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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

New Details On Freddie Gray Arrest; More Airstrikes Today In Yemen; Aired; North Korea Nuclear Arsenal Expanding; Senate Set To Vote On Loretta Lynch Nomination; Stock Futures Point Lower; Tsarnaev Trial Sentencing Phase. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired April 23, 2015 - 05:30   ET

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

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Is Iran arming Houthi rebels and if they are, what are U.S. ships patrolling those waters going to do about it? We're live.

Welcome back to EARLY START, everyone. I'm John Berman. It's 30 minutes past the hour right now. Christine Romans is off this morning.

New this morning, we are learning that five of the six Baltimore officers involved in arresting Freddie Gray have provided statements to investigators. Gray somehow suffered a fatal spinal injury while he was in police custody earlier this month.

We have new video right that shows the last time Gray was seen in public. You can see him. You can make him out barely lying motionless in the door of a police van.

Court documents say the events leading to Gray's death began when he saw police officers and took off running. The police union lawyer says the officers did not need probable cause to apprehend gray. His decision to flee was enough.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL DAVEY, FRATERNAL ORDER OF POLICE ATTORNEY: They pursued Mr. Gray. They detained him for an investigative stop. Had he not have a knife or an illegal weapon on him, he would have been released after paper work was done.

However, in this case, he was in possession of a spring loaded knife, which is in violation of Maryland law at which time he was arrested. Everyone keeps going back and forth there was no probable cause.

In this type of an incident, you do not need probable cause to arrest. You just need a reasonable suspicion to make the stop and that's what they in this case.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: The officers' lawyer says they did not cause Gray's fatal injury. They don't know how it happened. New protests against excessive force are set for today in Baltimore. Peaceful protests became slightly more than that. Wednesday,

as frustrated demonstrators pushed and shoved and threw some bottles toward police. Our national correspondent, Miguel Marquez, is in Baltimore with the latest.

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, this is Western District Police Station. It has become ground zero for protesters as they look for answers in the death of Freddie Gray. Today, his body was prepared to be released to the family.

The lawyer for Freddie Gray says that they will conduct their own autopsy on the body before the funeral. The pastor that will eventually conduct the funeral says that it will be days after that, that a funeral will be held for Mr. Gray.

Protesters here at the Western district and across the city tonight are promising to come back in even greater numbers later today, in the thousands at city hall.

On Saturday, they are talking about in the tens of thousands. We will see if that turns out. Another interesting thing that is happening here, though, as protesters gather here at the police station. They are also breaking off in smaller groups and moving throughout the city and blocking traffic in certain places.

But tow they are going to move a lot of the protests from this area to city hall and hope to continue to press for answers -- John.

BERMAN: Miguel Marquez in Baltimore for us.

Happening now, Defense Secretary Ash Carter says he is worried that an Iranian convoy headed towards Yemen may be bringing advanced weaponry to Houthi rebels.

Carter was not willing to say that the United States would forcibly board Iranian vessels to stop those shipments, but he did not rule out that either.

He told reporters, quote, "We have options." This as the Saudi-led coalition continues to pound Houthi positions with new airstrikes the day, just a day after declaring that air campaign in Yemen was finished.

The secretary general of the United Nations is voicing concern that the fighting has resumed and he is expressing hope that it will end as soon as possible.

CNN's Becky Anderson is following the events for us, the events inside Yemen, off the coast of Yemen, and the events concerning so many of the parties involved in Europe -- Becky.

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. The complicated calculation, I think, for Washington at present, John, this Thursday. The Saudis insist that this action is consistent with the end of what was the month-long "Operation Decisive Storm." That's what they were calling phase one as it were. The start

of "Operation Renewal Of Hope," which they announced 36 hours ago, phase two, which is part political and part military.

These airstrikes are to protect civilians from militia while behind the scenes, all willing stakeholders work on the implementation of this U.N. Resolution 2216. This is how the ambassador, the Saudi ambassador to Washington explained it Wednesday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ADEL AL-JUBEIR, SAUDI ARABIAN AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED STATES: The Houthis should be under no illusion that we will continue to use force in order to stop them from taking Yemen over by aggressive action. That will not change. We hope they will participate in the political process.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: All right, so they hope that everybody will participate in this political process. Things are complicated. It's not just in the air, nor is it, John, on the ground, that things are and we used this word before, nuanced.

