe. The incident causing some nerve-racking moments for all the people inside, though.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And that's when people started ducking, a lot of the workers started ducking behind where your luggage will go and people started running out of the airport.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAMBOLIN: It is not known if any arrest were made and officials say some arriving planes had to be diverted and passengers taken from planes already on the ground were put up in hotels.

BERMAN: Authorities in Colorado blame moisture from the recent rains for dislodging huge boulders in a rock slide that killed five hikers. Authorities have now recovered the five bodies. The only survivor, 13-year-old Gracie Johnson, was dug out of the rubble by rescuers. She told authorities her father shielded her from the falling rocks that saved her life. A family friend says the community is still in a state of shock.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNA YATES, FRIEND OF VICTIM: Absolutely. How you cannot, you know? Such an unexpected event. There's no way it's not have a sense of shock.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Gracie Johnson's father, her mother and her sister were among those killed in the rock slide.

SAMBOLIN: Wow. A whole family wiped out.

BERMAN: Awful. SAMBOLIN: Do no harm. That was the testimony of a top BP executive on the stand Tuesday in the trial over that massive and really deadly 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. James Dupree says the company was guided by fears of making matters even worse. When they scrapped an initial plan to cap the well, that plan was revived, ultimately succeeded.

Plaintiffs argued BP should have stop -- stemmed the hemorrhaging much sooner. The civil trial could bring billions of dollars in penalties.

BERMAN: All right. This is the best story ever file.

SAMBOLIN: Best story ever?

BERMAN: Best story ever?

SAMBOLIN: All right.

BERMAN: Two would-be thieves in Tennessee foiled by a foil. This Nashville fencing instructor, Franco Scaramuzza, he was pulling into a (INAUDIBLE) on a Tuesday night when he saw a couple getting robbed by two men. This is a dramatic re-enactment by an affiliate, I should point out.

SAMBOLIN: Really?

(LAUGHTER)

BERMAN: He had just left fencing practice and was in full dress when he sprang into action.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCARAMUZZA: I charged towards them, you know, holding my epee up high. You know, yelling at them. I kept yelling for the entire thing. They completely panicked, dropped everything they stole and really took off.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: The epee of course is the name for the sword. I think it was the sword. I think it was the pants.

(LAUGHTER)

I think they saw the pants and they're like, oh no, there's a guy in strange white pants running for us. We're out of here.

SAMBOLIN: Great story.

BERMAN: It didn't take long for the police to catch the suspects. They were named Michael Butt and Zachary Johnson. They're in jail this morning.

SAMBOLIN: Can this story get any better?

BERMAN: On $50,000 bond. No, it's kind of awesome. But the best part is, you know, thank you to our affiliate.

SAMBOLIN: The re-enactment. Yes.

BERMAN: It's a dramatic re-enactment.

SAMBOLIN: Love that.

BERMAN: Do you mind running through the parking lot again with the sword in your hand? Ad there we go. Right past the camera, well done. Well done.

(LAUGHTER)

SAMBOLIN: That is a great story.

BERMAN: It's fantastic.

Coming up, not fantastic.

SAMBOLIN: No.

BERMAN: Hundreds of thousands furloughed. National monuments closed. But could the government shutdown also cause a collapse in the housing market? Special guest Maribel Aber joins us in "Money Time" after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: Hi. Welcome back to EARLY START. It is "Money Time" and Maribel Aber is here with us this morning.

Great to have you.

MARIBEL ABER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good to be here.

SAMBOLIN: We only want you if you're bringing us good news.

ABER: Well, some of it is good news. It's fun news, right?

SAMBOLIN: Just kidding. We're happy to have you.

(LAUGHTER)

ABER: Great to be here. Shall we kick it off?

BERMAN: Good.

SAMBOLIN: Yes.

