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New Day

Thrilling Victory for U.S. Against Rival Ghana; Cities Are Falling to ISIS; U.S. Troops Sent to Baghdad

Aired June 17, 2014 - 06:00   ET

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

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Your NEW DAY starts right now.

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo, Kate Bolduan, and Michalea Pereira.

CUOMO: Good morning. Welcome to NEW DAY. It is June 17, 6:00 in the East. And right now we are wishing good luck to our friends in the upper Midwest. Severe storms barreling into the area. The threat may not be over for parts of Wisconsin where you'll see the typical -- the cars overturned, homes flattened.

This is part of the same storm system that caused catastrophic damage in northeastern Nebraska Monday, including these incredible, very rare, almost never seen side by side twisters. One grew out of the other. We'll explain more.

So far two people dead, more than a dozen injured. As always, we caution those numbers are early. One thing is for sure -- more than half the town of Pilger said to be gone. That's where meteorologist Indra Petersons is this morning. Indra, what do you see on the ground there?

INDRA PETERSONS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Chris, I think what made it so rare is that both of these tornadoes were very massive, violent and long lived tornadoes. They were said to be on the ground here for about an hour. As you mentioned, this town of Pilger, Nebraska, typically holds about 350 residents. This morning, 50 percent to 75 percent of this town is completely leveled.

I'm standing here on interstate -- or Highway 15. You can see about six if not seven blocks of this town completely leveled. The structure right here behind me was two stories high. This morning, straight down to the ground. You can actually see a refrigerator right underneath the completely stripped tree. And, unfortunately, this is not an incident that stands alone. Yesterday 32 reports of tornado damage were out there. All of these centered around, of course, Iowa, Nebraska and Wisconsin.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's move, guys.

PETERSONS (voice-over): An incredible outbreak of deadly tornadoes tearing through northeastern Nebraska Monday resulting in a rare and stunning sight.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where has that happened before?

PETERSONS: Storm chasers capturing not one by two massive tornadoes side by side on the ground ripping through the town of Pilger.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's a town, (EXPLETIVE). That's a water tower.

PETERSONS: The twin tornadoes surprising even the storm chasers who shot the video.

BEN MCMILLAN, STORM CHASER: Two possibly three. I've never seen anything like this. This is just very, very dangerous.

REED TIMMER, STORM CHASER: This is definitely the first time I've seen two tornadoes like that that violent on the same storm.

PETERSONS: They will resume searching through the rubble today, but so far no one is unaccounted for. The governor of Nebraska issuing a state of emergency, putting the National Guard on standby. The storm carved a path of destruction 25 to 30 miles long, leveling homes, farms and schools over three counties. The small town of Pilger, the hardest hit.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Whole blocks of houses are destroyed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I got to see something today I wish I never would have seen.

PETERSONS: The funnel clouds spawning (ph) nearly a mile wide, powerfully churning up the ground below.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh look at the little water (INAUDIBLE) in there. That's crazy.

PETERSONS: Tossed around by the sheer force of the winds, estimated up to 200 miles per hour in each tornado. Sirens blaring, warning residents to get underground as the twister barreled through nearby Wisner.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The kind of storms you need to be underground to survive.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Keep moving fast!

PETERSONS: Another storm chaser caught the same twin tornadoes devastating this farm around Wakefield.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They are merging. They are going to merge.

PETERSONS: Before merging into one colossal funnel.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PETERSONS (on camera): This morning, that severe weather threat extends to 44 million of you, that's going to be including in cities like Chicago, Detroit, and even Cleveland. And actually even right now Chicago does have a tornado watch up. What does that mean? You have a threat for severe weather until about 9:00 even this morning. Kate?

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: A lot to watch for this morning. And, as you mentioned earlier, the sun has yet to come up and that's when folks are going to get the real first image of what the destruction looks like that they're dealing with. Indra, thank you so much. We'll be getting back to you throughout the show.

That's look overseas though, now. One win and World Cup fever is sweeping the nation. With the thrust of his head, John Brooks found his way into America's hearts. He scored the game-winner right there in the final minutes of Team USA's opening match against Ghana. Brooks' historic goal gave the U.S. a 2-1 win over the team that booted them from the last two World Cup tournaments. Next up, Portugal on Sunday.

