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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Report: Israel Spying on Iran Negotiations; Yemen on Edge of Civil War; Sen. Ted Cruz Declares. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired March 24, 2015 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:20] CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking overnight: Israel accused of spying on the U.S. and Iran. Reports claiming spies eavesdropped on secret nuclear negotiations. Who they sent that information to and whether this will affect the negotiations one week now from their deadline -- we are covering all angles of this important news story right now.

Good morning. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans. It is Tuesday, March 24th. It is 4:00 a.m. in the East. John Berman is in D.C. this week.

Breaking overnight: accusations emerging that Israel has been spying on negotiation with Iran over a nuclear deal, almost from the very beginning.

"The Wall Street Journal" reporting that Israel eavesdropped on negotiations, in addition to getting information from confidential U.S. briefings, informants and European diplomatic contact. Israeli officials denied directly spying on U.S. negotiators. "The Journal" says it spoke to more than a dozen current and former U.S. and Israeli diplomats, lawmakers and intelligence officials for its sorry.

Let's bring in CNN's Oren Liebermann for us in Jerusalem with the latest.

Good morning, Oren.

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN REPORTER: Good morning, Christine.

A very strong response here from Benjamin Netanyahu's government. A senior official with the government categorically denies that Israel spies on any of its allies, the U.S. or otherwise. That official also pointed out the strong security and intelligence cooperation between the two countries, something we have seen President Obama and Benjamin Netanyahu point out over the last few weeks.

At the same time, it's apparent from this end that Benjamin Netanyahu believes he has information about these deals. Over the last few weeks, we've heard his government say, "From our understanding of the deal". That understanding doesn't come from a guess, it comes from information.

And that what we're seeing now is a shift in how Netanyahu's government wants to use that information. We've seen that they haven't had any luck trying to influence President Obama or White House who have pushed forward with the deal. So, now, they're shifting to Congress. An example of that for example would be Netanyahu's speech before Congress, where Netanyahu has tried to appeal to his Republican friends, specifically his strong ties with House Speaker John Boehner to try to influence these negotiations.

At the same while that happens, while Netanyahu works with Congress, we're seeing his intelligence minister in Europe trying to influence the European end of those negotiations, with the information they have regardless for the moment of how they got that information.

The real question from all of this and what we're hearing today is what will be the long term effect, and that's where we see the rift deepening between President Obama and Benjamin Netanyahu. Christine, it's already a strained relationship and the story, what we hear today will deepen the rift between these two leaders.

ROMANS: And, Oren, let me be clear: the story from "The Wall Street Journal", it is saying there was direct spying on these negotiations. Not just the diplomatic talking back and forth among your partners.

LIEBERMANN: Again, the administration response here categorically denying any spying on the U.S. or any of the other allies, a very strong response from Israel denying the basis of the story.

ROMANS: Denying the basis of the story. Oren Liebermann, thank you for that this morning in Jerusalem.

Now, the report -- that report from of "The Wall Street Journal" of Israeli spying comes with one week left before the deadline to reach the framework for a deal. The State Department announcing that Secretary Kerry returns on Thursday to Switzerland while these negotiations are currently on a break. What will he face when he gets there?

Joining us now, senior international correspondent Nic Robertson.

Nic, what's the latest on the progress of these nuclear negotiations and then, how did these accusations, these "Wall Street Journal" report of Israel spying, how will that effect those negotiations?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, right now, Secretary Kerry has said in sort of most recent statements on this that progress has been made, genuine progress has been made. He came to London at the weekend after finishing up in Lausanne in Switzerland on Friday to brief the British, French and German foreign ministers. And that was the conclusion, genuine progress.

But we've also heard over the weekend from Ayatollah Khomeini, the sort of top religious leader in Iran, the leader in Iran, and he's been very clear. He said that the United States is bullying Iran and that we won't give in to that bullying. We've heard of slightly toned down message, if you will, from the Iranian President Rouhani. He said that, you know, we have made progress, that a deal is possible, but it depends on the political will. And from the negotiators that Secretary Kerry deals, the Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif, he's also on the record as saying that the United States and its allies have to realize it's high time they have to choose, do they want an agreement or do they want to keep putting pressure on us.

