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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Accused Cop-Killer Captured; Defying Quarantine; Ferguson Police Chief: I'm Not Resigning; LeBron's Emotional Return to Cleveland
Aired October 31, 2014 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN BERMAN, 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. We will tell you how and where he was finally caught. We are live.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, 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, what will Kaci Hickox do next and what consequences does she face?
BERMAN: Ferguson's police chief on the record about reports that he is being forced to resign. It's, of course, following the police shooting of unarmed teenager Michael Brown. The chief now blasting critics and federal investigation launched by Attorney General Eric Holder. Some harsh words, folks.
ROMANS: Yes.
BERMAN: All right. Good morning, everyone. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm John Berman.
ROMANS: And I'm Christine Romans. It is Friday, October 31st. It's 5:00 a.m. in the East. Happy Halloween, everybody.
We have breaking news overnight. Suspected cop killer Eric Frein facing the death penalty following his capture in northeast Pennsylvania.
Late Thursday afternoon, authorities say the charges against Frein include first-degree murder and 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. He is expected to be arraigned in a few hours in a county courthouse in Milford, Pennsylvania.
That is where CNN national correspondent Miguel Marquez is standing by.
Good morning, Miguel. What is the latest?
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is a guy who was found before sundown yesterday. He gave up because he was surprised, say officials. It was a tactical team, special operations team from the U.S. Marshals, about a 13-member team that was in the area. It was an area that they had searched before, not necessarily that team, but others searched before and going back through there.
It appears they had some sort of intelligence, whether that was human intelligence or people telling them they had seen Frein or technology in the area that led them to go back to that area. This was an abandoned airfield next to an abandoned resort in the Pocono Mountains.
The governor and commissioner of the state police spoke at a press conference last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FRANK NOONAN, COMMISSIONER: Eric Frein had a mission, and that was to attack law enforcement. If he got out of those woods, we were very concerned that he would then kill other law enforcement. And if not them, civilians. That's why we had to keep the pressure on him.
GOV. TOM CORBETT (R), PENNSYLVANIA: He was placed under arrest and handcuffed with the handcuffs of Corporal Dickson, which I think is very appropriate.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MARQUEZ: Now, Corporal Byron Dickson was killed on September 12th by Frein in a frightening, chilling note that he left and investigators found during his search. They discovered that he basically hunted these police officers down and killed them. It was Bryon Dickson's handcuffs that they cuffed Frein with last night. Once they caught him, and they put him in Bryon Dickson's squad car to take him to a holding cell.
We expect later today he will have the initial appearance at the courthouse, an incredible sense of relief in the area.
Christine, John, back to you.
ROMANS: I think it just shows, Miguel, how just personal this has become for those law enforcement officers who spent the last seven weeks trying to find him without any further bloodshed. Miguel Marquez, thank you for that.
BERMAN: All right. There are new tensions this morning in the tense standoff between nurse Kaci Hickox and the state of Maine. The governor of Maine, Paul LePage, tells ABC News that he will drop the demand that the volunteer nurse remain in quarantine for 21 days if she will agree to an Ebola blood test. LePage says negotiations with Hickox have failed. Hickox and her boyfriend, Ted Wilbur, seem to be testing the authority to be confined to their home. They took a dramatic 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)
BERMAN: That was the boyfriend of Kaci Hickox, Ted Wilbur. He is a nursing student. He says he feels like he has been effectively quarantined as well. He says right now, he's barred from campus or class or even to drop off homework.
ROMANS: 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)
ROMANS: The Pentagon is standing by a decision to quarantine all troops for 21 days after leaving West Africa, despite a general push against quarantines from the White House.
BERMAN: There's word this morning that Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has privately urged the White House to take a, quote, "sharper view" of the Assad regime in Syria. 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, the defense secretary declined to comment on the memo, but he admitted that Assad, quote, "does deride some benefit from coalition airstrikes on ISIS militants." Hagel says that's one of the complexities of operating in that region.
As for the battle in Syria, 10 Iraqi Kurdish fighters have now entered Kobani. They are the first of about 150 Peshmerga troops expected to join the battle to save that city from ISIS.
So, what is the latest on that battle?
Let's go straight to the border there with Kobani just a short distance away. Our Nick Paton Walsh is there for us this morning.
Good morning, Nick.
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: John, we are hearing from inside Kobani, that's a distance from where I'm standing here, that those 10 Peshmerga are in fact scouting inside the area to see what the best places to be -- could be to place the heavy weapons that would be used to defend Kobani when those extra Kurdish Peshmerga reinforcements arrive. Ten in there scouting out, 150 still in Turkey with 30 plus heavy weapons vehicles.
The question is, how do they enter? And what we heard last night as the sun went down and the air strikes going in and heard explosions, a lot of intense fighting ongoing today we understand, too, and that seems to be near the official border crossing. So, you could guess from that that ISIS is moving toward that to obstruct fighting. We hear from the sources inside that perhaps they are now looking to the west to be the place they might put the Peshmerga into Kobani from.
