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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Accused Cop Killer Captured, Manhunt Ends; Defying Quarantine; Ferguson Police Chief: I'm Not Resigning
Aired October 31, 2014 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Captured alive. Accused cop killer Eric Matthew Frein finally arrested nearly 50 days into a nationwide manhunt, hiding in the woods, taunting investigators. How he was finally taken down, ahead.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Defying quarantine. A nurse returned from treating Ebola patients in West Africa, refusing to stay inside the house, ignoring pleas from state officials. The question this morning is what will Kaci Hickox do next and what will the consequences be?
ROMANS: Ferguson's top cop on the record about report he's being forced to resign, following the police shooting of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown, blasting his critics and the federal investigation launched by Attorney General Eric Holder.
Good morning. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.
BERMAN: And I'm John Berman. It is Friday..
ROMANS: Say it again.
BERMAN: Happy Friday. It's October 31st. Happy Halloween. It is 4:00 a.m. in the East.
We do have breaking news overnight. Suspected cop killer Eric Frein now faces the death penalty. This after a dramatic seven-week game of cat-and-mouse deep in the woods of Northeast Pennsylvania. He was captured, armed, late Thursday, in an abandoned airfield.
Frein is expected to be arraigned this morning. Authorities say the charges against him include first degree murder and two counts of possessing weapons of mass destruction. Those weapons, pipe bombs found in a hiding place.
Let's get the latest details now from CNN's Susan Candiotti.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: John and Christine, after escaping capture just shy of seven weeks, suspected cop killer Eric Frein runs out of luck and out of time. Without one shot fired, he is taken down by U.S. Marshals who spots Frein before he even knew eyes were on him. Sources say, helped by intelligence, a special ops team clearing a
previously searched area spots him walking across an airstrip at an abandoned airport between Henryville and Tannersville, Pennsylvania. His latest hiding place, about 40 miles from the Pennsylvania state police barracks where Frein is accused of shooting two troopers, killing one of them.
Marshals getting him on the ground recovering at least two weapons, a rifle and a pistol. The self-style survivalist is put in a car, his nose appears to be injured. Late Thursday night, he is printed and booked and photographed and jailed pending his first court appearance. Pennsylvania's Governor Tom Corbett weighs in on the capture.
GOV. TOM CORBETT (R), PENNSYLVANIA: We will not rest until his capture was made. And I'm so please to be able to say that tonight, we have made that major step that has to be taken down the path to justice. He was placed under arrest and handcuffed with the handcuffs of Corporal Dickson, which I think is very appropriate.
CANDIOTTI: While Frein was on the run, life far from normal. Even Halloween canceled to keep kids out of harm's way. Now, that's back on, one official says Frein's arrest has made him ecstatic -- John and Christine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: All right. Susan Candiotti, thank you for that, Susan.
New developments this morning in the tense standoff between nurse Kaci Hickox and the state of Maine. Governor Paula LePage telling ABC News he'll drop demands that the Doctors Without Borders volunteer nurse remain in quarantine for 21 days, he will drop that demand if she will agree to an Ebola blood tests. LePage telling other reporters that negotiations with Hickox have failed.
Meanwhile, Hickox and her boyfriend, Ted Wilbur, in effect, testing the state's authority to keep her confined to her home with a bike ride through the woods.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. PAUL LEPAGE (R), MAINE: Her behavior is really riling a lot of people up. And, you know, I can only do what I can do. And we are trying to protect her, but she is not acting as smart as she probably should. Let's put it this way, I am going to use the legal provisions to the fullest extent that the law allows me and I just hope that she recognizes that.
TED WILBUR, KACI HICKOX'S BOYFRIEND: We did not go into the grocery store. We are not trying to get anyone sick. We're -- we don't believe that we can get anyone sick and we are not trying to put anyone at risk. So, we're not trying to push any limits here. We're members of this community too and we want to make everyone feel comfortable.
(END VIDEO CLIP) ROMANS: That's her boyfriend, Ted Wilbur, who is a nursing student. He says he has been affected with quarantined as well. He says he has been barred from going on campus to class or even to drop off his homework.
BERMAN: This morning, the Pentagon is racing to prepare military hospitals in the U.S. to care for troops that could possibly catch Ebola during deployment to West Africa. It is unclear how many facilities are prepared to treat Ebola patients, which requires an elaborate setup.
