Return to Transcripts main page

Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Obama: "Pass A Bill"; Ferguson on Edge; Mysterious Packages; Israeli-Palestinian Tensions Rising

Aired November 21, 2014 - 04:30   ET

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

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Senior White House correspondent Jim Acosta has for us this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM ACOSTA, SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Christine, it was a rhetorical side of President Obama we don't hear often, quoting President Bush and Scripture from the Bible as he urged Americans to show compassion to the millions of undocumented immigrants covered under this executive action.

Here's the plan the president laid out in his speech: Undocumented parents of U.S. citizens and legal residents who have been in this country for five years receive what's called deferred action -- meaning, they won't be deported.

Also covered under the president's plan, an expanded number of children who were brought to the country illegally, the so-called DREAMers.

On enforcement, the administration is beefing up border security. But immigration authorities will now target undocumented felons and what the administration calls recent border crossers, as in people who crossed since January 2014.

The rest of the undocumented immigrants, like parents of DREAMers, take on lower priority status for deportations.

OBAMA: I want to work with both parties to pass a more permanent legislative solution. And the day I sign that bill into law, the actions I take will no longer be necessary. Meanwhile, don't let a disagreement over a single issue be a deal breaker on every issue. That's not how our democracy works. And Congress certainly shouldn't shutdown our government again just because we disagree on this.

Americans are tired of gridlock. What our country needs from us right now is a common purpose, a higher purpose.

ACOSTA: After the speech, immigration protesters gathered outside the White House mainly in support of the president's plan. People were chanting "Obama amigo".

There was one incident outside the White House. Secret Service says a 23-year-old woman was arrested carrying a gun in a holster under her shirt walking along Pennsylvania Avenue -- Christine. (END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right. Jim Acosta, thanks for that.

Now that the president has laid down the gauntlet, the immigration gauntlet, Republicans seem unsure how to respond. Some are calling his actions an illegal power grab, but it's a slippery slope with many GOP leaders fearing an outright rejection of the president's plan could alienate the fastest growing group of voters in the nation.

Rafael Romo live from the CNN Center in Atlanta. He's got the reaction for us this morning to the president's primetime address.

Good morning.

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN SENIOR LATIN AMERICAN AFFAIRS EDITOR: Christine, good morning.

This is an issue that Americans all around the country will be debating this morning, everywhere. Should people with no legal right to live in this country be allowed to stay?

One of the states where immigration has historically been a top issue is Texas. A voter there says she worries that the president has taken unilateral action on an issue that in her opinion should have been resolved by Congress.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I worry about everybody and about him doing it by himself like that. That is not really kosher.

REPORTER: You mean the president taking executive action to do this?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it should be done through the House and the Congress.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have to really admire the people here because they are very bilingual, they are very helpful. And I think we should help them as much as we can.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: But who will this executive order by President Obama benefit? We're looking at some numbers this morning released by the Pew Research Center. According to Pew, there are 11.2 million undocumented immigrants in the United States. The president's initiative would benefit an estimated 3.8 million people, Christine, mainly parents with U.S.-born children under the age of 18 who have lived in the country for more than five years.

Back to you.

ROMANS: Important part of this, of course, will be enforcement. The president will have to convince members of his own party and Republican Party, of course, that this can end the wave of illegal immigration.

He quotes other presidents. He talks about Ronald Reagan, and Ronald Reagan's efforts to reform the immigration system. Ronald Reagan had a massive reform of immigration system in 1986 and said that would end illegal immigration and it didn't. We saw another, you know, two decades of a broken immigration system.

So, what is in the president's proposal here, or the president's action here, that will prevent other people from coming and saying, look, if we just get here and we stay long enough, we'll be able to stay for real?

ROMO: Well, one of the components for the president is that enforcement is part of the initiative, improving and expanding enforcement, the number of border patrol agents and reinforcing the border. But, of course, what the critics in the Republican Party says there should have been debate in Congress. There should have been a way of dealing with this at the congressional level instead of him doing this by himself, Christine.

ROMANS: Right. Very interesting. Rafael Romo, I'm sure we're going to be hearing this all play out, immigration now back front and center. We are heading to 2016, an election year. That's why everyone is trying to be so careful to figure out how to respond to it.

