Return to Transcripts main page

Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Terror Sweeps Across Western Europe; Obama To Propose Middle Class Tax Breaks; Pope Ends Five-Day Visit To Philippines; Energy Sector Slashes Jobs

Aired January 19, 2015 - 05:30   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Crackdown on terror. Authorities across Europe arresting suspects believed connected to sleeper cells as concerns grow about radicalized fighters returns from Iraq and Syria. We are talking with a terror expert.

Deadly ice dangers. Massive pile ups across the Northeast after a flash freeze sent cars spinning. Are we in for more hazardous conditions this week?

President Obama announcing plans to tax the highest U.S. earners to give it to the middle class. But will Republicans even consider this proposal?

Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans. John Berman has the morning off. It is Monday morning, 28 -- 29 minutes past the hour.

Let's begin with this: police across Europe remain on high alert this morning as investigators try to unravel a web of suspected sleeper cells. New arrests include five in Belgium, two more in France who prosecutors say were crossing into Italy and this morning, Belgium officials are seeking the extradition of one of several people arrested in Greece.

Following Friday's police shootout in Belgium that left two terror suspects dead and one injured, police there are out in force. Numbers not seen in 35 years, patrolling the streets, guarding embassies and guarding the country's National Jewish Museum. From Brussels, senior international correspondent CNN's Ivan Watson

has the latest.

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Christine.

European diplomats, foreign ministers are gathering here in Brussels for the first time since the deadly "Charlie Hebdo" attacks. At the top of their meeting for this meeting is the discussion of the counterterrorism efforts and the threat they perceive to European countries. In the meantime, we are starting to get details for the first time one of the suspects that was arrested in a police raid here in Belgium in the eastern town of Verviers. On Thursday night, when some of the suspects opened fire on police and were subsequently killed, a third man was arrested and he's been identified by his defense attorney as Marouane El Bali, a Belgian citizen hailing from this city of Brussels.

Now he is being charged, the defense attorney says, with participation in a terrorist organization, with possession of explosives, prohibited possession of weapons and with armed rebellion.

The defense attorney insists his client is innocent of all terrorism charges. He says that El Bali was only in the apartment that was raided by Belgium police Thursday night because he was there to deliver a pair of shoes to his friend.

He also says his client has no criminal record and was working as a security guard. El Bali comes from a neighborhood here in Brussels. It is a neighborhood with high unemployment with a large population of first and second and third generation immigrants from North Africa.

That neighborhood was again raided by police on Sunday. The mayor there tells us that they've had to beef up security precautions not only for the headquarters of police in that neighborhood, but also for the individual police officers themselves -- Christine.

ROMANS: All right, Ivan Watson, thank you for that, Ivan.

In France, a source with knowledge of the investigation into the Paris terror attacks telling CNN that police are seeking two people whose DNA was found on Amedy Coulibaly's belongings. Now Coulibaly killed four hostages in the kosher supermarket before police shot and killed him.

Three women held in connection with the Paris attacks were released on Sunday. The prosecutor's office says nine others are still being interrogated.

I want to bring in senior international correspondent, Nic Robertson live now from Paris. Good morning, Nic. It's so interesting that they are even examining the DNA on a gun magazine, a DNA in the car that Coulibaly drove trying to find accomplices.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. An accomplice that would know Coulibaly had weapons and even handled the weapons or ammunition clip for him is a worry for police because that means he has plans or other weapons and intent to use them.

And the car is the car that is believed to have been used by Coulibaly as he drove to the kosher supermarket. The indications are that perhaps somebody drove him or he got the car from an accomplice. These two people are very important for the investigation.

The assessments of the French people are approving what the French government is doing, 10,000 troops on the streets of Paris unprecedented. The president has a 21-point boost in opinion polls and the prime minister getting a 17-point boost so the security is high, but also the government doing favorably well here -- Christine. ROMANS: All right, thanks so much for that, Nic, in Paris this morning.

Today, a funeral will be held for the officer gunned down by Amedy Coulibaly the day before he murdered four people in the kosher supermarket. Clarissa Jean-Philippe will be laid to rest in Martinique. Jean-Philippe was shot in the head after she stopped the terrorist for a minor traffic incident.

It's beginning to look like an announced truce in Yemen is falling apart before it's even gone into effect. Yemeni officials have announced an immediate cease-fire between the government and Houthi- Shiite rebels. But fighting between the two sides is still raging near Yemen's presidential palace.

There may be a larger looming threat as the government deals with the rebels. There are concerns that al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula may ultimately benefit.

To break this all down for us, senior international correspondent, Nick Paton Walsh, he is the only western TV journalist in Yemen. He joins us this morning live. Hi, there.