CNN's Lara Baldesarra live in Natal, Brazil, with much more. What a game.

LARA BALDESARRA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, Kate, it was an absolutely stunning and crazy game. I was inside the stadium and there was almost 40,000 people in attendance for this game. The stadium was almost sold out. I would say 90 percent of them were all dressed up in their red, white and blue, pure American supporters. It kind of seemed to give this team that extra little boost that they need for this match.

That was a match that was all about revenge and redemption because, like you said, the USA has lost in the last two World Cups to Ghana, so this was a big deal for them. Plus, this match also set the tone and gave the USA that confidence that they need to then move forward and play two even more difficult teams. Looking forward, Portugal and Germany.

But before we look ahead to those matches, before we get there, this match, it was simply brilliant and it started really right from the get-go.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BALDESARRA (voice-over): The USA couldn't have asked for a better start. Just 29 seconds in and Clint Dempsey opened with a big goal.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One of the earliest goals in World Cup finals history.

BALDESARRA: A shocking beginning, it was the fifth fastest goal in World Cup history. The Team USA crowds in the stadium and back home, they simply erupted.

CROWD: USA! USA!

BALDESARRA: It was that kind of support inside the stadium that really lifted this team right from the national anthem. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just hearing how loud they were and chanting the

whole game. It was just really pushing us on

BALDESARRA: But it didn't go completely the Americans' away. Ghana was no pushover, making a comeback late in the game. And with the game tied at 1-1, it was the 21-year-old John Brooks playing in his first ever World Cup that found the winning goal.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The USA!

BALDESARRA: Before the game he talked about what it's like being on the American national team.

JOHN BROOKS, TEAM USA PLAYER: It was a big dream to come to this team. It's an honor to wear this jersey.

BALDESARRA: It was a win for the USA that was remarkably hard fought.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The commitment, the determination, the fight, the mentality. Those things carried us through.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDESARRA (on camera): Well, you can hear there John Brooks, he kind of has a slight accent. And that's because he's actually German-born and he has an American father. And he actually has really unique tattoos on his arm. He has a big tattoo of Germany on his right elbow and a big tattoo of Illinois, which is where his father is from, on his left elbow so he considers himself a true American-German.

And this also a guy that's just 21 years old. He's so young and he was a really big get, let's call it, for Jurgen Klinsmann and this American squad, because Klinsmann really had to woo him over from Germany so that he didn't play for the German national team, which he was also eligible for, and clearly this was a very good decision as he proved the unlikely hero. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Unbelievable. The up likely hero, but, man, what a good morning to wake up being John Brooks. Lara, thank you so much.

Can you imagine the roar in that stadium when that goal happened?

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: 30 second in, even that. The first goal. That was huge.

CUOMO: That was a record by the way, certainly for America, but it's one of the fastest goals in World Cup history. No joke, and that header was perfect.

(CROSSTALK)

CUOMO: We're getting excited. I love that the guy is from Germany. That's what we're all about in the U.S. -- everybody is from somewhere else.

PEREIRA: That's why the World Cup plays -- and these big international games are always interesting to find out who plays for what and the connection to a different country. I love that.

BOLDUAN: And it is funny, because everyone says the United States, not such a soccer country, blah, blah, blah, but then you see the crowds, the fans, how wild they're going?

CUOMO: It's growing all the time. Although I have to say, people say that the U.S. gets unlucky a lot, especially in the World Cup. They didn't get unlucky yesterday. They got very lucky.

BOLDUAN: They began with low expectations. Let's keep the low expectations going because it's working.

CUOMO: Ghana controlled the ball well over half of the game. We'll see what happens next.

BOLDUAN: We'll talk more about that throughout the show, but let's turn our attention back to the other big story of the morning, Iraq.

Now to the fight against ISIS extremists in that country. President Obama spent last night going over options with his national security team, but, still, no decision on how he plans to proceed. Now, hundreds of American troops are being sent to Baghdad to support the U.S. embassy with more personnel and resources on standby.

Let's get the very latest. Michelle Kosinski is live of course at the White House for us. Michelle, what are you hearing live from the White House this morning?

