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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
CIA Terror Tactics Revealed; Global Markets Mixed; Deal Reached on Spending Bill; Kerry Calls for New Flexible ISIS War Powers; Appeal of Pistorius Murder Acquittal Can Proceed; New Police Protests; Massive Nor'easter Staying Put; Royal Couple Finishes Their NYC Visit
Aired December 10, 2014 - 04:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Mistakes were made. President Obama denouncing CIA torture tactics and defending the decision to release the report that details them. Republicans claiming Americans serving overseas are now in danger. Outrage and controversy surrounding our very big story this morning.
Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm John Berman. Good to see you this morning. Thirty minutes past the hour.
Happening right now, U.S. facilities around the world on high alert after intense reaction at home and abroad to the explosive new Senate report detailing CIA tactics and techniques following September 11th.
This new report reveals grisly details on CIA methods that included mock executions, extended sleep deprivation, not to mention waterboarding. The report summary released Tuesday says the CIA waterboarded Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind behind 9/11. Waterboarded him 183 times in a single month. CIA employees also repeatedly subjected Khalid Sheikh Mohammed for what they described as medically unnecessary rectal rehydration.
The Senate says CIA officers came to believe harsh methods report concluded that the CIA's methods overall simply did not produce information that could save lives. The president defended the report while Republicans in Congress say the release was a huge mistake.
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SEN. MITCH MCCONELL (R-KY), INCOMING MAJORITY LEADER: I think what it does for the U.S. government is endanger every one of our people overseas, every embassy flying an American flag. As several of my colleagues have just pointed out, endanger the working relationship we've had with a variety of different countries in trying to deal with intelligence gathering. In short, it was a big step in the wrong direction.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Some of the tactics that were written about in the Senate intelligence report were brutal. And as I've said before, it constituted torture in my mind. And that's not who we are.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: Three former directors of the CIA denounced the release. George Tenet, Porter Goss, Michael Hayden, they wrote "The Wall Street Journal" that the CIA interrogation did produce actionable intelligence that they say lead to the capture of senior al Qaeda operatives, saved American lives they say by disrupting terrorist plots, provided information they say that helped attack, thwart and degrade al Qaeda.
ROMANS: The Senate report has ignited international outrage on social media, with online jihadists calling for retaliation against America. The State Department warning U.S. citizens in some countries where CIA torture took place, they could face anti-American violence.
A U.N. human rights official applauded the report's release, but warns that international law requires the U.S. to prosecute any wrongdoers, something that it does not look as though the justice department is going to pursue. Special investigator Ben Emmerson from the U.N. writes, "The individual responsible for the criminal conspiracy revealed in today's report must be brought to justice and must face criminal penalties commensurate with the gravity of their crimes."
CNN's Karl Penhaul is live in London with more on the global revelations of this report.
Good morning, Karl.
KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Christine.
In the sense, you know, on the street, yes, concern about the contents of this report but hardly surprised -- a sense from the general public that we already knew that the United States tortured its enemies. From some international governments, many of them keeping their heads down because we understand in their allegations that many international governments, including Britain may have been complicit in helping the United States torture its victims or certainly helping them move torture victims around from one country to another, the rendition program, this outsourcing of countries who have an absolutely filthy human rights record and could torture victims without fear of reprisal.
We did hear from British Prime Minister David Cameron on an official visit to Turkey and he came forward and said torture is wrong under any circumstances. And this in a sense will take away the moral authority to conduct anti-terror campaigns, but that may have been before public opinion because Britain certainly hasn't allowed such a wide-sweeping investigation into its own actions as far as torture goes.
We've also heard from a British Muslim who was a former detainee at the Guantanamo prison, and he says what is necessary now is very much to track down those people responsible for torture and punish them. And also what he was saying was that if the United States decides it's not going to obey the rules of law and war, and on the conventions on torture, that why should any of the United States' enemies -- Christine.
ROMANS: Karl Penhaul for us this morning in London with that. Thanks, Karl.
Another reveal from the blockbuster Senate report, how much money the CIA spent to do all of this. Well over $300 million on its detention and interrogation program. That money was used to fund detention centers, as well as show appreciation to host countries that housed the jails. However, specifics like the name of the countries and the exact costs are redacted from the report.
