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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Obama's Historic Cuba Deal: GOP Promises a Fight; Sony Cancels Release of "The Interview"; Tsarnaev in Court; New York State Bans Fracking; Russia's Economy in Crisis: Putin Questioned; Muslim Countries Uniting Against Terrorism
Aired December 18, 2014 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: An historic beginning for the United States and Cuba. President Obama announces a breakthrough agreement to restore ties to the island severed more than 50 years ago. This may be easier said than done. The big fight the president is now facing.
Movie release, canceled. Sony indefinitely pulling the plug on the controversial film "The Interview", following cyber attacks and terror threats from hackers. This morning, all eyes on North Korea. Is the leader Kim Jong-un behind the attacks? We have live team coverage ahead.
And Russia's economy in crisis. And right now, President Vladimir Putin is on the defensive, fielding uncensored questions from reporters. We're live in Moscow with this marathon sessions, that's coming up.
Good morning, everyone. A lot going on this morning. Welcome to EARLY START.
I'm John Berman. It is Thursday, December 18th, 4:00 a.m. in the East. Christine Romans is off this morning.
And developing this morning: monumental changes in the contentious and complicated relationship between the United States and Cuba. President Obama has announced plans to normalize U.S. relations with Cuba. It feels strange saying that. That after months of closely guarded secret negotiations.
The president ordered an embassy in Havana opening in Cuba for more than 50 years. There'll be a Cuban embassy in Washington. One key part of the deal: the release of U.S. contractor Alan Gross, after five years in a Cuban prison. He was immediately flown back to the United States.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALAN GROSS, FREED BY CUBA: God bless you and thank you. It was crucial to my survival knowing that I was not forgotten.
(END VIDEO CLIP) BERMAN: There was also a spy swap. Three Cubans convicted of espionage released from prisons. A U.S. intelligence asset imprisoned in Cuba for 20 years was set free.
Senior White House correspondent Jim Acosta has the very latest on this historic development -- Jim.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: John, it's not the lifting of the embargo, but the cold war between the U.S. and Cuba has started to thaw. This diplomatic deal with Cuba is the culmination of secret talks with the communist nation that begun nearly 18 months ago, in June of last year. Senior administration officials say most of the discussions took place in Canada led by deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes. And those wheels were in motion when the president and Raul Castro shook hands at Nelson Mandela's memorial service last December in South Africa.
But key sticking point remained in all of this, and that is the imprisonment of Alan Gross in Cuba.
Earlier this year, the pope stepped in, sending letters to President Obama and Raul Castro, urging both sides to resolve this issue of Gross' status. And then to push the talks forward, the Vatican welcomed officials from the U.S. and Cuba back to Rome just last October.
Then, Mr. Obama and Raul Castro hammered out the rest of this deal in the phone call yesterday, the first presidential level contact the White House says since the Cuban revolution more than 50 years ago.
And then, at the White House, at the Hanukkah celebration, the president talked about his phone call with Alan Gross.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I spoke to him on his flight. He said he was willing to interrupt his corn beef sandwich to talk to me. I told him he has mustard in his mustache. I couldn't actually see it.
But needless to say, he was thrilled. And he landed at Andrews in a plane marked the United States of America. He's going to get the medical attention he needs. He is back where he belongs, in America, with his family, home for Hanukkah.
ACOSTA: A senior administration official said Cuba's former leader, Fidel Castro, was not involved in the negotiations for this deal. As for a presidential trip to Cuba, the White House is not ruling one out, nothing Mr. Obama was in China last month, and China, they say, still has its own human rights issues and issues when it comes to democratic freedoms -- John.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BERMAN: All right. Our thanks to Jim Acosta for that report. This morning, there is a raging political debate over this move.
Opponents say it throws the Castro regime a lifeline, instead of letting the sanctions continue to squeeze it out of power. Two Republican senators, both Cuban-American and both possible presidential candidates, you can see them right there, they denounced the agreement.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R), FLORIDA: This policy contradiction is absurd. It is disgraceful for a president who claims to treasure human rights and freedom.
SEN. TED CRUZ (R), TEXAS: We have seen for six years under this situation is that we have been consistently alienating and abandoning our friends and allies, and at the same time, appeasing and coddling our enemies.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: You heard him first. Senator Rubio vowed to disrupt the plan and block any possible nominee for ambassador to Cuba.