So, while progress has been made, there are still divisions, there are still issues that haven't been resolved. And the Iranians are really pushing back at the moment. And this -- now, this information that's in "The Wall Street Journal", it's certainly something that we are hearing already on the margins, that France's position and view on this perhaps is more in alignment with Israel.

[04:05:14] It wants the United States position on these talks to be much tougher.

So, you know, they have a voice in these talks. It isn't just Secretary Kerry and the Iranians, it's the P5-plus-1. So, France will be able to have a direct input at these talks, perhaps with this additional knowledge, also with the knowledge that they have from being inside the talks themselves. So, it can potentially make getting a deal harder, the road rockier to get there, Christine.

ROMANS: And already, a very rocky road with a lot of obstacles.

Thank you so much, Nic Robertson this morning for us in London.

All right. To Yemen now, with U.N. officials declaring Yemen on the brink of the civil war. The elected government, the president there, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, the president is calling on other Persian Gulf States to intervene, to stop these Houthi rebels advancing across Yemen and to help President Hadi back to power in Yemen.

This as we learn Britain has also pulled the last of its forces out of Yemen. The U.S. evacuated more than 100 Special Operation troops over the weekend. Security experts say the developments are crippling American counterterror efforts in the region, raising the possibility that Yemen could become a fertile staging ground for global terror, just six months from being a bright spot in the war on terror to being absolute disaster there in Yemen.

We are learning new details about those 11 medical students suspected of traveling to Syria to work in ISIS-controlled hospitals. That group includes seven Britons, an American and a Canadian. A Turkish lawmaker says he believes they were, quote, "brainwashed". But the students families are now saying those students went to the border between Syria and Turkey to offer voluntary medical help to refugees and they have since disappeared.

Meanwhile, Iraqi troop efforts to push ISIS out of the city of Tikrit, those efforts we understand still halted by the hundreds of IED booby traps ISIS has planted all over the city center.

For the very latest, let's bring in CNN's Jomana Karadsheh. She's live in Baghdad.

Jomana, let's begin with those medical students. What do we know about the circumstances of their disappearance? Their families believe they have not willingly joined ISIS, they were going to help refugees.

JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christine, a lot of mystery surrounding this story. What we do know from a Turkish lawmaker, as you mentioned, he says that those 11 traveled into ISIS-controlled areas in Syria and were working at hospitals there. He has said that he is convinced that they have joined ISIS, and they are working for the terror group.

But we are also hearing from their family members. They put out a joint statement in which they said that their children traveled to Turkey, to the border area where they were going to provide humanitarian assistance. Now, eight of those are doctors. Now, three in that group are medical students in their final year.

And their families say once they arrived there, they disappeared. According to the lawmaker, they got to Turkey on the 12th of March, ten of them arriving on the same flight. One flight coming in from Sudan, where they were studying, and the 11th flying in from Toronto.

Now, we don't know their exact whereabouts right now and what their motivation is, or what they are doing. But what is concerning here is that their families are saying that these were, they were top students, they were known for their morals and they come from very well-off families and their parents are prominent doctors. Most of them are at least.

So, we are trying to figure out more. We are trying to look more into the story. But at this point, a lot of mystery around it and a very difficult situation these families are in, unimaginable agony trying to track down their children and find out what happened to them, Christine.

ROMANS: Especially when it's clear what has happened to so many people who have fallen into the hands of ISIS, those hostages, just how dangerous that is.

Quickly about Tikrit, we are hearing a lot of IED booby traps in the center of the city. The Iraqi army having some trouble stopping that ISIS advance.

KARADSHEH: Well, Christine, if you recall about three weeks ago, Iraqi forces, militia and Iraqi army began that push to try to takeover Tikrit recapture the first major city that was taken over by ISIS last summer. But so far, the operations seems to have stalled over the past 10 days or so.

And according to senior Iraqi officials we've spoken to, they say what is going on right now is what they're describing as a tactical pause, that they have the city surrounded, ISIS in there surrounded, they're not going in as you mentioned, because they're concerned about mass casualties among other issues. But this is their number one concern.