Thank you so much, Rafael. See you soon.

ROMO: Thank you.

ROMANS: President Obama offering fixes for high skilled immigration, but some say they're not enough. The promises are fairly vague. The president is offering more flexibility for high skilled workers waiting for green cards, more options for foreign entrepreneurs and expansion of the optional practical training programs that allow foreign students to work in the U.S. for a while after graduation. Still a lot we don't know about the plan. Some experts say this morning are saying this only puts a band-aid on high skilled immigration problems and does not change the flawed green card system.

Thirty-four minutes past the hour. Time for an early start on your money.

Asian shares ended the day higher after reports that People's Bank of China injected funds to ease a cash shortage. European shares, they are up, too. So are U.S. stock futures.

You know, even just the smallest little gains would be record highs for U.S. stocks.

Breaking overnight: Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson reportedly in talks to resign from the police department. According to sources close to the negotiations, Wilson maintains he did nothing wrong the day he shot teenager Michael Brown, and he is considering leaving the force in order to ease the pressure on his fellow officers. But if he does get indicted, he's apparently prepared to change his mind. The grand jury is expected to decide as early as today whether to indict him or to clear him in Michael Brown's death.

New details this morning about the gunman who opened fire inside a crowded library at Florida State University. Earlier this week, 31- year-old FSU graduate Myron May told friends on Facebook to expect a package from him on Friday. Those friends have been told to call police immediately when those packages arrive today.

May was killed by campus officers early Thursday morning after shooting a library employee and shooting two students. One victim remains critical, another is in good condition, a third has been treated and released.

New this morning, an arrest outside the White House during the president's immigration speech. As protesters marched, a 23-year-old Michigan woman identified as April Lenhart has been taken into custody by Secret Service agents. They say they spotted a holstered gun under her shirt as she walked along the north lawn on Pennsylvania Avenue. Demonstrators were immediately cleared from the area. We are told Lenhart is not responding to questioning.

On Wednesday, an Iowa man was arrested outside the White House after police found a rifle and ammunition in his car.

Seven feet of snow in bruised and battered Buffalo. Emergency crews from all over the state of New York converging on the crippled city -- look, they're helping clear roads, they're rescuing -- more than 50 people rescued from the roof of their homes.

Close to three feet of new snow fell in some areas Thursday. Ten deaths are now blamed on this historic storm.

Our Martin Savidge has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christine, here's an example of the work that's going on. This is elements showing up from the New York National Guard. They are just part of what -- well, a large army that is made of both military, as well as private industry that's coming in to try to help.

Clearing the streets, that's sort of the name of the game going on here. Right in the background here, you've got all of these dump trucks that have come in. They are using front-end loaders and they're literally having to lift the snow off the ground, and get out of the street, put in dump trucks and haul it away, find open space and dump it there.

Take a look at this. I mean, this is just one example of one home and what they're up against. All of this snow, try to get your van out of the driveway. This was hours and hours of work eventually. They realized maybe they should finish it off another time.

Here is another vehicle you can see here. And cars are actually kind of hidden. You can lose them in the landscape here. There is so much heavy snow and it's blown over them that -- well, if you didn't see the fender sticking out, you wouldn't necessarily know there was a vehicle here.

There is more snow that is coming and that's why this is kind of a race against time. They want to try and clear as much of the main thorough ways as they can before more snow starts to pile in. It's essential for getting emergency traffic, getting people in and out. They made progress, but they still got a long way to go. They are hoping today they continue to make progress.

Christine, back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: Wow. That is so much snow to move.

Let's get an early look at weekend weather now with Chad Myers.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: A very good morning to you.

Although it is cold morning in the Northeast, cold across New York City. The high is 36 in New York. But it's never going to feel like that with the wind that's blowing through the buildings for sure. Lake-effect snow machine finally turned off for Buffalo, finally, like they didn't see enough with those two rounds.

Thirty-two is the high in Chicago, 31 is the high in Minneapolis for today, and 69 down in Dallas.