Among the reasons critics see it not normalizing relations, they say Cuba admits to harboring fugitives wanted by the United States, including some accused of terrorism. One of the other contentious part of this agreement: the release of the three Cubans convicted of espionage in the United States. These are the pictures of them landing in Cuba after their release.
These were the final members of the so-called Cuban Five, part of a spy ring in the 1990s that infiltrated groups and military installations in Florida. One of these men, Gerardo Hernandez, was convicted of conspiracy to commit murder for his role in the downing of the planes flown by the exile group Brothers to the Rescue. It was a big story in the late 1990s.
The family members of pilots killed in that 1996 incident are furious at this agreement.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAGGIE ALEJANDRE-KHULY, BROTHER KILLED: In no way it was, in no way in this, in no way equivalent to Gerardo Hernandez who has blood on his hands.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: In South Florida, Cuban-Americans are shocked and also torn after this sudden unannounced change that 50-year-old U.S. policy. Some, mostly older Cuban-Americans, are furious, calling the president a traitor. Many, mostly younger Cuban-Americans, seem pleased.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The last six years, this administration has been negotiating with Cuba, everything in exchange for nothing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Unfortunately, unlike many in my community, I believe and I believe that many in my community believe that Cuba's best days have not yet been seen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: All right. We have another major story developing this morning: Sony Pictures has out and out canceled the release of the film "The Interview." They may never release the controversial comedy in any form, including home video. This news comes as U.S. officials prepare to announce they have determined that North Korea is behind the huge cyber attack on Sony and perhaps even the threat of violence that led most major theater chains to drop the film. That announcement could come as soon as today.
We are also learning this morning that the federal law enforcement agencies received internal warnings about the threat to theaters, but the FBI did not issue a bulletin because it did not believe that the hackers posed a real threat.
President Obama seemed to back that view in an interview.
Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: The cyber attack is very serious. We're investigating it. We're taking it seriously. You know, we'll be vigilant. If we see something we think is serious and credible, we will alert the public. But for now, my recommendation would be that people go to the movies.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: CNN's Will Ripley joins us now live from Tokyo.
Will, film release cancelled. The U.S. prepared to announce North Korea is behind the hacking. This story gets more and more interesting by the day.
WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It does. And it's really a disaster for Sony, the parent company here in Tokyo. And, of course, Sony Pictures in the United States. You talk about catastrophic financial losses, deep emotion, shaken morale.
Just -- let me read the statement sums up what the public is putting out there. You can bet behind closed doors, they are feeling even strongly, stronger feeling than this. They say, quote, "We are saddened the brazen effort to suppress the distribution of a movie and the process to do damage to our company, our employees and American public." They say, "We stand by our filmmakers and their right to free expression and are extremely disappointed by this outcome."
When I reached out to Sony spokespeople here in Tokyo today, they referred me to that statement from Sony Pictures. I also, though, reached out to the Japanese government. CNN has
learned, as you mentioned, that the United States could just be hours away now from naming North Korea as the alleged instigator of this hack. And yet, here in Japan, they are staying silent, John, which is interesting, because, obviously, we have been talking about the geopolitical situation, the tension between North Korea and Japan.
But also, one analyst pointed out to me today that Japan may be fearful that who is the next target going to be? If indeed this is North Korea driving this, they don't want to create any tension that could provoke something similar here in Tokyo or elsewhere in Asia.
BERMAN: So many complicating factors here, a lot of questions to answer by Sony, by the theater owners, perhaps by the makers of the film. Will Ripley, and not to mention North Korea who's got to answer some serious questions, too, if what the United States is accurate, that they were behind the acts.
Will Ripley in Tokyo, thanks so much.
Now, needless to say, this is turning into an expensive, expensive disaster for Sony.
Cristina Alesci is here with more on all that.
CRISTINA ALESCI, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, this is a big financial hit for Sony. First off, "The Interview" costs $44 million to make, and Sony is losing out on ticket sales to the tune of $100 million, according to one analyst. Plus, you've got to factor in the cost of software and security. Sony stock is down about 6 percent since the hack.
But the movie business is just one of Sony's problems. The company is really falling behind in electronics, a market, of course, that it used to dominate. Its television unit now struggles to make money. And its smartphones make up just 3 percent of the market.