ABER: Let's do it. All right. Because we're talking about government shutdown lately, right? Well, the government shutdown was also the first day of the new Obamacare insurance exchanges. So there was a lot of interest in the state and federally run insurance marketplaces. But here's the thing, there were also glitches, delays and also crashes. This is coming from "USA Today" but some of the technical problems were because of high traffic. Lots of people trying to get on that site. The director of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said almost three million people visited healthcare.gov, that sire in the first day.

Also, you know, the government shutdown could hurt people trying to get mortgages. Problems could arise with lenders getting in there trying to verify Social Security numbers and accessing IRS transcripts. That's what they need to do to process these loans. And even though the FHA says it will still accept and process loan application, the agency staff is down to about one-tenth of its normal size. Not a lot of people are working on those loans.

And "Bloomberg News" says the U.S. Department of Agriculture won't take on new business during the shutdown. The department backs mortgages in rural areas and you know, this is not what the recovering housing industry needs right now.

But I do have fun news. I know I promised this. Good news, fun news, right?

BERMAN: Awesome.

ABER: This is where business meets games. OK, the UK company behind the popular online game "Candy Crush Saga" --

SAMBOLIN: My goodness.

ABER: -- is preparing for an IPO. OK, a source familiar with the deal says that King, King is the company that does this. They filed their IPO in New York and reports saying King plans to list on Nasdaq. The IPO was reported to be worth about $5 billion.

BERMAN: Wow.

SAMBOLIN: Isn't it incredible?

ABER: Yes. King has made a confidential filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. A lot of these company doing a secret filing. The company signature game is "Candy Crush Saga." And King's Games are played more than one billion times a day. And I look at their -- do you play, by the way?

SAMBOLIN: No, but I do -- my daughter does. And I was sitting in a salon once, there were three women on their iPads playing. I was shocked. I was shocked. It's super popular.

BERMAN: I had the same thing at a salon. Three women with their iPad playing.

(LAUGHTER)

(CROSSTALK)

SAMBOLIN: So you were getting your nail done. ABER: I saw you in the salon, John.

BERMAN: No, but like "Angry Birds" guys are worth like $78 ka- trillion dollars.

ABER: Absolutely.

BERMAN: So this is what the "Candy Crush" people are hoping for?

ABER: This is what they're hoping for. And what they say is they're looking for games that are challenging and give you a sense of achievement. So sit in a salon. I want.

BERMAN: There's a seat for you right there.

(LAUGHTER)

All right. Maribel, great to have you. Thanks for coming in. Appreciate it.

ABER: Thank you. Yes.

SAMBOLIN: All right. The government shutdown entering its second full day. Coming up, what Congress is doing to solve the problem.

BERMAN: Nothing.

SAMBOLIN: The fury of families furloughed. And the little known congressman many say is behind all of this. That's coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I believe that I'm representing the will of the people, the overwhelming majority say that they don't want the bad effects of this law to be placed in their lap.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: So he may be the man who caused the shutdown. A congressman in office for only eight months making a big name for himself. Meet the man many are calling the man behind this whole thing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When it comes down, people at the gun and fires. Almost immediately he fires.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAMBOLIN: A driver ducking gunfire catches the criminal on camera who tried to run him off the road. We have cookie stories or what.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Holding it like this and it shot the nail end and then bounced and then hit my chest.

BERMAN: So, that's a Minnesota man lucky to be alive after accidentally shooting a nail into his heart. You thought you had problems.

SAMBOLIN: Wow. And you were just talking about hammering your fingers this morning.

ABER: Yes, I think my thumb was hammering --

(CROSSTALK)

SAMBOLIN: But you didn't nail your heart.

BERMAN: I don't have aim that bad.

(LAUGHTER)

SAMBOLIN: Yes, right. All right, so welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Zoraida Sambolin. Happy you're with us this morning.

BERMAN: And I'm John Berman. It is 30 minutes past the hour, that hour would be 4:00 a.m. in the East.

SAMBOLIN: Yes. So there's plenty of heat, right? But there s no light in Washington as the federal government shutdown enters day two.