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Christine, there is no truce to speak of here. We keep hearing blasts around the presidential administration. Let me break down how we got here.

There was a presidential chief of staff kidnapped a couple days ago. The government worries more key officials could be detained as well. The Houthi movement, a Shi'a movement, who has been sweeping across the capital, well organized military and tribal members there.

They say they detained him to stop a new constitution coming in, but it escalated last night. The government tried to put the army on the streets to lockdown the roads to better protect it. The fighting broke out between them and the Houthis.

It's not clear who started it, but right now, we're seeing continued attempts. It's invited the Houthis to get into the presidential administration. Presidential officials are saying that this has effectively the symbol of power in Yemen.

And more alarmingly in the last couple of hours, we are hearing from presidential officials that the prime minister's convoy was targeted shot at as he left a key meeting about implementing the ceasefire. All sides say they won, but nobody seems capable at implementing.

The Houthis said they had nothing to do with that convoy being attacked and condemned it, but this violence is continuing. Both sides say they want it. There are still blasts being heard behind me. Yemen continually is escalating into chaos here -- Christine.

ROMANS: And so the deteriorating security situation, that really matters to counter terrorism operations going on in Europe.

WALSH: Yes. Remember, Afghanistan on the Taliban, they were considered a safe haven for al Qaeda similar in the chaos here in Yemen from the al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula in the past few years.

The problem now is that chaos is way beyond recognition as it has been in the past. The Houthi, a predominantly Shi'a movement that some western diplomats say are backed by Iran that they deny, really militarily effective here pushing back Sunni tribes and the Yemeni army as well taking a lot of ground.

That has Sunnis here in Yemen worried that all sectarian across the Middle East now being replicated here. Some of those Sunnis I'm told may take up arms to assist al Qaeda and the tribes they have here. That gives al Qaeda space to plan attacks against the west.

In short, no matter how much more chaotic and crazy things get here in Yemen, that is good news for al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula -- Christine.

ROMANS: All right, Nick Paton Walsh, thank you for that in Yemen this morning. Here to help us understand a bit more about anti-terror operations is internationalism expert and author of "Zarqawi, The New Face of Al Qaeda," Jean-Charles Brisard.

He is joining us from Paris this morning. Thank you for joining us. We have been watching this morning new arrests and new sweeps in a number of countries, 10,000 troops on the streets of France. Are the counter terrorism agencies and infrastructure in Europe, are they up to speed and doing the right thing here?

JEAN-CHARLES BRISARD, AUTHOR, "ZARQAWI: THE NEW FACE OF AL-QAEDA": Well, indeed. They are dealing with returnees of the Syrian and Iraqi front. They are also dealing with cells in our countries that can be activated and might decide to strike terrorist attacks after what happened in Paris and what happened in Belgium.

So the organization is such that in Europe, we don't have integrated intelligence series at the European level although every European Union country is concerned by that phenomenon. Each country is doing its part for its own territory.

There is large cooperation. Bilateral cooperation has investigative teams involving several countries. We have seen in Belgium, these networks or cells, involved in several countries in Europe.

We know these people are moving a lot and have a lot of contacts with a lot of countries and other people in other countries that may have been initiated or directed to strike. This is a phenomenon that we try to watch at the European level although it is treated at the national level.

ROMANS: When you have these borders that are essentially porous for someone who is European citizen, but is following the Jihadi philosophy, that is more difficult. Let's talk about the sleeper cells.

A source telling CNN as many as 20 sleeper cells made up of 120 to 180 people may be ready to strike in France and Germany and Belgium and Netherlands. Do you think the sweeps and what the officials have been doing right now do you think they will flush out all of the participants?

BRISARD: No, of course not. It will deter or target and arrest people that are willing to get involved in attacks. As we have seen in Belgium, with the Belgium authority obviously foiled an attack on Belgium. The same happened in the U.K. recently.

In Germany, they are making preventive arrests, in Italy and Spain. This is to strike the most apparent and those who they know are the most aggressive and might decide suddenly to strike very soon. The phenomenon is more entrenched and deeper.

We have more than 4,000 European Union citizens or residents involved in the Jihad and Syria and Iraq. So the work that is to be done will not be over very soon fortunately.

ROMANS: What makes the teachings of Zarqawi and others like him resonate so well for those 4,000 European Union citizens who are at odds, at war really with their governments and the western way of life?

BRISARD: We have seen that phenomenon of departures for Jihad in the past in Afghanistan and Bosnia and Somalia and Yemen, in of course, totally different scale, very limited in terms of departure.

Today, the problem is the Syrian conflict is a close conflict, very easy to access too. The propaganda by the groups is especially effective internet and reaching the young populations in Europe, western populations essentially.