So, a lot of complications in the field. The key question is how quickly can they get reinforcements in?
You know, Kobani becoming symbolic in so many ways with the groups fighting and what they wish to achieve out of the Syrian civil war. One element as you mentioned earlier that isn't in there is the Assad regime who, remember, only a year ago accused of using chemical weapons against their own people on a mass scale. As Chuck Hagel did point out, perhaps looking at the air power against ISIS and the complications that's bringing for their other enemies, the Syrian rebels and deriving some comfort from that -- John.
BERMAN: All right. Nick Paton Walsh for us just over the border in Turkey, thanks so much, Nick.
New this morning, the former Navy SEAL who wrote a bestselling book about the raid that killed Osama bin Laden is reportedly under criminal investigation for possibly disclosing classified material. Now, in the book, "No Easy Day", Matt Bissonette says he was one of the SEAL Team 6 members who shot Osama bin Laden. His attorney tells "The New York Times" the investigation is focused on revelations in the book. But other says the government is more interested in the information he has been sharing during paid speeches.
A lot of the SEALs are upset because they say "Zero Dark Thirty", the people who did that film, had access to a whole bunch of people and information, why can't they go out and make money off it, too.
ROMANS: All right. Eight minutes past the hour.
Time for an early start on your money and it looks like it's going to be a good start for money today. Asian stocks very, very strong this morning. Japan's benchmark index up almost 5 percent. The Bank of Japan made the surprise announcement to expand stimulus measures.
European stocks higher. So are U.S. stock futures. Dow futures up 170 points right now.
That's on top of yesterday. Yesterday, the Dow added 221 points. Stocks climbing on strong corporate earnings, also solid economic growth. We learned yesterday the GDP is 3.5 percent.
October started out rough, but stocks have recovered all the losses and then some. The Dow and S&P are up about 1 percent. NASDAQ is up even more. Stocks could climb for the last day of October.
BERMAN: Hope so.
ROMANS: Ferguson's police chief firing back at reports this morning that his department is disbanding. Blasting the federal investigation launched following the shooting of unarmed teen Michael Brown. The criticism he has this morning for the Obama administration, sharp criticism.
BERMAN: Plus, a deadly plane crash at a Kansas airport. We will tell you what we are learning this morning next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BERMAN: New this morning, the police chief in Ferguson, Missouri, says he is not quitting. Thomas Jackson is responding to CNN's reporting that he is in negotiations to step aside.
But he told our Jason Carroll in an exclusive interview that he is staying put. This despite continued unrest months after the Michael Brown shooting.
The chief lashed out 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)
BERMAN: In separate front, prosecutors in the area say there is no evidence that supports the claims that the grand jury has been leaking what's going on inside their proceedings about whether they will or will not decide to indict Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson for the shooting of Michael Brown.
ROMANS: The prime suspect in Hannah Graham's disappearance will face a judge. Jesse Matthew has been charged with a rape of a woman in 2005. Jesse Matthew has been charged in the rape of a 26-year-old woman back in 2005. Matthew will appear for the hearing through video from the jail where he's being held in Charlottesville, Virginia. Matthew is scheduled for a hearing in December in connection with Hannah Graham's disappearance and death.
BERMAN: 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 shooting football player Odin Lloyd last year. The lawyer for Hernandez urged the judge to move that trial out of Bristol County where he claims his client cannot get a fair trial because of the extensive media coverage there.
ROMANS: NTSB investigators are on the scene of a small plane crash in Wichita, Kansas. The pilot of this small plane reported losing power in one of the two engines just after takeoff. The plane hit a roof of a pilot training building near that Wichita airport. It killed the pilot and three people inside the building. Four people are still unaccounted for this morning.
BERMAN: 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. You can't do anything about the lava. The river of lava from Kilauea, the Kilauea volcano, has been making a slow-motion trek toward Pahoa since June.
ROMANS: All right. Are you ready for the midterms, folks?
BERMAN: Oh, yes.
ROMANS: I'm ready for the midterms, and it's jus days away. The president is making one final push. The president spoke to a packed crowd in Portland, Maine at a rally for Democratic Gubernatorial candidate Mike Michaud. He's in a close race with Republican Governor Paul LePage.
BERMAN: While the president will not be going to Kentucky, former President Bill Clinton is. He was on hand in Louisville campaigning for Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes. She is the Senate Democratic candidate there, or Democratic candidate for Senate there, and she is rallying supporter, trying to as she faces off with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will campaign with Grimes in Lexington and Northern Kentucky on Saturday.
ROMANS: How tight is that race?
BERMAN: Not as tight -- tight-ish. I mean, Republicans are not saying they have it won yet. Democrats are still saying they have a chance.