[05:35:09] In the waters off what is the Arab world's poorest country. Things are really getting complicated. Witness what could be an impending showdown of the U.S. war ships led by the "USS Theodore Roosevelt" and approaching flotilla of cargo and military ships.

What's on those ships, we do not know. The U.S. is monitoring the vessels that could deliver arms to Houthi rebels. Certainly Saudis coalition partners and particularly Riyadh itself has said that military advisers have been working on the ground out of Tehran in Yemen.

They say that they have evidence of Hezbollah working in the north. They say that Iran has been arming Houthis rebels and Saleh allied forces. Whether the U.S. Navy will actually move to block those Iranian ships from entering Yemeni waters is a completely different matter.

This, of course, the background to all of this, and this is why it is so messy is that Iran and other world powers, of course, meeting for a second day of nuclear talks in Vienna seeking to finalize this deal by June 30th.

So that's going on in Vienna. We have what is going on in the air and on the ground and in the waters outside of Yemen. Meanwhile, the gulf leaders will meet May the 5th to talk about Yemen and about what they see as an expansionist Iran.

That is a week ahead of these gulf leaders meeting with President Obama at Camp David. If you want a story with more connective tissue, this is it.

BERMAN: Interesting and complicated in some places dangerous. Becky Anderson for us this morning, thanks so much.

It's 36 minutes after the hour. North Korea may already have 20 nuclear warheads and could double that number by next year. This assessment is coming from nuclear experts in China and was shared with the United States in February according to a report out in the "Wall Street Journal."

Officials in Beijing are growing more concerned about acceleration in North Korea's nuclear program and South Korean defense officials warn the North is actively working on miniaturizing a nuclear device that could fit on the tip of a missile.

The Pentagon is scrambling to move dozens of detainees out of Guantanamo Bay. This could be seen as an attempt to stay a step ahead of lawmakers, who were threatening to block due to transfers and derail the president's ambitions to shut down the military prison.

Defense officials are hoping to resettle 57 of the remaining 122 inmates by the end of the year in countries that by the way, still have not agreed to take these inmates. No word on how the administration plans to deal with the remaining detainees, who have been deemed too dangerous to release.

It took more than five months, but Congress is set to make history today. Loretta Lynch is expected to win Senate approval to become the next attorney general. She will be the first African- American woman to hold that post.

The vote comes after lawmakers finally cleared the legislative hurdle that had stalled her confirmation. Let's get the latest now from CNN's Athena Jones.

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John. Well, today is the day that Loretta Lynch will finally get a vote in the full Senate. She has waited longer for her confirmation vote than any other attorney general nominee since the Reagan administration.

Now as you know, this vote was delayed for weeks because Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell insisted that the Senate first deal with the bill to fight human trafficking. That bill got stuck in a partisan debate over abortion language.

Once agreement was reached to move forward on that bill, it was able to pass yesterday afternoon with unanimous support. That brings us to today. We expect that vote to happen around 2:00 p.m. today.

Now at least five Republican senators plan to vote for Lynch with the support of the 46 Democrats that brings her to the 51 votes she needs for confirmation although a lot of Lynch supporters both on and off the Hill hope she gets a lot more votes than just the 51 she needs.

Still if everything goes as expected, this will be a history making moment. Lynch was born in the segregated south. She will become the first black woman to head the Department of Justice. We will be watching close to see how things develop -- John. BERMAN: All right, Athena Jones for us in Washington -- thanks so much.

It is time now for an EARLY START on your money. Alison Kosik is here with me this morning.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you. We are seeing some red arrows. U.S. stock futures are pointing lower right now, but there is a lot for investors to get through even before the opening bell rings.

We are going to hearing from companies during this earnings season from Pepsi, Dr. Pepper, Hershey, GM, Southwest, and the list going on and on. Yesterday, stocks climbed. The Nasdaq hit a new high for the year and it's closing in on its all-time high set 15 years ago during the dot-com era.

Google is looking to replace your cell phone provider. The search giant just launched "Project By," a wireless service across the U.S.

[05:40:07] It's going to cost $20 a month for talk and text including Wi-Fi hooks up and international coverage. Plus you add on another $10 per Gigabyte of data used.