One detail provided is that the CIA spent $200,000 alone for a detention center built in 2002. The $300 million price tag does not include personnel costs, but does include two facilities that were built but never used. So, that's following the money of this big report.
Turning to markets right now: Asian markets mixed this morning after more economic concerns in China. European markets saw rebounds from losses the day before. And U.S. futures mixed after what was kind of a crazy volatile yesterday. The Dow was down 220 points at one point, John, and then closed down just 50 points. It was kind of wild day yesterday.
BERMAN: All right. The president has other issues on his plate right now. In Nashville, he faced protesters angry over his immigration executive action. The president was speaking to a Latino audience in person and also on Univision, attempting to reassure that it is safe for them to register under his new plan, to reassure illegals that it is safe to register under his new plan. He admits a future president could reverse his order.
President Obama is standing firmly behind his decision to reform immigration using his own authority.
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OBAMA: And members of Congress questioned whether I have the authority to do this, I have one answer: yes, and pass a bill. If you want Congress to be involved in this process, I welcome it. But you got to pass a bill.
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BERMAN: The president returned to Washington overnight. He is preparing to host a big White House event this morning on early childhood education.
ROMANS: Developing overnight, congressional Democrats and Republicans reached an agreement on a more than $1 trillion catch-all spending bill that will keep the government operating through September of next year and avert a government shutdown. It was the biggest piece of unfinished business for what is seen as historically unproductive Congress. And it will clear the decks for major spending issues for a new Republican-controlled Congress.
BERMAN: A new black eye for the Internal Revenue Service. An inspector general's report found the IRS paid at least $6 billion in child tax credits in 2013 to people who were not eligible to receive them. Those payments went to families who either mistakenly claimed the tax credit or claimed the wrong amount, as well as taxpayers who just flat-out committed fraud. The $1,000 per child tax credit is one of the biggest tax breaks for working families.
ROMANS Secretary of State John Kerry is asking Congress for new flexible war powers in the fight against ISIS. The secretary says lawmakers should not limit U.S. military action to Iraq and Syria or prevent President Obama from deploying ground troops if he eventually finds it necessary.
His testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is the first time that an administration official has publicly described what elements the White House wants to see in a new authorization for use of military force. A committee vote on a new authorization could happen later this week.
BERMAN: An MIT economist who helped shaped Obamacare is apologizing for, quote, "glib, thoughtless and insulting" comments about the intelligence of American voters. Jonathan Gruber appeared before a House committee on Tuesday. Republicans blasted away at Gruber for remarks that emerged last month.
Earlier on video, Gruber had claimed that Obamacare passed only because of what he called the stupidity of the American voter.
Before Congress, he repeated his apology dozens of different ways.
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JONATHAN GRUBER, OBAMACARE CONSULTANT: I sincerely apologize for conjecturing with the tone of expertise and for doing so in such a disparaging fashion. It's never appropriate to make oneself seem more important or smarter by demeaning others. I knew better, I know better, I'm embarrassed and I'm sorry.
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BERMAN: He said that a lot. He did, though, strongly defend Obamacare itself, saying that his had own, quote, "arrogance" is not a flaw in the Affordable Care Act.
ROMANS: All right. Breaking this morning: there's a chance Oscar Pistorius' not guilty verdict could be overturned. The judge in the case, siding with the prosecutor, allowing an appeal of his acquittal on murder charges can proceed. That means the Olympian may face a higher charge in the death of Reeva Steenkamp. The judge dismissed a request from prosecutors to reconsider the length of the five-year sentence she gave Pistorius on the charge of culpable homicide.
I think the bottom line is, legal bills will continue to pile up for Mr. Pistorius as the prosecutor would like a tougher charge. BERMAN: Forty minutes after the hour.
New protests over the deaths of Eric Garner and Michael Brown. The, quote, "we can't breathe" movement on the streets, and new appearances on the NBA basketball court as New York police officers defend their practices to CNN. That's ahead.
ROMANS: Plus, storms set from coast to coast. Snow, wind, rain, flooding, what you need to know for the day, right after the break.
