Return to Transcripts main page

Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Rand Paul Throws His Hat in the Ring; Israel Puts Forward Alternative to Iran Deal; Humanitarian Crisis in Yemen; Manhunt in Kenya; Boston Marathon Bomber's Fate Rests with Jurors. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired April 07, 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: The 2016 White House race growing this morning. Senator Rand Paul set to make his big announcement. What his path to victory could look like, the chain affect his announcement could have for other potential contenders.

Yemen in crisis. Once a key ally in the U.S. war on terror, war escalates. As thousands trying to evacuate. We are live with the very latest this morning.

Deliberations begin in the Boston marathon bombing trial following a dramatic day in court.

[05:30:04] The emotional closing arguments ahead.

Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans. Thirty minutes past the hour this morning.

Happening this morning, another presidential hopeful entering the contest as Rand Paul prepares to officially announce his plans for a 2016 run. The Kentucky senator will enter near the top of a crowded Republican field with CNN polling putting him in third place at 12 percent. Even so, Paul is hedging his bets setting up an unusual combined fundraising committee that will let donors give to both his presidential and senatorial campaigns at the same time.

We get more this morning from senior Washington correspondent Jeff Zeleny.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Christine.

The second Republican presidential candidate is going to throw his hat in the ring today. That Senator Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky. He's going to have his announcement in Louisville, Kentucky, about midday.

He's going to try to run against Washington, trying to say he is a crusader from the outside, trying to build that coalition of libertarian voters, of younger voters, of Tea Party activists, all rallying against the establishment. If it sounds familiar, it probably should. He is not that different from Senator Ted Cruz, who, of course, was the first Republican to announce that he was running.

But Rand Paul is somewhat different. He has been out campaigning for longer than Ted Cruz. He is also running on his father's name. Ron Paul, of course, ran for president at least three times. He galvanized the support of libertarians.

So, Senator Rand Paul is a modern day version of his father's presidential candidacy. But the establishment is not taking him lightly at all. The Jeb Bush campaign in waiting we should say is watching this announcement very carefully. They believe that Rand Paul will be a force to be reckon with here.

But as Republicans are watching that, Democrats are still keeping an eye on Hillary Clinton. The Clinton campaign in waiting is on alert for a campaign at any day. It could come this week. It could come as late as next week. But by then, she is expected to be in the race as well.

So, the early version of the 2016 already is well under way. By the end of this week, we could have three candidates. And next week, Senator Marco Rubio is adding his name to the mix. So, a lot of political action here in Washington -- Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right, Jeff Zeleny, thanks for that this morning.

With Hillary Clinton's expected announcement coming in the next week or two, we're learning more about the kind of campaign she plans to run. Sources close to Clinton's organization telling the Associated Press she's going to bypass big speeches to huge crowds in the early going. Instead, she'll focus on intimate events that put her in direct contact with voters in early primary states. We're also learning more this week -- we'll learn more this week about the Hillary Clinton e-mail controversy as the Clinton Library releases documents related to the former Secretary of State starting Wednesday.

Jeb Bush likely to face questions as he visits Colorado today, questions over his 2009 voter registration form. The Republican presidential prospect laughing off the small tempest over listing himself as Hispanic. Bush of course is white. His wife and children are Hispanic. Son Jeb Bush Jr. tweeted a link to a news story on the form and the comment "lol, c'mon Dad, think you checked the wrong box. #honorarylatino" Bush Sr. responded with his explanation: "My mistake. I don't think I fooled anyone." A spokeswoman says it's unclear where the paperwork error was made.

The shape of Israel's plan to block President Obama's nuclear deal with Iran becoming clearer this morning. Just one day after a leading Democrat said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has offered no real alternative to the agreement hashed out last week in Switzerland, Israel detailed the changes it wants to the deal. The administration may disagree over whether those changes are realistic, since they include Iran stopping all nuclear research and development, and exporting its uranium stockpile out of the country.

CNN's Jim Acosta has more from the White House.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Christine, the White House is in rapid response mode as the president sells his nuclear deal with Iran. He's also taking on critics and Congress and U.S. like Israel. The president weighed in on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's demand that Iran recognize his nation's right to exist as part of a nuclear deal.

The president insisted to National Public Radio that's a deal Iran never would have accepted.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The notion that we would condition Iran not getting nuclear weapons in a verifiable deal on Iran recognizing Israel is really akin to saying we won't sign a deal unless the nature of the Iranian regime completely transforms. And that is I think a fundamental misjudgment.