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi Kate. Well, we've been hearing virtually the same phrase every day: no American boots on the ground. But there is an exception to that. Now we know President Obama has sent approximately 275 U.S. troops to the region, about 175 of whom have already entered Baghdad.

They are there to provide security to the U.S. embassy that has had to be partially evacuated. The other 100 will stay in the region and be brought into Iraq, if necessary, to secure air fields. Keep in mind, more than 500 U.S. Marines are also on standby in the Persian Gulf.

As you mentioned, last night, President Obama met with top White House and national security officials. They were asked over the last few days to provide a range of options. Those options right now are still being weighed. Among them were fascinating options out there, at least that's being talked about and speculated upon, outside of what's going on within the White House, is some possible coordination with Iran on this problem. But the U.S. government is saying, at least, that that's not being discussed at this point militarily with Iran. Chris?

CUOMO: All right, Michelle. Thank you very much for the reporting and perspective. You know what they say? War is old men talking and young men fighting. We know about the political problems and the work cut out for them there, but what's happening on the ground right now? What needs to happen forward?

Lieutenant Rick Francona is here, CNN military analyst, former U.S. military attache in Syria. Syria, a whole other conversation that will play into this. But let's deal with what is in play right now. The most important thing, Rick, to give some sense of is the movement of the violence right now. What are we seeing?

LT. COL. RICK FRANCONA, CNN MILITARY ANALYST, Well, it's rolling towards Baghdad. If you look at the map and you see the cities that have fallen to ISIS already, they come down the two major attack axes to Baghdad. And they're moving very fast.

And it's moving like a snowball. As they go, they gain strength. We thought as they moved closer, they would string themselves out, present a good target. What's actually happening is that they're gaining strength as local militias join with them; the Sunnis that feel oppressed under the Maliki regime are joining with ISIS.

CUOMO: All right, now, there's good news/bad news in all of this. Bad news, as they say, they're moving, they are collecting a lot of U.S. military assets that we have given to the Iraqis and have been fleeing. The good news is that they are being back filled as they move along by Kurds, right? Who ISIS doesn't want to fight the Kurds. The Kurds believe these are some of their lands and they're moving in to places that ISIS has left behind.

FRANCONA: And Kirkuk is the prime example. Kirkuk has been a goal of the Kurds for decades. They believe it's their capital city and they wanted it. And the Iraqi governments, successive Iraqi governments, have always denied it to them. It was handed to them last week as the Iraqi army collapsed and pulled back. The Kurds simply moved in and took what they always wanted.

CUOMO: Now, also fair to say ISIS isn't showing that it can beat the Iraqi military. The Iraqi military to this point hasn't put up much of a fight, have they have?

FRANCONA: Well, they have been up in the north in a typically Sunni area. You've got a Shia army. They really have nothing to fight for. So as they get closer to the Baghdad, you're going to get closer to the Shia area, to their homeland, and you're going to get a better equipped, better trained Iraqi force.

CUOMO: And we're starting to get into more conventional areas where there are roadways -- like we used to say about Rome, all roads lead to Baghdad. And that will become essential in terms of being able to target these guys.

FRANCONA: Well, exactly. These two roads are just that. In between them and off to the side of them, there's really nothing. So they're channeled onto these roads, and if they try and move down these roads, they present a really good target for air power.

CUOMO: Iraqi military basically spotted them on naked yesterday and wound up taking out a convoy of ISIS.

So let's talk about how the U.S. can help. We're hearing no boots on a ground; that's more political than practical at this point. But drones. The saying you guys have is you have to know before you can go. What can the drones do here?

FRANCONA: Well, the drones carry a variety of sensors, so it's important to know what you're going to attack. If the decision is made that we're going to employ U.S. air power, we have to know where we're going to put the bombs. It's real easy to say let's go bomb something, but much harder to decide what you're going to do because one thing we don't want to do is blow up a facility used by civilians or something like that. ISIS is smart. They are going to take over schools, mosques, hospitals.

CUOMO: Fair pushback. The politicians have been saying, ah, once again, no quick action, no quick action. If you went and started bombing in the northeastern part of Iraq without knowing where guys are, what would have been the civilian fallout?

FRANCONA: Oh, you'd kill a bunch of people because ISIS gets right in with the population. And they don't wear uniforms.