There is a severe weather event beginning to set up for the weekend, down across parts of Dallas for tomorrow, maybe across the Southeast for the rest of the weekend. It's an event a lot like what you'll see in the spring where the warm air tries to come up, and a cold air -- cold front tries to push it all back down. The low pressure center developing in the Central Plains.

I know we think of severe weather in the spring, but it can also happen in the fall when the cold air tries to push the warm air down compared to the spring where the warm air is trying to come back up to the north and say, goodbye winter.

So, we do have that chance all the way through the weekend. We'll keep watching it for you here on CNN.

You guys up there have a great morning and great day.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: OK, Chad, I will. Thanks, Chad.

Thirty-nine minutes past the hour.

Another woman comes forward saying she, too, was a sexual assault victim of Bill Cosby. The new allegations and Cosby's response to all of these claims, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: Another alleged victim has come forward accusing Bill Cosby of sexual assault. Sixty-eight-year-old actress Louisa Moritz detailing abuse claims to TMZ, saying Cosby forced her to perform oral sex on him. Moritz, known for her role in "One Flew Over the Coco's Nest", says the incident happened in her dressing room, right before she made an appearance on "The Tonight Show" in '71.

Through his lawyer, Cosby has consistently denied all assault allegations.

In a recent interview with "The A.P.", he declined to elaborate on the claims and urged the reporter to scrap the part of the interview with that line of questioning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL COSBY: Now, can I get something from you --

REPORTER: What's that?

COSBY: -- that none of that will be shown?

REPORTER: I can't promise that myself. But you didn't say anything.

COSBY: I know I didn't say anything, but I'm asking your integrity that since I didn't want to say anything, but I did answer you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Cosby's comedy tour continues tonight in front of a sold out crowd in Florida.

Be sure to stay with CNN at 6:00 a.m. on "NEW DAY". We sit down with Linda Traitz, another Cosby accuser who claims the comedian assaulted her when she was 19 years old.

Embattled NFL star Adrian Peterson is breaking her silence. The suspended Minnesota Vikings running back revealing he spoke last week to his four-year-old son, the boy he beat and bloodied with a switch from a tree. In a "USA Today" today sports exclusive, Peterson claims the little boy told him, "I love you" and asked if he could visit. Peterson went on to say, quote, "No one knows how I felt when I turned my child around after spanking him and seeing what I had left on his leg. No one knows that dad sat there and apologized to him, hugged him and told him that I didn't mean to do this to you and how sorry I was."

The NFL Players Association is appealing the league's decision to suspend Peterson without pay for the remainder of the season.

A dark detail emerging about the student who opened fire at a high school in Marysville, Washington. Detectives say Jaylen Fryberg sent a text message to his parents before the shooting, telling him what he wanted to wear at his funeral. He also asked relatives to apologize to the victims' families. The 15-year-old gunned down five students last month, including two of his cousins, before killing himself in the school. His motive remains unclear.

Investigators are trying to figure out what sparked a deadly blast on an offshore oil platform 12 miles off the coast of New Orleans. This happened just before 3:00 Thursday afternoon. One person was killed, three others injured. Officials say the rig was not in production at the time. The damage was limited to the explosion area. And no pollution has been reported.

A special day for one of our nation's heroes. Captain Derek Herrera will walk across the stage Friday afternoon at Camp Pendleton to receive his Bronze Star. The paralyzed vet will do it with a help of an exoskeleton, a wearable robotics device that will give his body the power to stand. Herrera was hurt when he was shot by a sniper while living a mission in Afghanistan. He's made it his goal to retire standing on his own, the same way he did when he joined the Marine Corps.

Anger and frustration escalating in the Middle East. The controversial tactic revived by the Israelis has Palestinians in an uproar this morning. We're going to take you there live.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: China and at least two other countries have the capacity to launch a cyber attack that could cripple the nation's power grid. That's according to the head of the National Security Agency. Admiral Michael Rogers, who also chief of U.S. Cyber Command, telling Congress the U.S. has detected malware from China and elsewhere on the nation's computer systems. He sees a coming trend of nations exploiting vulnerabilities in America's cyber systems to disrupt our economy.