Walter Reed Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, recently conducted preparation exercises. Some 4,000 troops are set to help fight the disease. About a quarter of them are there already.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel says progress is being made.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHUCK HAGEL, DEFENSE SECRETARY: About 1,100 DOD personnel have deployed to West Africa. And they're making progress despite difficult weather conditions and rough terrain. They are making a difference in Liberia with construction of up to 17 Ebola treatment units, the first of which will be completed over the weekend.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: Now, the Pentagon is still standing by decision to quarantine all troops for 21 days after leaving West Africa, despite a push against quarantines for civilian medical workers from the White House.
ROMANS: There's word this morning that Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has privately urged the White House to take a, quote, "sharper view of Syria's Assad regime. A senior U.S. official tells CNN Hagel wrote a blunt internal memo to national security advisor, Susan Rice, earlier this month. In that memo, he expressed concern about the administration's approach to Syria.
At a Pentagon news briefing Thursday, Hagel declined to comment on the memo, but he admitted that Assad derides benefit from coalition airstrikes on ISIS militants. He said that's one of the complexities of operating in the region.
In Syria, 10 Iraqi Kurdish fighters enter Kobani on Thursday. They are the first of about 150 Peshmerga troops expected to join the battle to save that city from ISIS.
BERMAN: New this morning, the former Navy SEAL who wrote a bestseller about the raid that killed Osama bin Laden is reportedly under investigation for possibly disclosing classified material. In the book, "No Easy Day", Matt Bissonette says he was one of the six members who shot Osama bin Laden. His attorney tells "The New York Times" the investigation is focused on revelations in the book, but others say the government is more interested in information he shared during paid speeches.
ROMANS: All right. Seven minutes past the hour. Time for an early start on your money this Friday.
It looks like it's going to be a great day for stocks. Asian shares -- look at Tokyo stocks --
BERMAN: Wow!
ROMANS: -- up almost 5 percent today. The Bank of Japan made a surprise announcement. It is expanding stimulus measures. Looks like European stocks will follow Asia's lead.
Here in the U.S., stock futures are much higher today. Look at the Dow. Dow futures up 176 points. That is about 1 percent before the opening bell.
Stocks had a big day yesterday. The Dow added 221 points, 1.3 percent. Stocks climbed on corporate earnings and solid economic growth.
You know, October started off rocky. Stocks have recovered their losses and then some.
The Dow and S&P 500 are up 1 percent. The NASDAQ is up more, and it looks like stocks would climb higher today.
BERMAN: Refresh my memory. When stocks are doing very, very badly, when nerves were all rattled, what was your advice?
ROMANS: I said don't freak out. And also, I didn't -- I was concerned we wouldn't have a full 10 percent correction. You know, something that you need to refresh the stock market, and we didn't. The stock market went down 7 percent from the recent peak and immediately found lots of buyers.
BERMAN: Everyone is calling this the Romans bounce at this point.
ROMANS: No, they're not. But I'll take that.
BERMAN: Everyone awake in the room.
(CROSSTALK)
ROMANS: Right about the stock market, I want you to bring everybody, bring to everyone's attention.
BERMAN: Eight minutes after the hour right now.
Ferguson's police chief is firing back at reports that his department is disbanding and he is blasting the federal investigation launched during the shooting of unarmed teenager Michael Brown. We're going to tell you the criticism he has for the Obama administration, coming up.
ROMANS: Plus, a deadly plane crash at a Kansas airport. What we are learning about that this morning, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BERMAN: Reports of his impending resignation had been exaggerated, that from the embattled police chief of Ferguson, Missouri, Thomas Jackson. Responding to CNN's reporting that he's in negotiations to step aside, Jackson told our Jason Carroll in an exclusive interview, he is staying despite continued unrest months after Michael Brown's shooting.
Jackson also lashed at Attorney General Eric Holder saying he is uninformed about the situation in Ferguson.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Is there anger towards the attorney general?
THOMAS JACKSON, FERGUSON POLICE CHIEF: No, I'm just confused.
CARROLL: Frustration?
JACKSON: A little frustration that he did come in town. He didn't meet with anybody from the city, nobody from the police department or the city or our neighborhood associations and he drew conclusions.
He says he has an investigation going on right now, so he doesn't want to comment on the investigation. However, he has drawn conclusion that wholesale change needs to be made. So, do we -- when you say wholesale, do we get rid of the neighborhood associations? Or do we stop our SRO program? Do we take the police out of the schools? Do we quit teaching DARE? Do we quit sending police officers on parks program trips?