CUOMO: so it's easy to say we should have done something fast, we should be bombing. You'd be killing a lot of innocents.

FRANCONA: It's hard to do from the air. You need people on the ground to say these are the good guys and these are the bad guys. And without U.S. troops on the ground, it's going to be very difficult to do that.

CUOMO: All right, so that's always the difference between military perspective and political perspective. You hear the politicians saying they should have done more. They should have done more! But as you're saying, Rick, you have to be careful here.

But now as they get closer to Baghdad, first, the big question. Do you think ISIS can take out Baghdad?

FRANCONA: Not right now. I don't think they have the strength to do it. As they get closer, they're going to be running into what I call the real Iraqi army, the units that are stationed there, that are posted there. I mean, just look at the numbers. I mean, even if they gathered strength on the way down and can pump up their numbers, say, to 20,000, they're going to take on tens of thousands of Iraqi troops, better trained, better equipped with a reason to fight.

CUOMO: Now, unfortunately, a lot of those troops are motivated by the sectarian conflict, Sunni versus Shia. Baghdad is a Shia stronghold. These guys are largely Sunni coming down towards them. Instead of being a national sovereign army that they're taking on, but that's another problem we've created in Iraq.

So it then becomes what do we do? We're going to use the drones. You like the idea of special-ops on the ground to help kind of conduct that surveillance and help provide some guidance, but not fight.

FRANCONA: Right. I call it the Afghan model. We had special forces in there with the Northern Alliance on the ground, calling in air support, providing the target designation for the aircraft above. It was very effective. We can do that again. But once again you've got to make the decision you're going to put American troops out there in harm's way.

CUOMO: Right. Just because we're saying special ops doesn't mean they're not vulnerable. You're going to have boots on the ground, they're always vulnerable.

So the last concern right now, the embassy in Baghdad. They're bringing in marines. No tougher fighting men and women than they. They're going to be there, but the idea of when do you evacuate? Should it be done already? Are they going to be able to do it quickly enough? What's your sense?

FRANCONA: Well, they're in the process of drawing down the embassy, so by the time decision is made to evacuate the embassy, there will be very few people there, only the essential. A lot of people have been moved to Jordan, to other, to safer areas of Iraq, so there will be less numbers. And when the decision is made, they will do it before they are facing an imminent threat.

And I don't say that Baghdad is under imminent threat right now, so I don't see the evacuation of the embassy in the next day or so.

CUOMO: It's interesting that part of the threat is articulated as, well, they are not going to overtake Baghdad, this ISIS militia. But they can make life tough there. You know, bombs and stuff like that, like that isn't going on right now? That's the reality anyway.

FRANCONA: It's been going on -- it's been going on for years. It's the Sunni/Shia divide again. Inside the city of Baghdad, you actually find neighborhoods that are mixed, and you don't see this Sunni/Shia animosity that we see in the rest of the country. The rest of the country can be broken down into enclaves. Baghdad, different story.

CUOMO: Right. And now, there's a whole political side to this as well about why the Sunnis are joining ISIS and why the military in Iraq is in such disarray. We're going to get to that discussion later this morning because it goes to the accountability of U.S. political decisions.

But that was not your problem, Rick Francona. Thank you very much for the perspective this morning.

This is just one of the stories we're going to follow as you start your NEW DAY.

There's some other big headlines as well. Let's get right over to Mick for that.

PEREIRA: All right. Chris, that's so true. Let's take a look at those headlines right now. New details emerging on General Motors newest recall, 3.4 million additional vehicles called back over a faulty ignition switch.

The problem is different from an earlier ignition defect led to 13 deaths, which the company knew about for over a decade before issuing a recall in February. But this morning, G.M. says the same engineer signed off on both designs. Monday's recall brings G.M.'s total to a staggering 20 million vehicles recalled this year.

Senators from both parties demanding answers from the IRS. The agency's commissioner, John Koskinen, will testify before two House committees next week after disclosing the IRS lost thousands of e- mails sought by investigators. E-mails belonged to former manager Lois Lerner, who is accused of targeting Tea Party and other group's tax-exemption applications. The IRS claims the e-mails were destroyed when Lerner's hard drive crashed back in 2011.