[04:10:00] They say that the roads around there have been booby trapped. A large amount of improvised exclusive devices, car bombs and snipers, stopping them from advancing right now. But they hope they resume soon -- Christine. ROMANS: Jomana Karadsheh for us this morning in Baghdad -- thank you, Jomana for that.

There is new evidence this morning that ISIS is making tentative steps to expand its recruiting into Afghanistan. Take a look at this exclusive CNN video of an ISIS recruiting session in Afghanistan. It appears to be a small very early effort, but U.N. official tells us there is real concern ISIS could gain a foot hold, adding to the challenges the Afghan government already faces fighting al Qaeda and the Taliban.

Meanwhile, this morning, Afghanistan's new president, Ashraf Ghani, he meets with President Obama. Now, his number one mission, convincing the president to slow the planned withdrawal of U.S. troops. The Afghan president warning that pulling all American troops out of the country by the end of 2016 as planned could have devastating consequences for the security situation there.

Our senior White House correspondent Jim Acosta has the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Christine, President Obama is expected to shed some light today on his updated plans for winding down the war on Afghanistan. He will do that after a meeting with Afghanistan's new president, Ashraf Ghani, who was in Washington, a visit with top administration officials. President Obama had said he would slash the current number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan by half from around 10,000 now to roughly 5,000 by the end of this year, before an almost total withdrawal by the end of 2016.

Ghani wants the president to reconsider that timeline. For now, administration officials say while they are looking at the pace of the U.S. pullout, the plan is to still have a small number of troops in Afghanistan as President Obama leaves office.

Here is what White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest had to say about that.

JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: We're talking about in the neighborhood of 1,000 to 1,500 troops. At this point, the U.S. troop presence is around 10,000 in Afghanistan. The question is how much flexibility is there in the drawdown between where we stand today and at that end point in 2017.

ACOSTA: And the White House has high hopes for Afghanistan's new president. Ghani is well-known in Washington. He once worked near the White House for the World Bank and lived in D.C. suburbs.

Both the president and President Ghani will hold a joint news conference later on today, Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right. Jim Acosta at the White House -- thanks, Jim. A House panel investigating the Secret Service is warning the head of

the agency not to come to today's hearing alone. Investigators have asked Director Joseph Clancy and four other Secret Service officials to testify later this morning. But Clancy has already advised and he'll be the only one attending. Panel members warning he is the director that it is not acceptable. So far, no response from the Secret Service.

A death threat against President Obama's niece forced officials to tighten security during last night's NCAA basketball game between Princeton and Maryland. Forward Leslie Robinson is the daughter of Michelle Obama's brother. A female caller left an eight-minute voice mail for the University of Maryland Police Department before the game, warning a man with a gun was driving on campus possibly targeting Robinson. The president's niece was not notified until after the game. Her coach was aware of the threat.

Time for an early start on your money this morning.

U.S. stocks barely moving. Yesterday, they took a break from a recent rally. The Dow and S&P 500 pulled back just before the closing bell. The NASDAQ closed lower, but still above 5,000, a level it crossed Friday. Asian shares right now are mostly lower, after China's factory activity slumped in March to its level in 11 months. The latest in a string of disappointing economic reports fueling worries about lower growth and putting pressure on the Central Bank to take more action.

Thirteen minutes past the hour. A shocking story of gang rape at college fraternity published in "Rolling Stone", made headlines around the world. But a police investigation now revealing a very different story.

Plus, new this morning, Angelina Jolie opening up about new steps she's taken for her health after doctors reveal possible signs of early cancer.

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[04:17:12] ROMANS: An investigation by police in Charlottesville, Virginia, finds no substantive basis to support allegations by University of Virginia student that she was gang raped at a campus fraternity. "Rolling Stone" published the accuser's account, later issued an apology when her story was discredited.

We get more from CNN's Rosa Flores.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christine, after a four-month investigation, Charlottesville police coming forward and saying that they found no evidence to support the alleged UVA rape case that was published in "Rolling Stone" magazine of a woman that only went by the alias of Jackie.

You probably remember this from last year. "Rolling Stone" coming forward with very graphic details of seven men raping Jackie, then coming forward and publishing an apology. Many news organizations, including CNN, poking holes into that story.