ACOSTA: Part of the reason there is so much skepticism is the fact that a big portion of the framework agreement touted in the Rose Garden last week is hardly settled. The White House conceded the U.S. and Iran have yet to agree on when sanctions on Tehran will be lifted.

[05:05:03] Also a confrontation between White House and Congress is becoming even more of a possibility as Republicans say they are busy gathering up Democratic support for a plan to have Congress vote on the final nuclear deal.

The White House said, again, the president will veto the measure, but Republicans are getting increasingly confident they may have enough votes to override that veto -- Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right, Jim Acosta. Thanks for that, Jim.

In Yemen this morning, southern militia is attacking Houthi fighters across several provinces with backing from air strikes by a Saudi-led Arab coalition. There are signs the Saudis may also be preparing for a ground invasion. Pakistan says Saudi Arabia has asked it to provide aircraft, war ships, and, crucially, troops to join in the fight against the Houthis. As the Saudi-led offensive enters its 13th day now, widespread power outages and shortages of food and water create a huge humanitarian disaster. And refugees scramble to evacuate the country in ever greater numbers.

For the latest on the situation, I want to bring in senior international correspondent Nima Elbagir. Good morning, Nima.

NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Christine. Well, it sounds like the fighting is almost down to is street by street around Yemen's strategic southern port of Aden. Aden is going to be more crucial as that likelihood of ground troops grow. Aden is where they need to resupply fuel (ph). Aden is where they would need to have a presence to start moving up through the Yemeni peninsula.

What you're seeing there is footage from inside Aden. Those gunshots really giving you a sense of how fight, how fierce that fighting is. That's what we are showing you is the Maala (ph) district, which is very, very close to Aden Port. That footage sent to us from sources on the ground there, really a glimpse of what the reality is like in Aden and in much of the south of Yemen for those civilians caught inside this -- what is becoming a horrifying humanitarian situation.

Those who can get to hospitals where some the aid organizations are, people like Doctors Without Borders and MSF, do have a surgical trauma unit. But they say so many of those roads into those hospitals are blocked off by the fighting, that they are really concerned, that there are so many people, Christine, that they are just unable to provide those basic services for. The Red Cross has a plane that's been grounded here in Djibouti. They're still desperately trying to reinforce their supplies there. And all the while, this doesn't look like this offensive is going to be going away any day soon now, Christine.

ROMANS: Indeed. All right, Nima Elbagir, thank you so much for that this morning.

Kenya continuing its offensive against terror group al Shabaab as the manhunt continues for Mohamed Mahmoud, the named mastermind of the massacre at the university in the city of Garissa. This as Kenya's military takes out two al Shabaab camps in Somalia where Thursday's militants were apparently based.

CNN international correspondent Christian Purefoy is on the ground in Kenya with the very latest. Even as this community is just trying to make sense of what happened, a hunt now on for the mastermind.

CHRISTIAN PUREFOY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. As you said, there have (INAUDIBLE) against two al Shabaab camps in the Somalia, which is about a four-hour drive from where I'm standing on a dirt track road, Christine. And then the Interior Ministry has also released this information, what they say is the mastermind behind the attack, Mohamed Mahmoud. Very dangerous man. They say he's in charge of the militia along the long, porous border of Somalia, and in control of the attacks in Kenya.

A similar attack in 2013 under his command happened when a bus was coming to this town of Garissa. The terrorists went into the bus, Christine, took out the passengers, separated Christians from Muslims, and began to kill the Christians. Exactly same modus operandi as what happened at the university only a few hundred meters from where I'm standing, Christine.

ROMANS: What do we know about the motive for that attack on Garissa? You say mastermind, the named mastermind, was someone who has targeted this town before, this area of Kenya before.

PUREFOY: Yes, firstly, just to say, we use these terms mastermind, Christine, but really these people are just thugs using the most simple means possible to kill as many people as possible. And their objectives are really very simple as well.

Garissa has been subject of many attacks by this group, the university, the buses are some examples. It sits on one of the longest religious fault lines basically in the world between Christian sub-Saharan Africa and a predominantly Muslim Northern Africa, Christine. And this is where the two religions meet. A lot of friction here. This is where al Shabaab wants to come in, people like Mohamed Mahmoud, cause more division and more chaos, because that, Christine, is where these groups thrive.

