Return to Transcripts main page

Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Obama Immigration Executive Action; Ferguson Cops in Talks to Resign; Mysterious Packages; Hopes Fade for Iran Nuke Deal; Jets & Bills Game Moved to Detroit

Aired November 21, 2014 - 05:00   ET

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

(MUSIC)

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Executive action. President Obama ordering a sweeping overhaul of what he calls the country's broken immigration system, as Republicans slam the president, calling his actions illegal.

Breaking overnight: Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson in talks to resign from the police department. And all eyes return to the grand jury now, an indictment in the shooting death of Michael Brown could be handed up today.

Mysterious packages. The FSU gunman sent mystery mail to eight of his Facebook friends to set to arrive today. Could the packages contain clues as to why the FSU grad opened fire on campus? We have the very latest.

Good morning. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans. John Berman is off today. It is Friday, November 21st, 5:00 a.m. in the East.

Up first, President Obama following through on his promise to overhaul the immigration system, overhauling it without Congress. In the primetime address Thursday night, the president made a moral and legal argument to the American people to protect millions of undocumented immigration from deportation. He dared furious House Republicans to deal with it or come up with their own plan that he can sign.

Senior White House correspondent Jim Acosta has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM ACOSTA, CNN 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.

So, now that the president has laid down the immigration gauntlet, Republicans seem unsure how to respond. Some are calling his actions an illegal power grab, but many GOP leaders fear 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.

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Christine.

As you would expect, there has been mixed reaction to the president's announcement among party lines. Republicans are deeply opposed to suspending deportations under the president's executive order. While Democrats seem to support the president's decision in general.

In an RV park in Donna, Texas, let's focus on people -- people who heard the news and had mixed reaction to the president's initiative. A woman says, in a land of opportunity, immigrants should get a break.

(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: Meanwhile, the Pew Research has released new numbers based on the presidents' announcement. According to Pew, the president's executive order would benefit about 2.8 million parents with U.S. children under the age of 18. Parents who have lived in the country for five years or more, it would benefit about 700,000 parents with U.S. born children over the age of 18 who have also lived in the country for more than five years. And finally, it would add another 235,000 young immigrants who were brought to the country as children by their parents.

More or less, about 3.8 million people would benefit by this, Christine.

ROMANS: So, let me ask you something. If he defers deportation for those groups of people, does he put them on a track for a green card? Do they go on the legal track as the president said before, you pay a fine and you get in line with people who have been waiting legally?

ROMO: That's what the president has indicated in multiple interviews multiple times, Christine. But the reality here is since this is only an executive order, a new president or a new Congress can then take action and undo whatever the president does. So, it's really an open question.

ROMANS: That's right. You know, the regulation of America's borders and immigration system sits solely in the House -- in Congress. That's where, that's who writes those laws.

ROMO: That's right.

ROMANS: All right. Thank you so much, Rafael Romo.

Four minutes past the hour.

Breaking overnight: Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson reportedly in talks to resign from the 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. 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.

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 eight 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.

Seven feet of snow in bruised and battered Buffalo. Emergency crews from all over the state of New York converging on the crippled city -- helping clear roads, rescuing more than 50 people from the roof of their homes. Close to three feet of new snow fell in some areas yesterday. Ten deaths are now blamed on this historic storm.

I want to get right to Indra Petersons for more on this extreme weather.

Really something -- 50 people rescued from their roofs.

INDRA PETERSONS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: And, unfortunately, we are fearing that there could be more people that will be dealing with roofs collapsing due to the weight of the snow. One way to look at this is I actually put the satellite and radar images right next to each other from the first incident and second incident of lake-effect snow. You can see that heavy snowfall fell in pretty much the identical location.

That is what we are dealing now at this morning, so many people are dealing with seven feet of snow. So, I wanted to take the middle ground and show you the concern.