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BERMAN: Protest organizers say they are in the middle of a week of outrage.
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PROTESTERS: Three. I can't breathe! Four. I can't breathe! Five. I can't breathe.
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BERMAN: Demonstrators once again took to the streets coast to coast denouncing police killings of unarmed black men.
In Berkeley, protesters marched through downtown, briefly halting traffic on a straight freeway. A plan to take over a city council meeting thwarted when the mayor cancelled the meeting.
Another small crowd of demonstrators in Madison, Wisconsin, stage a die-in at the city county building.
Last night, Kobe Bryant and other L.A. Lakers wore "I can't breathe" t-shirts warming up for their game against the Sacramento Kings.
And NYPD police officers, New York police officers, are defending themselves against charging of profiles and racism.
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PATRICK LYNCH, PRESIDENT, NYC PATROLMEN'S BENEVOLENT ASSOCIATION: I have 31 years in the New York City Police Department, I've never once heard in a radio call when a call came over, what race are they? What color are they? Who do they love? Where do they live? It's never, ever happened.
We're doing our job well. We're not looking at who the person is, we're looking at the behavior that leads to the interaction with the police. That's the question, the behavior and why someone called the police in the first place.
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BERMAN: Students at three major American law schools are asking for finals to be postponed. Columbia, Harvard, and Georgetown law students say they have been busy protesting. So far, only Columbia has rescheduled finals.
ROMANS: All right. Under fire for the NFL's handling of the Ray Rice domestic violence case, commissioner Roger Goodell will unveil a tougher personal conduct policy at a meeting with team owners Wednesday. Under the new rules, an accused player will immediately go on paid leave following formal charges or an independent investigation. The policy will apply to all league personnel, including the owners. Goodell has said he regrets not doing enough in past cases when stronger measures might have prevented future abuse.
BERMAN: New questions this had morning about the online car service Uber and just how safe it. Prosecutors in Los Angeles and San Francisco are suing the company claiming among other things that the company lied to and misled customers about the quality of its background checks on Uber drivers and put people who use Uber at risk.
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GEORGE GASCON, SAN FRANCISCO DISTRICT ATTORNEY: It has claimed that it uses an industry-leading background check process. However, Uber relies on information submitted over the Internet by its drivers instead of finger printing them to ensure that they are who they say they are.
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BERMAN: A former Uber driver is being arraigned today for the death last year of a 6-year-old girl in San Francisco. Her family claims the driver was using Uber app on his cell phone to check on a ride request when he struck a girl in a crosswalk.
Huge nor'easter that rocked the Northeast Tuesday will be sticking around for a few more days.
ROMANS: No!
BERMAN: It's staying.
This was the scene in Massachusetts, Worchester, Massachusetts. Snowplows out in force when a mixture of ice and rain blanketed the area. The combination made driving really, really tough. Several car accidents are reported. Cars skating down the road in some places.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We was sliding. He was doing 180s and stuff.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was terrifying actually. I was out of control for like 10 seconds.
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ROMANS: Rain hitting New York hard.
This scene played out all across Long Island. The South Shore socked with flooding. You can see gusty winds also knocked down some tree limbs.
BERMAN: And this is what it looked like on the Jersey shore.
ROMANS: Whoa.
BERMAN: Check out that. Whoo! Roads just submerged, communities under water. Drivers who did brave the elements, man, they found trouble.
So, how long is this going to stick around? Will we see more flooding?
There is one man with the answers. Pedram Javaheri joins us right now for a look at the weather.
Good morning.
PEDRAM JAHAVERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, John.
Yes, absolutely, guys. You know, when you think about this, you know those guests that stick around at your house and get up and say good- bye at the door and kind of meander at the door and they just don't had head -- that's going to be a kind of a set-up this storm system. It's already produced wind gusts around 50 miles per hour from Connecticut to JFK's airport.
Look at what it does come Thursday, kind of pushes on and says, no, I'm not leaving, drops right back down towards New York. And then eventually pushes offshore. As it does this, we have scattered snow showers especially across interior New England.
You could see an additional 8 to 12 inches across some of these areas, around Syracuse. Maybe had 10 inches working its way towards New York. At best maybe a little snow mixing in towards the major cities.