ROMANS: A very fair point, Christian, about the word mastermind. It almost gives him too much -- too much intelligence or credibility.

[05:40:03] Thank you so much for that report this morning.

Forty minutes past the hour. Time for an EARLY START on your money. European stocks are up on a FedEx deal. FedEx wants to purchase its Dutch rival TNT, a multi-billion dollar deal. U.S. stock futures barely moving so far. Yesterday, the Dow rose 118 points, back up for the year. Stocks easily handled that disappointing March jobs report. Lackluster jobs numbers could cause the Federal Reserve to delay a hike in interest rates.

The biggest winner: energy stocks. Crude oil up 6 percent after Saudi Arabia said it was charging a higher price just on Asian nations. So Saudi Arabia, a big oil producer, raising oil prices. Prices dipping a bit this morning. The supply glut still in focus here; still expensive to keep prices low.

Deliberations begin this morning in the Boston Marathon bombing case. The dramatic final arguments the defense and the prosecution made to the jury. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: Jurors in the Boston bombing trial begin deliberation this morning. During closing arguments Monday, prosecutors linked the Tsarnaev brothers as unified terror team. But Dzhokhar's attorney tried to persuade jurors his client was influenced to carry out those attacks by his brother.

CNN's Alexandra Field has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christine, survivors of the marathon bombings and family members filled the courtroom to listen while prosecutors once again laid out the graphic details of those deadly attacks.

[05:45:05] They heard the prosecution implore the jury to find Dzhokhar Tsarnaev guilty of all 30 counts and they heard prosecutors tell the jury that Dzhokhar was a young man who wanted to terrorize, who planned to terrorize, that he and his brother considered themselves soldiers, mujahideen, and that they wanted to target the city of Boston.

Dzokhar's motive, according to the prosecution, laid out in the note he left in the boat, in which he writes, "We Muslims are all one body. You attack one, you attack us all."

For its part, the defense doesn't deny Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's participation in the events, but his attorney Judy Clarke says if not for Tamerlan, none of this would have happened. This is the strategy of the defense to show Dzhokhar as a younger brother influenced by his older brother. We'll see how of an impact that strategy has on the verdict phase of this trial. But it could have a significant impact on the sentencing phase of this trial.

If the jury finds Dzhokhar guilty of just one of 17 counts that comes with the possible death sentence, the jury will have to evaluate whether or not they choose to spare Dzhokhar's life -- Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right, Alexandra in Boston for us. Thanks for that.

Let's take a look at what's coming up on "NEW DAY". Alisyn Camerota joins me now. Hi Alisyn.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR, "NEW DAY": Hey Christine, great to see you. So we will have much more on the Boston Marathon bombing trial. Will the jury believe that Dzhokhar was manipulated by his brother? And if he is found guilty, will he get the death penalty? Our legal experts will share their predictions.

And just a few hours from now, Senator Rand Paul plans to announce that he's running for president. How will Paul set himself apart from the pack? We'll get insight from those who know him best, including a former staffer. What's the Rand Paul appeal?

ROMANS: All right, we'll be watching.

CAMEROTA: We'll answer it.

ROMANS: Thanks, Alisyn.

All right, 46 minutes past the hour. "Rolling Stone" shredded for shoddy journalism. Now facing a big lawsuit. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:50:35] ROMANS: New details from Columbia University's School of Journalism about its review of a now retracted "Rolling Stone" story on an alleged rape on the UVA campus. Now, that review found failures at all levels of "Rolling Stone". Errors Columbia says could have easily been avoided if basic standards were met by the author and others at the magazine.

And now legal action on the horizon against "Rolling Stone". The latest this morning from CNN's Sara Ganim.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SARA GANIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christine, Phi Kappa Si fraternity now says it plans to sue "Rolling Stone" after an investigation found there was no evidence of that gang rape as it was portrayed by "Rolling Stone" last year.

"The Columbia Journalism Review" says "Rolling Stone" failed on every journalistic level. The review of the story found the magazine writer didn't call enough sources and placed the credibility of the entire magazine on a single source, the woman named "Jackie" who is at the center of the piece.

Now, Columbia's dean, Steve Coll, says all of this could have been avoided if the writer had just picked up the phone and called a few of Jackie's friends who she says were with her that night. Take a listen.