But basically the young population that might be willing to have a future to get involved in something and for them because they feel they have a crisis of identity. They are searching for themselves. It is an appeal that can be heard.

ROMANS: An identity crisis with very, very deadly results. Jean- Charles Brisard, it's so nice to see you this morning. Thank you so much for joining us from Paris.

All right, here in the country, below freezing temperatures and rain creating nasty conditions on the roads in the northeast, this was the scene on Interstate 76 outside of Philadelphia. Up to 50 cars involved in the chain-reaction crash. We are told one person died.

There are more storms in the forecast for the northeast, more storms for you, folks. Let's get to meteorologist, Pedram Javaheri, for an early look at your weather.

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Christine, across the northeast, the storm system that caused the mess on Sunday brought 2 inches of rainfall towards Central Park. Of course, the hundreds of accidents around the northeast, that one finally exiting the picture and pushing into the Canadian maritime to northern New England, going to get some snow flurries later on today. But look at the south, high pressure in place. Temperatures will be on the mild side from Atlanta to New Orleans, Dallas and Houston from the 60s to the 70s. Nashville is pushing up to 60 degrees after temperatures below freezing over the past several days, of course, leading up to last week there.

You see northern states warming up, 39 in New York City with the powerful winds in the forecast as the storm system exits the picture. Cooler anywhere from 20 to 25 degree windchill in place today and we get another storm system that sets up Tuesday night into Wednesday morning.

We will get some snow flurries across the Ohio Valley. It could pick up some accumulations around northern New England, but the moisture is in place. The cold air is in place.

So certainly some icing, some mixing of rain and snow is going to be a possibility towards the middle portion of the week. Look at the upper level winds, the steering currents in the atmosphere and jet stream is a pretty potent one. It's certainly going to support some active weather toward the middle part of week -- Christines

ROMANS: All right, Pedram, thank you so much for that. Time for an early start on your money right now, European shares mostly higher. The European Central Bank will meet later this week and will most likely announce bond buying stimulus measures.

But Asian shares are down. China's bench mark plunged almost 8 percent. Regulators there penalizing three brokerages for breaking rules around risky margin trading.

The U.S. stock market closed today for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. A little break in what's been a crazy January for investors. Triple digit moves for the Dow have become almost normal. We are seeing that volatility in commodities like oil and copper, which are really big moves. Analysts think that is going to continue for the foreseeable future.

It's 43 minutes past the hour, the president set to unveil a new plan to cut taxes for the middle class. Is there any chance that Congress newly in Republican hands, will approve of the president's middle class tax plan? We will break it down for you next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: President Obama gives his annual state of the union address to Congress and White House aides' route in force on the Sunday talk shows. They are pushing the president's marquee proposal, tax cuts for the middle class. The president wants to make sure middle income earners benefits from the improvements in the economy.

He wants those tax cuts paid for with tax and fee increases on banks and rich people. That plan had the Republicans out in equal numbers to say not a chance. CNN's Erin McPike is at the White House.

ERIN MCPIKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christine, President Obama is unlikely to get what he wants here because of how he wants to raise the revenue. Let's talk about that. He wants to raise tax rates on capital gains and dividends.

Right now that rate is 20 percent. He wants to raise it to 28 percent. He also wants to impose a new fee on large financial institutions.

As you can imagine, this was big talk on the Sunday morning shows. Dan Pfeiffer, a senior adviser to President Obama was on NBC's "Meet the Press." And then Republican Congressman Jason Chaffetz was on CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION." As you will hear, they were on different pages.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAN PFEIFFER, WHITE HOUSE SENIOR COUNSELOR: It's the simple proposition that now that the economy is in a stronger place than it has been in a very long time, we need to double down on the efforts to deal with wage stagnation and declining economic mobility. The simple proposition that we should ask the wealthy to pay a little more and invest more in the middle class giving the middle class a raise.

REPRESENTATIVE JASON CHAFFETZ (R), UTAH: It is a non-starter. We are not just one good tax increase away from prosperity in the nation. This nation had its all-time highest record number of receipts in the treasury. Are you going to actually grow the economy and jobs? Are entrepreneurs going to be better off or small businessmen going to be better off with more taxes and more government? No.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCPIKE: But here are the tax cuts that President Obama ultimately wants to offer. He wants to give a tax credit for dual income families up to $500. He wants to triple the child tax credit to $3,000.

Now keep in mind, this is a starting point and we will hear a lot about this over the next few months as Republicans and President Obama wrangle over tax reform -- Christine.

ROMANS: All right, Erin McPike, thanks for that, Erin.

The Secret Service and the FBI are investigating who fired multiple gunshots from a car outside the sealed perimeter around Joe Biden's house in Delaware over the weekend.