We have a lot of good stuff going on. So, I think he needs to be more specific.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Prosecutors say there is no evidence supporting claims of leaks by the grand jury, deciding whether to indict Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson for the Michael Brown shooting.
BERMAN: The prime suspect in Hannah Graham's disappearance will face a judge this morning. Jesse Matthew has been charged with rape in the case of a 26-year-old woman back in 2005. Matthew will appear for the hearing through video from a jail where he is being held in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Matthew is scheduled for a hearing in December in connection with Hannah Graham's disappearance and death.
ROMANS: A Massachusetts judge has rejected Aaron Hernandez's request to move his murder trial elsewhere. The former New England Patriot's tight end is accused of gunning down football player Odin Lloyd last year. Hernandez's lawyer urged the judge to move that trial out of Bristol County. He claims his client can't get a fair trial because of the extensive media coverage there. BERMAN: NTSB investigators are on the scene of a small plane crash in
Wichita, Kansas. The pilot reported losing power in one of the two engines just after takeoff. The plane crashed into the roof of a pilot training building near that Wichita airport, killing the pilot and three people inside the building. Four people are still unaccounted for.
ROMANS: The lava flow on Hawaii's big island has slowed, but it is still advancing on homes and a major access road in the small village of Pahoa. Nearly 100 Hawaii National Guard troops there. They're helping with the security. That river of lava from Kilauea, the Kilauea volcano, is making a slow-motion trek toward Pahoa since June.
BERMAN: The countdown is on. The midterms just four days away. And President Obama making a final push on the trail. He spoke to a packed crowd in Portland, Maine, at a rally for gubernatorial candidate Mike Michaud, who's in a very close race with the Republican Governor Paul LePage. We saw him dealing with the Ebola situation there.
ROMANS: And President Obama won't be making a stop in Kentucky. Former President Bill Clinton was on hand in Louisville, campaigning for Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes. The Senate Democrat candidate rallying support. She's facing off the Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.
Hillary Clinton will campaign with Grimes in Lexington and Northern Kentucky on Saturday. That one is tight, tight, tight. Too close to call.
BERMAN: In Louisiana, Republicans are calling for apology from Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu, after comments that she made about race. Landrieu told NBC News that President Obama's low approval ratings in the South are partly tied to race, saying the South, quote, "has not always been the friendly place for African-Americans."
ROMANS: And New Jersey Governor Chris Christie picking up some frequent flier miles as he campaigns for Republicans across the country. He'll be stumping for candidates in Arkansas, Kansas and Wisconsin today, following stops Thursday in Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Iowa. That was the second trip to Iowa this week for Christie as he keeps the door open to a possible 2016 presidential run.
BERMAN: Maybe he's tracing your roots -- tracing Christine Romans' roots. He's going to Iowa. He was so into the series. He had to see where you grew up.
ROMANS: A lot of people asking me does Christie's form -- you know, he called out this reporter on the campaign trail -- does Christie's form of sort of brash confrontation work in Iowa? Iowa nice. It's interesting, a lot of Republicans don't think Christie's kind of brand, you know --
(CROSSTALK)
BERMAN: Confrontational politics.
ROMANS: Right, confrontation. It doesn't really work there. But he's been there twice. So, we'll see.
BERMAN: He'll be there a lot more.
All right. Sixteen minutes after the hour.
I want to get an early look at our weather now with Chad Myers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: And a very good early morning to you.
Temperatures are going to be nice for a lot of trick-or-treating tonight. Now, there maybe the occasional rain slicker as a Halloween costume across the Upper Midwest or across parts of the Great Lakes. But this is not as bad as I have seen for some Halloween nights.
Some scattered rain showers across parts of the west. And I'll tell you what, California will take that rainfall as much as they can get. It has been obviously so dry out there.
Fifty-six in New York City the high today, 60 in D.C. Chicago, you only get to 42. So, yes, in the afternoon and evening hours, it will be colder than that.
But tomorrow's forecast is even colder as that cold front goes all the way down even into the Gulf of Mexico. So, cold air across parts of Georgia, even to North Florida as well. And rain showers continue with some snow in the Mountain West.
So, here are the highs for tomorrow. Chicago, 46. Memphis, 52. But those morning lows will be down in the 30s in all of the cities.
Guys, back to you. Happy Halloween.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: Chad --
BERMAN: All right, Chad. Thanks for nothing.