And Sony is just simply out and out waved the white flag and dropped personal computing altogether earlier this year. PlayStation, of course, is still a highlight, but still, the company lost $1.2 billion last year.
I don't know. If I was an executive at Sony, I would find some way to monetize this movie, maybe release this digitally and charge people a lot of money to see a movie at home that should have been in theaters.
BERMAN: You can't spend $44 million on a film that won't see the light of day. That seems like an incredible expenditure to just write off.
ALESCI: Totally.
BERMAN: Cristina Alesci, great to have you here with us.
Ten minutes after the hour. Happening right now: Russia's economy in a freefall. President
Vladimir Putin answering questions right now live in front of the media, a marathon session. We're going to go live there, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BERMAN: This morning, the Boston marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev makes his first court appearance in more than a year. He will attend a final pre-trial hearing before jury selection begins in his murder trial. That begins on January 5th.
His lawyers have filed a motion to delay that start date. The judge could rule on that request today. The 21-year-old has already pleaded not guilty to a 30-count indictment.
One month after imposing it, Missouri Governor Jay Nixon has lifted the state of emergency he declared for the St. Louis area, in the wake of Michael Brown's shooting death. Nixon praised the work of local and state police and Missouri National Guard for containing the violence without a single fatality.
New York City's comptroller is looking to settle a pending $75 million civil rights lawsuit filed by the family of Eric Garner. The high profile case like Garner's chokehold death are usually handled by the city's law department, which is overseen by the mayor. But comptroller Scott Stringer says it makes sense for the city to settle the case now before a long and bitter trial begins. Garners are not expected to formally file their suit until early next year.
The San Francisco 49ers have released star defensive lineman Ray McDonald. Just last month, the Santa Clara County D.A.'s office declined to file charges against McDonald in the domestic violence investigation. Now, a woman in San Jose is accusing him of sexual assault. McDonald has not been charged in the case, but the 49ers are severing ties, citing a pattern of poor behavior.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRENT BAALKE, 49ERS GENERAL MANAGER: We as an organization have notified him and his agent that he will be terminated and released immediately, effectively immediately.
COLIN KAEPERNICK, 49ERS QUARTERBACK: This is an organization. It is a franchise. You want to have a high standard. We do around here. You have to be able to abide by that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: San Jose police have searched McDonald's home. The NFL Players Association has not decided whether to file a grievance over his release.
Federal officials have filed murder charges in connection with the deadly meningitis outbreak in 2012. The Justice Departments say 14 people were arrested, including two people who have been charged with 25 acts of second murder. Sixty-four people died after the outbreak, which was linked to steroid injections from a Massachusetts pharmacy. One victim's family member describes what happened to her mother who caught the deadly disease.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: During those ten months, her behavior changed and until finally she couldn't do anything. She couldn't walk. And I stayed with her and she passed.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Whoever was doing this, who are responsible, even (INAUDIBLE), I think they should all be held accountable. I really do believe that. I think they all should do some jail time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: The steroid was produced to be given to patients with neck and back pain. Inspectors checking conditions of the pharmacy found mold and dirty equipment.
Fracking is now banned in New York state. Governor Andrew Cuomo says he is concerned about health risks associated with the method of extracting natural gas. The governor once embraced the possibility of fracking as a way to revitalize the economies of depressed communities, along with state's border with Pennsylvania. He once considered fracking as a way to do that. New York is the first state with significant natural gas resources to ban the practice.
A new setback for Arizona Governor Jan Brewer. The U.S. Supreme Court has denied her request for a stay on issuing drivers licenses for undocumented immigrants. A preliminary injunction ordering the state to issue the licenses could come as early as today. There is no decision yet on when the State Department of Transportation will accept applications.
Republicans will have their largest majority in the House of Representatives in 83 years when the new Congress convenes in January. That is because retired Air Force Colonel Martha McSally has officially been declared the winner over Ron Barber in the Arizona House race that required a recount. This is the last outstanding race. McSally ended up defeating the Democratic opponent by 160 votes. This was a sit once held by Gabrielle Giffords.
Weekend storms could make holiday travel very difficult.
Let's go to meteorologist Derek Van Dam for an early start on your weather.
DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, John, we are waking up to a wet start to our Thursday morning across the Central Plain States and Tennessee River Valley. Wet weather will create tricky travel conditions, especially for Nashville. And it's enough cold air to the north that were actually changing this precipitation into snowfall. That's why we have winter weather advisories from Kansas, all the way to Missouri, another one to three inches of snowfall before it is all said and done. Still tracking a departing low pressure across the New England coast,
maybe a flurry for New York, but one to three inches possible for Maine. Temperatures below average for Minneapolis and Chicago. Cool day for New York City. But mild across the Southeast, including Atlanta.
We are monitoring two major storms for the upcoming weekend. Of course, a lot of people like to travel leading up to Christmas. Heavy rain for the Southeast and a wet start to the weekend for the West Coast. Once again with mountain snow -- John.
BERMAN: All right. Our thanks to Derek.
Happening right now: Russian President Vladimir Putin just starting his annual marathon news conference. He is expected to take questions. He will no doubt face questions about that country's economic crisis. The value of Russia's currency has been plunging in part because of the falling price of oil. There's also an effect by the western sanctions following what happened in Ukraine.
CNN's Matthew Chance is live for us now in Moscow.
Matthew, good morning.
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John.
That's right. This widely anticipated annual press conference by Vladimir Putin just got underway. He is standing there in the Kremlin and he will be addressing some 1,259 journalists that have come in not just from Russia but from around the world to hear what his comments are on the range of issues that have affected Russia over the course in 2014 and what he can do in the future as well.
It's been a bumper year for this country. It started off, of course, with the Winter Olympics back in Sochi in February. That was a high for the country, of course. He is likely to address that and talk about that.
He's also like to talk about the annexation of Crimea, which is when things started to go sort of shaky for the Russians. It elicited international sanctions as a result of that. It's been the conflict in Eastern Ukraine, the sanctions as I mentioned on Russia.
And now, of course, the economic crisis. That's the big crisis of the moment. The currency, the ruble plunging against the dollar by nearly 60 percent over the course of this year. People around Russia, the journalist questioning him today are going to want to know what steps he is going to dig this country out of its economic mess, John.
BERMAN: It will be interesting to see what his answers are. He will speak for a long, long time. I think the record here for these conferences is more than four hours. We will be paying attention to this for half of the next day.
Matthew Chance, great to have you with us. I appreciate it. Inside Pakistan's school massacre. CNN crews travel to where Taliban
terrorists murdered 150 people, mostly children. We're live after the break. >
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BERMAN: In the wake of Tuesday's horrific school attack in Pakistan, leaders there are turning to an unlikely source for help, Afghanistan. There is word the attack could actually help cooperation with the countries that spent years torn apart by tribal combat, but now face a common enemy, the rising threat of terrorism along the volatile border. They faced that threat for a long, long time.
Let's bring in our senior international correspondent Nic Robertson live from Pakistan this morning.
Good morning, Nic.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning, John. We are right outside the school here where the attack took place. There's no doubt that some people may be hoping this incident may help cooperation between Afghanistan and Pakistan to combat the Taliban. But already, we have seen, you know, accusations being traded one way or another -- the prime minister saying the Taliban got their training and did their using bases inside Afghanistan. The Taliban say that's not true.
But we just come from inside the school there. And I've got to tell you, this is probably one of the most horrific scenes I have ever seen. You go to the auditorium, which is the first room the Taliban burst through. And the army told us what happened. So much blood on the floor where the children were trying to hide under their chairs where they were given class.
And then the army officer who was taking us around told us the children tried to get to the doors of the auditorium to get out. As they were crowded around the doors, imagine this, the children crowded around the doors, the Taliban opened fire on them. He said 100 children were killed as they were trying to get out of that main building.
On the scene that you witness on the floor, it's stomach churning. It's awful. There's no other way to describe it. Absolute cold- blooded murder.
We went into a computer lab. There were computers down either side of the walls of the room. It was quite obvious as soon as you look at it, what had happened to the children in there.
The chairs were right by the computers. They were shot as they sat at their computers. The blood is underneath their chairs on the floor. There's no other way that you can come out of witnessing this first hand and just feel absolute awful and realize the barbarity of what went on here, John.
BERMAN: It truly is barbaric to see those images, the shoes, the school books, the blood.
Our Nic Robertson in Pakistan, thanks so much.
In historic agreement to resume our relationship with Cuba, President Obama announces a breakthrough deal. But he faces major opposition. How will that affect this plan? That's next.
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