Tensions between Israel and the Palestinians appear to be reaching the breaking point this morning. Officials in Jerusalem reviving the tactic by destroying the home of a Palestinian man who plowed his car into a crowd of pedestrians killing a woman and a baby. The idea is to deter future attacks, but it's provoking anger instead. Now, Israel has arrested three Palestinians and charged them with plotting to assassinate the Israeli foreign minister.

Atika Shubert tracking all of these developments for us live from Jerusalem this morning.

Let's start with the house razing that is apparently back. That is making the Palestinians very angry.

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, this is a policy that was really during much of the intifada. But it was discontinued largely under criticism that it wasn't really effective. But now, it's been brought back. And what happens is, once -- if an attack takes place, Israeli authorities will say they're going to demolish the home. It usually takes several days, possibly even weeks before they come in and raze it essentially.

We actually went to a home and it was a flat on the third floor reduced to rubble. But the surrounding flats are intact.

But it causes, yes, a lot of tension. And while we were there, riot police were there and you could feel the sort of anger in the streets.

Now, according to the Israeli government, they're saying it's a deterrent because it may prevent future attackers from carrying out attacks if they think that this going to affect families in this way. But critics say it is not how it turns out. It doesn't deter attacks, in fact, it angers people even more. So, there's quite a bit of controversy about it.

ROMANS: Tell me more about the assassination plot. Arrests in this rocket-propelled grenade in the plot against the Israeli foreign minister.

SHUBERT: Yes, the indictments just came out and this is from the Israeli Defense Forces. They say that basically, a pair of brothers and another man were plotting to purchase a rocket-propelled grenade launcher and fire it at the foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman. Now, this would have taken place, they say, over the course of the conflict with Gaza earlier this summer. This is something they were plotting to do. They were carrying out surveillance of the foreign minister's travel around Bethlehem area. They never got forward with the plot.

So, what has happened is they have been indicted and it will go through the military court process.

ROMANS: All right. Atika Shubert for us this morning live in Jerusalem -- thank you, Atika.

Dramatic testimony on Capitol Hill from a woman who described being hit in the face with shrapnel when her Takata airbag deployed in an accident. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHANIE ERDMAN, TAKATA AIRBAG DEFECT VICTIM: When the impact occurred, shrapnel from my car's airbag shot through the airbag cloth and embedded into my right eye and cheek. I was instantly blinded on my right side. Since that day, I have endured multiple surgeries and therapies. I have more to go still. My vision will never be the same. I will never be the same.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Takata auto executives, safety regulators, all under fire during Thursday's hearing.

A Takata executive said the company is trying to ramp up its production of replacement parts for its faulty airbags, but it may take a while. It might not be able to move quickly enough. Some 16 million cars Takata airbags have been recalled worldwide. More than 10 million of them in the U.S.

All right. Need to lose a few pounds? You're not alone. Millions of Americans are clinically obese as we head to the holidays. Wait until we hear how much of a toll that is taking on the U.S. economy. We'll get an early start on your money, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: All right. Let's get an early start on your money.

A happy Friday for stocks around the world so far. Asian shares ended the day higher after reports the People's Bank of China injected funds to ease a cash shortage.

U.S. stock futures are up. So, are U.S. stock futures. You know, yesterday, the S&P 500 and the Dow rose just a bit to close at records. Sound familiar? Stocks have not been shattering records, but there's been enough good news to inch them forward to highs.

The obesity epidemic is costing the global economy -- get this -- $2 trillion a year. That is according to a new report. That makes obesity almost as costly as smoking and armed conflict. Those costs come from lost productivity, health care expenses early deaths. More than 2 billion people or 30 percent of the global population are overweight or obese. Thirty percent, that number is expected to grow to half the population by the year 2030. The report called for better nutrition labels, healthier food at schools and public health campaigns.

Holidays are for food, family and work. A new poll finds 45 percent of working Americans say there is a chance they will work, Thanksgiving, Christmas or New Year's. And about one in four said they won't have any choice in the matter. If you'll work in Thanksgiving, there's a good chance you work in retail. With stores opening earlier and earlier on Thursday, more workers are being called in. This has sparked protests online to give workers time with their family.

Fifty-eight minutes past the hour. EARLY START continues right now.