If you are talking about a 2,000 square foot home, just four feet of snow on your home, you are talking about 50,000 pounds sitting right there on your roof. The question is, some of you are dealing with seven feet of snow, just imagine what they had to deal with. Another threat on the way, and that is that the temperatures are expected to go up. Instead of snow, we're going to be now seeing the threat of flooding and even some rain.

Look at the temperatures. If you're in the East Coast, New York City goes from 30s to 50s by Sunday, just skipping ahead to Monday, 67 degrees expected in New York City.

So, what does this mean for buffalo? Same problem here. Temperatures are rising very quickly, 61 degrees there on Monday. So, this flood threat will be the newest threat as we go forward in time.

And it's not just the flooding from the temperatures. Rain is actually expected to make its way through. You have all this snow. Of course, you want it to melt. You don't want it to melt this quickly all at once. So, that is going to be the new concern as high pressure really does start to settle in. Also I just want to keep in mind, if you are in through the south, a

reminder, there's going to be a threat of some severe weather as we get in through Saturday and Sunday, all thanks to this low kind of pulling this moisture out of the Gulf. We do have a threat even for some isolated tornadoes as we go through the weekend.

So, that will be the other side of the equation and we'll be starting to watch through the weekend. Really honestly, terrifying. So much snow, the weight alone and the rain on the back side.

ROMANS: Unbelievable. All right. Good luck, Buffalo. They will be happy when Thanksgiving is here.

PETERSONS: I'm going to say yes.

ROMANS: Yes. All right. Thanks, Indra.

Time for an early start on your money. It looks like stocks could end the week with more records. With stock futures pointing higher. Even just a little kind of gains would mean another record day, folks.

Yesterday, the S&P 500 and Dow rose a bit to close at records. There's enough good news, keep inching forward on these highs, positive reports on inflation, home sales and falling job claims do the trick yesterday.

Obamacare sign ups have been overstated. The administration previously reported 7.1 million people were enrolled in Obamacare health plans by mid-October. Now, officials are revising that number. They say that was a mistake. Only 6.1 million Americans enrolled. The higher number included people with standalone dental plans. The over-count was discovered by a House committee.

All right. Bill Cosby facing new allegations from another woman claiming to be a victim of sexual assault. What she claims the comedian did to her decades ago. That's coming up.

And Adrian Peterson speaks out. The embattled NFL player talking about his child abuse charges and why he feels he deserves another chance to play in the league.

Stay with us.

(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 Cuckoo'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 his 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.

Dark details 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 deadly shooting, telling them 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, then he killed himself. 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 was reported.

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 serves as 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 the economy.

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 coming 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 said it may 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. Just three days left for six powers to reach a nuclear agreement with Iran and the prospects are looking kind of bleak this morning. Officials close to the negotiation say there have sharp differences with the two sides and there is already talk about extending the deadline. That is triggering calls for tougher sanctions against Iran in Washington.

I want to go live to Vienna and bring in senior international correspondent Nic Robertson.

Any progress at all here, Nic?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, there's another trilateral meeting that Secretary of State John Kerry is involved in right now with the chief Iranian negotiator, the Foreign Minister Zarif, and the E.U. top negotiator here, Catherine Ashton. That's the second of these meetings that Secretary Kerry has had. He met with the pair of them in the trilateral just after he got off the plane yesterday.

Certainly, what we're understanding is that they're trying to bridge and close the gaps and close the differences. We've been told that a lot of the sort of technical agenda here is pretty much been agreed. But the tough points on negotiation are still outstanding. The Russian deputy foreign minister said the meetings being held are in a tense situation, that the negotiations and talks are very tough. You have the British foreign secretary, the French foreign minister

arriving in today. British foreign minister who said that he feels at the moment, the best that can be hoped for if -- and this is if there is some progress in the next couple of days is for an extension to these talks. Secretary Kerry is saying he is not looking for an extension right now. He is looking to meet the deadline on Monday.