A suspect has now been arrested in a shooting death of a priest in Phoenix. Garry -- this man, Garry Moran, was identified by DNA evidence found at the scene and admitted to involvement in that crime. Father Kenneth Walker just 29 years old, was shot to death, and 56- year-old Father Joseph Terra were severely beaten with a metal rod.

Police call it a burglary gone bad.

A new CNN/ORC poll shows that the majority of Americans think Hillary Clinton would win the Democratic nomination for president if she runs in 2016. Look at that, 78 percent believe it's somewhat to very likely that she'd top the ticket, compared to only 21 percent who'd think she'd lose, and if she did win the Democratic nomination, 67 percent polled said she'd win the White House. Thirty-one percent saying it's not likely she'd be the next president.

I want to tell you that tonight, Christiane Amanpour is going to host CNN's global town hall with Hillary Clinton. That's happening live at 5:00 p.m. Eastern and then, again, at 9:00 p.m. right here again on CNN.

And it wasn't pretty, oh, no, it wasn't. But New York Mayor Bill de Blasio appearing on "Jimmy Kimmel Live" to make good on that Stanley Cup wager after who, the L.A. Kings beat, what team was that again, the Rangers? Yes, that's what happened. De Blasio sang a round of Randy Newman's iconic love song to the City of Angels, "I Love L.A."

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: He's hating every minute of this.

CUOMO: No, he isn't, he's a politician, loving the attention.

PEREIRA: Kimmel apparently told de Blasio looked like a counselor at the worst summer camp ever.

Kate, maybe you can help out with this because I feel like there might be -- isn't there something in the offing here, my friend? My Rangers --

BOLDUAN: What did you guys decide?

CUOMO: You know what? This is Mickey's mistake. Mickey comes strong with wanting to wager but she doesn't follow in what she actually wants.

BOLDUAN: Michaela Pereira -- CUOMO: The Canada/U.S. thing also.

PEREIRA: Oh, no, my friend.

CUOMO: What did you ask for?

PEREIRA: For the U.S./Canada wager?

BOLDUAN: With the gloves.

CUOMO: Yes, the glove thing.

PEREIRA: Not on TV.

BOLDUAN: I've now decided I'll take part in this. Seems to be between these two, which is great. I will be the arbiter of justice.

CUOMO: You cleverly side-stepped your affiliation when the U.S. whenever it's in doubt of losing. You become a less U.S.

BOLDUAN: I thought I was the Canadian one. Oh, no. Never mind.

CUOMO: That's all right.

But, you know, I own it, and good for de Blasio doing it, you know?

PEREIRA: That was really fun.

BOLDUAN: That was very funny. Why wouldn't Andrew Cuomo do something?

CUOMO: I don't know. He can't sing. You don't want to see that. I'll tell you that right now. Not enough cute kids in the world to save Andrew if he sings.

BOLDUAN: Sorry, Governor, had to bring you into it.

All right. Let's take a break.

Coming up next on NEW DAY, a Nebraska town is nearly wiped out by a pair of deadly -- just look at this video. These deadly, destructive videos, images of the twin tornadoes both amazing and terrifying. We're going to talk to storm chasers who were there and who helped save some residents hit by the twisters.

CUOMO: And it's time to be an American, and we're talking about the World Cup. Our hero John Brooks leading the U.S. to a win over Ghana in their opening match. So, what's next? How far can team USA go? We've got experts here to tell us.

BOLDUAN: The prognosticators of the prognosticators.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: The band I Imagine Dragons, but we need not imagine because it is reality. Welcome back to NEW DAY. That was the incredible 86th minute header --

PEREIRA: Oh, man.

CUOMO: -- that gave team USA a win over arch rival Ghana in the world cup, 2-1. Scored by 21-year-old John Brooks, the man of the match. Hard fought, really Ghana was largely dominant in every category that mattered except score.

Team USA now faces Portugal Sunday. They have a lot of injuries. You saw that guy grabbing a hamstring.

PEREIRA: You got it in the chin.

CUOMO: So, let break it down. We have Greg Lalas, retired professional soccer player, editor-in-chief of MLSSoccer.com, you know, getting hit in the smoosh is expected in a game like this. The hamstring could be a big problem, could be a big problem. But you said you were 50/50 yesterday. It was a huge game, they had to win it and they did.