The vice president and his wife were not home at that time. Agents have been searching the area for bullets and shell casings. Police reported a second shooting nearby a short time later. It is not known if they are related.

Pope Francis making history during his visit to the Philippines. Record breaking crowds turned out to hear the Catholic leader despite the torrential rain. Details next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) ROMANS: Pope Francis is in midair this morning on the way back to Rome following a five-day visit to the Philippines. On Sunday, millions of Filipinos ignored a driving tropical rain to basking in the pope's presence. CNN's Anna Coren is in Manila and filed this report.

ANNA COREN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christine, incredible scenes here as millions of people gathered in Manila's Rizal Park behind me to watch Pope Francis celebrate his final mass wrapping up his weeklong trip to Asia. Now authorities were hoping for a papal milestone and it looks like they got it.

Officials saying 6 million people turned out in the pouring rain to see the pope, one parishioner describing his faith to me as waterproof. It has been 20 years since there's been a papal visit to this deeply religious country.

The last by Pope John Paul II in 1995 when 5 million celebrated mass for World Youth Day. His message throughout his visit has been to look after the poor, preserve the family and to protect children.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

POPE FRANCIS: We need to see each child as a gift to be welcomed and cherished and protected. We need to care for our young people, not allowing them to be condemned to the life on the streets.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COREN: Earlier, Pope Francis had harsh words for officials in the government and the church to end corruption, which stops the economic growth of this developing country from trickle down to the nation's poor. His mission of mercy and compassion has touched the hearts of Filipinos.

This is the third largest Catholic population in the world, the largest in Asia. He's received a rock star reception everywhere he has been. Well, hundreds of thousands of people have lined the streets every single day to catch a glimpse of the pope and his motorcade, which Filipinos are describing as a once in a lifetime experience -- Christine.

ROMANS: Six million people. All right, Anna Coren, thank you for that.

Pop star, Taylor Swift, has finally responded to that video people cannot stop watching.

Delaware's Dover Police Department released this hilarious dashcam video of its Officer Jeff Davis rocking out. They released it in an effort to help humanize officers. Swift reacting to the clip tweeting, quote, "Lol with that." It looks like she approved.

Gas prices falling that means some kinds of vehicles are selling much better and other kinds not so much. We will get an early start on your money next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: Let's get an early start on your money this Monday morning. Oil prices down again. Crude oil is about $48 a barrel right now. Crude has been slashed by more than half since the summer. That means oil companies are slashing jobs.

The world's largest oilfields services provider announced 9,000 job cuts. That's on top of thousands of cuts from BP, Shell and others. Analysts warned the shale boom is vulnerable right now because of high cost in investments in new projects. If oil prices stay low for a long time that could choke off some of those new projects.

Gas prices keep falling. It's good for you and your pocket. The national average this morning is $2.06 for a gallon of regular, the lowest in about six years. That is pushing people to buy more big cars. SUVs are back.

According to truecar.com, when gas hits 3 bucks a gallon, SUV sales begin to rise and hybrid sales starts to suffer in about 2.77. Now with gas below $2 at many stations, the trend is expected to accelerate. How soon we forget big is back.

Uber is trying to make nice in Europe. Uber constantly finds itself at odds with regulators and at the center of controversy. Now the car service is making a promise. Work with us and we will create 50,000 jobs in Europe this year.

Uber says the expansion will take 40,000 cars off the road. It also promised to increase passenger safety with better background checks for its drivers. Something it has been criticized for in the past.

A lot of news to cover this morning including the information about suspects in the terror raids in Belgium, an increased security across Europe. "NEW DAY" has that and more starting right now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Twenty people who were arrested in France and Belgium.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is an international phenomenon.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What this terrorist represents is a perversion of a major religion. And we have to take them on with everything we've got.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hundreds gathered for a rally Saturday in the capital of Chad denouncing Boko Haram.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Boko Haram unchecked is a threat not just for the region, but the entire world.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's time for the international community to step in and help Nigeria. ROMANS: A JetBlue flight cleared for takeoff barreling down the runway at full speed when the pilot suddenly hit the brakes. Another plane crossed over the runway. Pilot on another reported smoke coming from the Delta flight landing gear.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Welcome to your NEW DAY. It is Monday, January 19th. It's 6:00 in the east. Europe is on high alert. More terror cells exposed. Five Belgium nationals in custody charged with participating in a terrorist organization, plotting to target police officers specifically, two other suspects detained by the French.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: And investigators on the hunt for two potential accomplices of the Paris terrorists, whose DNA has been linked to the belongings of that kosher grocery gunman this as European foreign ministers gather today to talk terrorism. So we begin our coverage with CNN's Phil Black.