But he said we want to deal, but not any deal. Certainly whatever deal it is, has to close down Iran's possible pathways to making a bomb and that's something that the International Atomic Energy Agency here, the chief here said, he has been overseeing the U.N. resolution with Iran and inspections with Iran, recently says his agency isn't yet convinced that Iran is embarking on a peaceful nuclear cause at the moment. So, it's really tough talks and optimism. Not so good right now, Christine.

ROMANS: The response in Washington -- I mean, you are hearing people in Washington who are really pushing for strengthening of sanctions. They don't like the way this is going.

ROBERTSON: And certainly the Iranians here from their point of view, they've got to try to get the sanctions lifted. That's one of the demands that the Iranian negotiating team has from Tehran behind them, that they need to get these banking sanctions, the U.N. sanctions, the energy sanctions, at least the banking and U.N. sanctions lifted if they're going to make a deal here.

And, of course, that's not how the rest of the P5 plus six, the parties they're negotiating here with see it. There will be, if anything, just an incremental lifting of sanctions. And, of course, sticking point for Iran as well, is it wants to continue to have some enrichment. That is almost a red line here as well -- Christine.

ROMANS: All right. Nic Robertson in Vienna for us this morning -- thanks, Nic.

Thursday night football. The winless Oakland Raiders taking on one of the toughest teams in the league, the red hot Kansas City Chiefs. Could they pull off the big upset?

Andy Scholes, he's going to tell us in the "Bleacher Report" next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: All right. The record snow in Buffalo forcing the NFL's hand. The league has moved Sunday's Bills/Jets game from Buffalo to Detroit. And they won't play until Monday night.

Andy Scholes has more on this morning's "Bleacher Report".

Hey, Andy.

ANDY SCHOLES, BLEACHER REPORT: Hey, good morning, Christine.

Yes, the Bills hoped that they would remove 220,000 tons of snow from Ralph Wilson Stadium in time for Sunday's game with the Jets. But yesterday, it became clear it wasn't going to happen. The team was offering to pay fans $10 an hour and free tickets to come help. But even getting to the stadium is pretty tough right now.

So, the game will be Monday night at Ford Field in Detroit. They could have played Sunday, but the NFL is going to give the bills an extra day since they have been unable to practice over the last few days during the storm.

The NFL's longest losing streak is now over. Oakland Raiders beat the Chiefs 24-20 to get the first win of the season. The Raiders had lost 16 in a row and had not won a game in 368 days. They're now 1-10 on the season and will not be joining the '08 Lions, the only team to over 0-16.

All right. Remember when former slugger Jose Canseco tweeted his finger fell off during a poker game? Well, according to TMZ, he lied. Canseco shot part of his finger off with a gun last month. He later tweeted that his finger was reattached by a doctor. Now, that part is entirely true.

He then said, though, it fell off while playing poker and wanted to sell it, along with a gun on eBay. Now, that part was a lie. Canseco got the idea for the hoax when he saw a fake finger at a Halloween store.

All right. How bad are the Philadelphia 76ers? They are so bad that Papa John's has to change the promotion they had where fans get a discount when Philly wins. The pizza company had a deal that when the Sixers win, fans get half off their order. But team is 0-11 this season. They had to change it.

Now, Christine, if the Sixers, all they got to do is score 90 points and you're going to get the discount. So far, they are averaging 88 points a game this season.

So, discounted cheese sticks is not a given there in Philadelphia.

ROMANS: That is sad. That is sad.

What's the point of the hoax? What is Jose Canseco is trying to do? I mean, I don't get it.

SCHOLES: You know Jose Canseco, he always wants attention. He is trying to ride out his finger being shot off for as long as possible, I guess.

(LAUGHTER)

ROMANS: All right, I'll take that. All right. It's nice to see you, Andy. Have a great weekend.

SCHOLES: You, too.

ROMANS: OK. Twenty-five minutes past the hour.

President Obama exercising executive power to overhaul the nation's immigration system. The details and backlash coming up on EARLY START.

And another woman comes forward saying she, too, was sexual assault victim at the hands of Bill Cosby. The new allegations and Cosby's response to all of the claims, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)