Now, police say that Jackie did not cooperate with authorities, with investigators. But investigators interviewing 9 of the 11 members of the fraternity house where this allegedly happened. They sifted through phone records and they also uncovered a photograph of that fraternity house that they say was electronically stamped on the date of the alleged attack and that just nothing added up.

Now, this is not the only investigation going on. "Columbia Journalism Review" sifting through records, through the reporting, through the editorial and "Rolling Stone" magazine telling CNN that they planned to publish the results of that review in early April. Now, the police chief says this investigation is now suspended, but open. What does this mean? Well, the police chief telling CNN that means that they believe that perhaps something did happen to Jackie and that they are hoping that someone will come forward -- Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right. Rosa Flores for us this morning, thank you, Rosa.

The prosecution in the trial of accused Boston marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev nearing the end of its case. Jurors expected to hear more from a terrorism expert who testified Monday how a person can become radicalized without traveling or actual communication with terrorists. He also pointed out similarities in literature and tweets by Tsarnaev, along with his writing in the boat before his capture.

Utah's governor signing a bill to give the state a back-up plan for executions, firing squads. Lawmakers approved the measure earlier this month that OKs death by firing squad if lethal injection drugs are not available. Those drugs are in short supply nationwide. Utah is the only state to allow a firing squad as an alternative method of execution. Utah currently has eight inmates on death row.

[04:20:05] This morning, we are learning Angelina Jolie, the actress and director, has had her ovaries surgically removed to prevent the possibility of cancer. In an op-ed column in "The New York Times", the actress said a recent blood test showed early markers that could be a sign of ovarian cancer. Jolie calling it a moment of clarity realizing what is important in her life. You may remember, she had preventative double mastectomy two years ago to reduce her risk of getting breast cancer said it runs in her family. Her mother died of ovarian cancer.

Ted Cruz may have just begun his race for president, but some possible rivals from his own party are already taking shots. Plus, why Hillary Clinton is talking about new beginnings. That's next.

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ROMANS: A prediction from presidential hopeful Ted Cruz. The Texas senator says Jeb Bush will shatter every fundraising record in the upcoming campaign for the White House, but Cruz believes everyone will be surprised by how much support his candidacy receives. So far, that support is not materializing.

Here's Cruz declaring yesterday and listen to the harsh response from a fellow Republican, Congressman Peter King of New York.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Imagine in 2017, a new president signing legislation repealing every word of Obamacare. I believe in you, I believe in the power of millions of courageous conservatives rising up to reignite the promise of America.

[04:25:08] REP. PETER KING (R), NEW YORK: Ted Cruz may be intelligent person, but he doesn't carry out an intelligent debate. He oversimplifies, he exaggerates, and he basically led the Republican Party over the cliff in the fall of 2013. He has shown no qualifications, no legislation being passed, doesn't provide leadership, and he has no real experience. So, to me, he is a guy with a big mouth and no results.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: A carnival barker, not a head of state, he has said, in fact, pointing specifically to a 21 or 22-hour speech reading Dr. Seuss at times on the floor of the Senate and an attempt to shutdown the American government. Peter King and other Republicans say that's simply not presidential.

Senator Rand Paul is expected to announce his candidacy in early April. The Kentucky Republican says he and Ted Cruz agree on most things, but Paul believes he is more electable than Cruz and has a better chance of beating Hillary Clinton. The race begins, folks.

The former secretary of state could be gearing up for an announcement of her own. Hillary Clinton meeting secretly with President Obama at the White House yesterday. No details about what they discussed. At an event last night, the front runner for the Democratic nomination told reporters to expect a more transparent Hillary Clinton moving forward.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: I am all about new beginnings -- a new grand child, another new hair style, a new e-mail account. Why not a new relationship with the press?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: A new relationship with the press. Clinton describes the relationship with the media as complicated. When asked if there was an announcement coming soon, Clinton replied she's been ruminating lately.

Breaking overnight: a new report claiming Israel has been spying on nuclear negotiations between the U.S. and Iran. But who did Israeli spies supposedly give that stolen information to? A blockbuster "Wall Street Journal" report this morning. We're live, next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)