STEVE COLL, DEAN, COLUMBIA JOURNALISM SCHOOL: The result of calling friends would have been a whole another world of information. And that's why you do it, not just to be fair but because you learned things.

GANIM: Now, all three of those friends said they would have spoken to "Rolling Stone", and "Rolling Stone" admits that their stories would have presented red flags, not only to the reporter but to her editors who the reviewer said did not do enough. Instead, "Rolling Stone" honored the request from "Jackie" not to talk to anyone else until the story published.

Now, in the article, "Jackie" tells this horrifying story that she had been raped by several men at a Phi Kappa Si fraternity party. But Columbia says that "Rolling Stone" didn't do enough to get the fraternity's side of the story. Columbia also found there was no intentional wrongdoing. Now, the story's writer, Sabrina Rubin Erdely, said in a statement, quote, "These are mistakes that I will not make again."

The alleged victim, Jackie, didn't cooperate with either investigation, Columbia or the police. "Rolling Stone" magazine has now apologized, retracted their story, but they say that no one will be fired -- Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right, Sara Ganim. Thank you for that, Sara.

Rutgers University banning all fraternity and sorority house parties for the spring semester. The move comes after several alcohol-related incidents on the New Jersey campus. In September, a 19-year-old student died of alcohol poisoning after partying at a fraternity house. Six weeks later, a severely intoxicated member of a fraternity wound up hospitalized.

Hillary Clinton is almost certainly running for president and that could mean big money for the owners of electhillary.com. Forget stocks, how about investing in web site domain? Got to buy and hold. That's next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:56:53] ROMANS: Let's get an EARLY START on your money this morning. It's a good morning for stocks so far. European stocks up. FedEx plans to buy Dutch rival TNT Express. U.S. stock futures barely moving so far. Yesterday, the Dow rose 118 points, back up for the year. Stocks easily handled that disappointing March jobs report, because lackluster jobs numbers could cause the Federal Reserve to delay hiking interest rates. That's the theory, at least.

The big winner: energy stocks. Crude oil surged 6 percent after Saudi Arabia raised prices for oil sold in Asia. Oil prices of course have been volatile. Gas prices have been relatively low and staying there. But who knows when that will change? Now there is a way to protect yourself at the pump -- something called lovemygasprice.com lets drivers basically purchase insurance against rising gas prices. This is how it works. You [Pay $4 a month for insurance. That gets you a cap of $2.75 a gallon. If the national average rises about that, well, you get money back. It's a way to plan like airlines and shipping companies; they use the futures market to lock in rates with fuel contracts.

Now it is almost certain Hillary Clinton is running for president, owners of official sounding Clinton web sites trying to cash in. USAhillary.com is on sale for $100,000. Electhillary.com for $295,000. And perhaps the overly confident reelecthillary.com is going for $275,000. The owners of these domains have been sitting on them for years as an investment. It's a classic buy and hold strategy that they hope will payoff.

Deliberations begin this morning in the Boston Marathon bombing trial. "NEW DAY" picks up that story right now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The Boston bombing case now in the hands of the jury.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look, if any crime ever warranted the death penalty, it's this one.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is not a who done it, he did it.

SEN. RAND PAUL (R), KENTUCKY: It's time for a new way. A new leader.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Another hat landing in the presidential ring.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You should be a little worried about Rand Paul.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is Yemen, in collapse.

(SHOUTING & EXPLOSIONS)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We see this as a war of necessity in which failure is not an option.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think we're going to see some tragedy here soon. But it's not like we didn't have any warning.

(CHEERING)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We overcame too much to just lay down.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They proved it here tonight, unbelievable.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo, Alisyn Camerota and Michaela Pereira.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, welcome to your NEW DAY. it's Tuesday, April 7th, 6:00 in the East.

Nearly two years after the Boston Marathon bombings, it is time for justice. The fate of the Boston bomber is now in the hands of a Boston jury and could be known within hours. It's one of the two big trials wrapping up this week in Massachusetts. The other involves former New England Patriots star Aaron Hernandez. Now he is accused of murder as well.

CAMEROTA: There had been weeks of dramatic testimony in both trials. So will jurors believe Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's defense that his brother Tamerlan manipulated him into taking part in the Boston attack? If convicted, will he be put to death?

[06:00:00] Let's begin with CNN's Alexandra Field. She is live for us in Boston. What's the latest, Alexandra?