But generally speaking on the coast, it will rainfall, and we're talking about generally, half an inch of rainfall across this area.
Out to the West Coast we go, we do have blizzard warnings in effect across the high sierras winter storm warnings in effect for up to three feet up snow accumulations in their forecast the next couple of days. This is the wettest single storm since 2009 pushing in towards the West Coast, and it's going to bring in tremendous moisture upwards of 6 to 10 inches of rainfall in northern California, and in an area, of course, you know about the major drought in place, guys, but for the first time in two years, there is a surplus for the state of California as a whole in the rain for this current season, the fall season. So, that hasn't happened since December 2012. That's good news there.
BERMAN: Keep it coming. They need it badly. Thanks, Pedram.
JAVAHERI: Absolutely.
ROMANS: All right. An emotional last day in New York for Prince William and Kate, duchess of Cambridge. How they finished their state side trip, next.
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ROMANS: American fans of Prince William and Duchess Catherine are sure to be disappointed. They finished their stay here in New York. The royals' final day here featured a packed schedule, including a visit to the Empire State Building, and the 9/11 Memorial.
Our Max Foster followed the royals throughout a very rainy day.
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MAX FOSTER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Christine and John, the duchess finished this whirlwind tour with a moment that all the royal watchers were waiting for. It was seeing the duchess in an evening gown. It was all in honor of the university where the couple first me, St. Andrews in Scotland. The glittering affair with some celebrities and they managed to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for the university, which were used for scholarships and also the facilities there.
The day, though, started on a somber note. The couple haven't been to New York before, and they wanted to pay their respects for those who perished in 9/11. So they laid some flowers at the one of the memorial reflection pools.
A little moment as well to take in the sights in New York, as the duke went to the top of the Empire State Building and took in those views. A welcomed break in the rain for that moment for them as well.
The couple now heading back to London and no doubt looking forward to seeing their toddler, Prince George -- Christine and John.
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BERMAN: Max was too modest to admit it, but she was wearing a Jenny Packham dress last night, I think that's how you say it. On Twitter, I notice 8,000 mentions of Jenny Packham dresses she appeared miraculously last night wearing. Apparently, that's a big deal. You can buy it off the store shelf, and it's not that expensive. True story.
ROMANS: All right. Well, look at you and your fashion report.
BERMAN: How do you like that?
ROMANS: John Berman, love it.
BERMAN: Fifty-four minutes after the hour.
A new list revealing the top U.S. companies to work for. Did your employer make the list? Did ours? An EARLY START on your money, next.
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ROMANS: Welcome back. Let's get an EARLY START on your money this morning.
Stock futures mixed right now after a market tailspin yesterday. Concerns over the Chinese and Greek economy sent the Dow down more than 200 points early Tuesday. But then by the afternoon there was a rally, it lost just 51 points. A really wild day yesterday. The S&P closed down, the NASDAQ ended higher.
Crude oil prices also rebounded after hitting a five-year low on Monday. But oil, put in perspective, has lost most of those gains overnight. Prices have fallen roughly $40 from June highs.
Big news in Detroit this morning. The city will officially come out of bankruptcy today. A federal judge last month approved the city's plan to shed most of its $11 billion debt. The court also allowed $1.5 billion spending to improve essential services like police, fire and sanitation departments. You got to pick up the trash and you got to answer the 911 calls.
The 16-month municipal bankruptcy was the largest in U.S. history. The city's turnaround was helped by a rebounding auto sales and boom in construction.
All right. What is the best company to work for? Google outranks everyone else, thanks to outstanding pay and fulfilling work. That's according to Glassdoor, a job site that asks more than 800,000 people to rate their employers.
So, where else are employees happiest? The consulting firm Bain and Company, Nestle's Purina Pet Care, the software developer P5 Networks, and the Boston Consulting Group. And you know what? Pay was important. But employees say it was office culture and great coworkers that make companies satisifed.
BERMAN: My official statement is that I am very satisfied with this job at 5:00 in the morning.
ROMANS: I like my coworker.
BERMAN: As far as you know.
EARLY START continues right now.
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