All right. Two shocking developments in the world of sports. The Cleveland Cavaliers and the New York Knicks won, and it all happened in the same game. This was LeBron James' first game back as a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers, and they fell to the hapless Knicks, 95- 90. This was supposed to be an emotional homecoming, but James struggled throughout, scoring just 17 points, committing eight turnovers. Afterwards, James said it was a special night, but he is glad it is over.
There's Carmelo Anthony who, you know, who was picked up in the same draft as LeBron James. Carmelo had a great night. LeBron, not so much. I suspect that at some point the Cavaliers will win a game. That's
Kevin Love. Also a pickup by the Cavaliers hitting the three right there.
ROMANS: All right. Welcome back to Cleveland, LeBron James.
Eighteen minutes past the hour.
Tensions rising in Israel this morning. Violence closing a holy site. The country's tension with the U.S., also on the rocks. We are live with what is happening in the country, how John Kerry is getting involved, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BERMAN: The government of Burkina Faso has collapsed amid huge protests in the West African nation. This was very violent. The military is now believed to be in control after demonstrators vented their anger at longtime President Blaise Compaore after he announced he plans to extend his already 27-year term in office.
Parliament was set on fire, the parliament was set on fire, along with the homes of the president's family members. Still, that president is vowing to remain in office and says he will hold talks with the opposition to end the crisis.
ROMANS: Tensions at a boiling point this morning in Jerusalem. This after Israel announced it is reopening access to the Temple Mount for some. Officials closed the contested site after the attempted assassination of a controversial rabbi.
Secretary of State John Kerry trying to defuse these tensions with Israel of a different sort this morning. Kerry condemning a comment from an American official to "The Atlantic" magazine. The anonymous remark to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with the vulgarity meaning coward.
BERMAN: Yes, it rhymes with chicken spit.
ROMANS: Thank you, John.
Here's to sort out the tensions and conflict is international correspondent Erin McLaughlin live in Jerusalem.
Erin, what's the latest?
ERIN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Christine.
Well, despite heavy rain, worshippers have been steadily arriving here at the Damascus gate to the old city in East Jerusalem. They have been arriving behind me heavy police presence. Police have set up barricades. They are checking identification of anyone wanting to enter the old city today.
As you mentioned, the noble sanctuary or the Temple Mount is open, but under restrictions. Only men over the age of 50 and all women are being allowed inside to pray. It's a restriction that has been put in place in the past, but to the anger of many Muslims.
And yesterday, the site was closed for the first time in 14 years to all worshippers. The decision that the spokesperson for the Palestinian president calls a declaration of war, but it is a decision that Israeli police say was taken based on intelligence and security assessment following the assassination attempt of the far right Rabbi Yehuda Glick -- Christine.
ROMANS: All right. Erin McLaughlin for us this morning, live in Jerusalem -- thank you, Erin.
BERMAN: Yes, on edge there this morning for sure.
Twenty-four minutes after the hour.
A six-week nationwide manhunt for accused cop killer is finally over. Survivalist Eric Frein behind bars this morning, caught after hiding in the woods for nearly 50 days. How they finally caught him. That's ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BERMAN: Breaking overnight: one of America's most wanted captured. Accused cop killer Eric Frein finally caught, hiding from police in the woods for nearly 50 days. We'll tell you how they managed to take him in and what charges he is now facing this morning. That's ahead.
ROMANS: Defying quarantine, now on collision course with her governor. Nurse Kaci Hickox refusing to stay at home after returning from treating Ebola patients in West Africa. State officials are fuming and they're threatening to take action.
BERMAN: Ferguson's police chief on record, refuting reports that his department is about to be disbanded after the Michael Brown shooting controversy. But that is not all he had to say. A very harsh words for the Obama is administration's criticism of what went on in Ferguson.
ROMANS: Harsh words for Attorney General Eric Holder.
BERMAN: All right.
ROMANS: Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.
BERMAN: And I'm John Berman. It is 29 minutes after the hour.
ROMANS: Let's begin with breaking news of suspect cop killer Eric Frein facing the death penalty this morning, following his capture in Northeast Pennsylvania late Thursday afternoon. Now, Frein expected to be arraigned this morning. Authorities say the charges against him include first-degree murder, two counts of possessing weapons of mass destruction. That's a reference to two pipe bombs found in Frein's hiding place at an abandoned airfield.
We get more details this morning from our Susan Candiotti.