ROMANS: All right. In Louisiana, Republicans are calling for an apology from Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu after comments 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 friendliest place for African- Americans".
BERMAN: This race will likely go to a runoff. Now, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie picking up some frequent flyer miles as he campaigns for Republicans across the country. He will be stumping for candidates in Arkansas, Kansas and Wisconsin today, that follow stops Thursday in Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Iowa. Iowa, hmm, that is the second trip for Governor Christie from New Jersey as he pries open the door for a possible run for president in 2016.
ROMANS: Not just Ohio that makes presidents. Iowa makes president, too. Iowa makes presidents, too.
BERMAN: Those four-letter states.
ROMANS: You know, I've got to say, if you got a couple of run-offs, when you playoff the map of the midterms, you could have the situation of uncertainty for months.
BERMAN: And the Georgia run-off would not be until January.
ROMANS: Wow.
BERMAN: Yes.
ROMANS: Oh, the drama. I can't wait.
Five-eighteen in the morning.
Indra Petersons has drama. A dramatic early start forecast for us.
Good morning, Indra.
INDRA PETERSONS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning. I have the one thing you don't want for, or can't wait for I should say.
It is the arctic blast that is going to be making its way down not only to the Midwest and Northeast, but look how far south this guy goes. Even in the south itself. What are we talking about? Temperatures at the freezing mark overnight tonight.
Here is what we are dealing with right now. It will be bringing showers. We can see them making their way into the Ohio Valley.
But when all is said and done, this is a huge rainmaker. Notice about 1 inch or so as the system makes its way across. It is the snow. This is the reason we are talking about. It's the bitter cold temperatures, one of the first systems of the year that could bring over a foot of snow.
We're talking about higher elevations, of course. Places like Knoxville and Asheville overnight will be talking about the chances for snow. Keep in mind as the trick-or-treaters go out, the Upper Midwest could see lake-effect snow. But really through the overnight hours, not during trick-or-treat time, is when they're going to be seeing those flurries.
Yes, this system makes its way offshore and up the shoreline bringing more chances for snore, no -- snow into the Northeast. I will be snoring because I will not be outside.
BERMAN: That's right. You will want to snore.
ROMANS: It will take a lot of candy it keep the kids warm. Question, I have a question. Is it okay to take the candy from your children and not let them eat all of it?
BERMAN: I didn't know there was another option.
ROMANS: I divide among them. They don't like my redistribution.
BERMAN: They created a candy pile and candy pile get smaller every night after they go to bed. It just disappears slowly into my belly.
ROMANS: Oh.
All right. Nineteen minutes past the hour.
BERMAN: All right. LeBron James in his first game back as a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers. A big, dramatic night. What could possibly go wrong? Everything.
Brian McFayden explains in the "Bleacher Report", next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BERMAN: This was the moment the Cleveland Cavaliers fans have waited for years, the return of LeBron James.
ROMANS: Yes, he came home, but the New York Knicks put a damper on that homecoming celebration, right?
BERMAN: That's just a shocking statement, the Knicks did anything successful? ROMANS: Brian McFayden has more in this morning's "Bleacher Report".
Hey, Brian.
BRIAN MCFAYDEN, BLEACHER REPORT: Good morning, guys.
It has been four years since LeBron wore number 23 for the Cavs, and 111 days since he announced he is coming home. So, last night's game has been circled on the calendar for quite some time. More than 20,000 fans welcomed LeBron back to the arena.
And as they requested, LeBron brought back his famous chalk toss. And then came time for the game. It did not go well for King James. He gave up the ball eight times and finished with 17 points. Maybe the emotions got the best of him. The fellows from New York were celebrating when it was all over. Final score, Knicks, 95, Cavs, 90.
Florida State keeps the title hopes alive with another unbelievable come from behind victory. Louisville had the Seminoles on the ropes, in the first half, leading 21-0 at one point. But second half a different story. Heisman Trophy winner Jameis Winston picked up the pace, throwing for more than 400 yards and three touchdowns. Florida state come back to get the victory, 42-31.
And if you have Drew Brees on your fantasy football team, you are happy. The Saints quarterback threw for one touchdown and ran for another to beat the Carolina Panthers, 28-10. That snapped a seven- game losing streak. New Orleans is back on top in the NFC South -- guys.
ROMANS: All right. Brian McFayden.
BERMAN: I'm reeling anyone won a game over the Cavaliers. I guess anybody, let alone the Cleveland Cavaliers now with LeBron James.
MCFAYDEN: They looked pretty good last night.
BERMAN: They didn't look bad to be honest. All right. Brian, great to see you.
ROMANS: Six-week nationwide manhunt for accused cop killer is finally over. The survivalist Eric Frein is caught this morning after hiding in the woods from law enforcement for nearly 50 days. We're going to tell you how they finally took him down. That's ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