GREG LALAS, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF OF MLSSOCCER.COM: Yes, they did. I mean, I think when we look back at this game, you're going to say great result, not a great performance in the end. But ultimately you're at the world cup and the result is all that matters in this case. You get your three point, you build up your confidence and get a couple of goals, you have some new stars arrive on the scene like John Brooks and that's all you really need.

PEREIRA: Like making sausage, as long as the outcome is good, right?

LALAS: It's kind of like making sausage.

BOLDUAN: A little bit like that.

So, Greg, yesterday you said the two star players you were prognosticating would be Clint Dempsey.

LALAS: Yes.

BOLDUAN: And Michael Bradley.

You were 1 for 2.

(CROSSTALK)

CUOMO: Bradley had a good game.

LALAS: I want to parse this a little bit, because what we said was, who are we going to talk about, right? And so, Clint Dempsey, of course, scores an amazing goal in 29 seconds to get a goal and gets the U.S. on the scoreboard to lift everybody up and makes them feel like they can get this done. Michael Bradley, arguably who is the best player the United States has right now, he didn't have a great game. So, we're talking about him as the U.S. gets this result despite their best player not playing his usual game.

CUOMO: Yes. You made an interesting point. Watching it, I said, boy, the Ghana guys are like running all over them, getting tons of shots on goal, but you were explaining that this was about the U.S. defense figuring out how to get small and tight, almost like a prevent "D" in football because they knew they would take a lot of attacks and you believe they got the job done.

LALAS: Yes, especially after that early goal. I don't think the U.S. expected to get that early goal and in some ways they weren't sure what to do next in that case and naturally when you get that other goal the other people will come at you hard.

BOLDUAN: Talk about john brooks.

LALAS: You love this guy, don't you?

BOLDUAN: Love this story.

LALAS: An amazing story. Twenty-one-year old kid born in Germany to an American serviceman over there, and here's a guy who played for the U.S. youth team and the under 20 team a little bit when he came on the radar and you said is he going to play for Germany or the United States. He had to make a decision.

A little German coach for the United States, a little bit of cajoling and he's there and gets an amazing came. Didn't even start the game, came on as a sub.

PEREIRA: There are so many aspects we can talk about. I want to look like the pike here a little bit because they do face Portugal. Portugal coming off a loss to Germany so they might be a little bruised a little bit, but you talked about those injuries. How are you feeling about this because this was soccer juggernaut they are now facing?

LALAS: Yes. It's a wounded dog right now, as a colleague of mine put it, because you can either say you go down and put this dog out of its misery as soon as possible in this came or you get a dog that's going to fight back really, really hard so they have two major injuries in their game against Germany and also a red card for this incredibly insane head-butt that this guy did. So he'll be missing those games, so they will be, you know -- they won't have all their best players out there, Portugal won't, so the U.S. has an advantage and at the same time their backs are against the wall so they could come very, very hard against the Americans.

CUOMO: The U.S. has to win also though coming into this. I mean, they need to build on this momentum, otherwise it will just feed this feeling that they are not --

LALAS: Exactly.

BOLDUAN: "The New York Times" described it began with the magical, it ended with the miraculous. LALAS: That's why they are "The New York Times." That's why they get

paid the big bucks to write things like that. So, do they need to get a win? If you look at the math they probably don't but I agree. This is one where you need to step on the accelerator now and really go after this one.

BOLDUAN: We'll be talking about john brooks again. Is he now going to be in the starting lineup, do you think?

LALAS: I think arguably he will, not necessarily because of the way he played because the guy he came in for, Matt Besler (ph) ended up getting a hamstring injury. We don't know what his status is at this point.

CUOMO: Tough when you hurt the hamstrings, tough to come back.

BOLDUAN: It's the way you always claim it --

CUOMO: Hamstring is a problem. Mr. Lalas, thank you very much. Look forward to having you back.

BOLDUAN: Great to see you again.,

Coming up next NEW DAY, on the trail of twin tornadoes. Look at this. This left two people dead and a Nebraska town in shambles. Incredible images of the violence storms. We're going to be talking to two storm chasers who were right in the middle of it all who helped rescue a family.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)