But if you compare, Google's plan is $15 to $20 cheaper from similar plans from AT&T and Verizon. The service will default to free Wi-Fi when that's available. There is a catch.

It is invitation only and so far, it's untested by consumers. You also have to use Google's Nexus 6 phone to be able to get that service. I say it is opening the door to hopefully more competition, which I certainly would applaud.

BERMAN: Indeed. All right, thanks, Alison. Thanks so much.

First prosecutors showed jurors a picture of Boston marathon bomber, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev flipping off the camera. Now the defense is showing jurors the video so why? What's the strategy here? We'll explain.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: Happening today, prosecutors are expected to rest their case in the sentencing phase of the Boston marathon bombing trial. A crude gesture made by now convicted killer Dzhokhar Tsarnaev while on lockup following his arrest is a flashpoint in court.

What he did is he flipped off the camera. Now lawyers are both sides are using these images in their arguments. Why? CNN national correspondent, Alexandra Field, has the details.

[05:45:05] ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, prosecutors say that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is a remorseless killer. They showed the jury a picture of him giving the middle finger to a camera, but the defense, they went a step further actually playing that video for the jury.

The video was made by a surveillance camera in a holding cell at the federal courthouse. It was recorded three months after Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was arrested. Defense attorneys playing that video hoped to take some of the sting out of the image of Dzokhar giving that middle finger.

Prosecutors said he has shown no remorse for his actions. He has been convicted on all 30 counts already, but defense attorneys wanted to provide some context to what was seen in that still image shown by the prosecution.

In the video, Dzokhar is seen walking around the cell. He sits down for an extended period of time. He is also seen looking into the camera and fixing his hair before throwing up some kind of "v" shaped sign with his fingers and then giving that middle finger.

Tsarnaev's life is on the line. Jurors will determine whether or not he gets sentenced to death. But first prosecutors are calling witnesses to testify to the pain and suffering that they've experienced as a result of the attacks inflected by Tsarnaev and hs brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev.

Jurors heard from Lingzi Lu's aunt about how Lingzi's mother traveled from China to the United States after the attacks. She shopped at a bridal store, picking out a pink gown to bury her only daughter in.

They heard from Sean Collier's stepfather, who talked about identifying his stepson's body seeing a bullet between his eyes. They heard from Adrianne Haslet Davis, a dancer who lost part of her leg in the bombings.

She talked about what would be a final good-bye to her husband, about calling her parents and telling them that these may be her last words with them.

Davis testified at some point with tears in her eyes. When she got off the stand walking on a prosthetic, she slowly walked past Tsarnaev giving him a glare. He never looked back at her -- John.

BERMAN: It's so sad.

All right, let's take a look at what is coming up on "NEW DAY." Alisyn Camerota joins us now. Good morning.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR, "NEW DAY": Thank you, John Berman. We have a lot coming up on NEW DAY. We will have the latest in the investigation into the death of Freddie Gray in Baltimore. There was an astonishing press conference yesterday in which the head of the police union served to create more confusion. We will talk to the people at the heart of the controversy there.

And of course, we will be tracking the new developments in the Yemen crisis. Saudi Arabia continuing its air campaign against Houthi rebels after saying that it would stop the air campaign.

All of this as U.S. and Iranian war ships still sit off Yemen's coast. What is next? We will explore all of that when Michaela, Chris, and I see you at the top of the hour -- John.

BERMAN: You can hear James Earl Jones say Camerota. All right, thanks, Alisyn.

Thousands making dangerous, often, deadly voyages to escape catastrophe in their home countries, but for even those who survived the journey, the story often does not end well. We will explain live next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:51:41]

BERMAN: A humanitarian crisis is unfolding on the shores of Italy. Desperate, sick and impoverished refugees are arriving by the thousands. Italian officials fear they will be overwhelmed within weeks. Other European nations including the Netherlands are now publicly warning the migrants that you will not find a home here.

CNN's Barbie Nadeau is live from Rome this morning. Good morning, Barbie.

BARBIE NADEAU, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Good morning. It is a desperate situation, just getting worse and worse. We had 200 people arrive this morning, including four pregnant women, who were rescued from the Mediterranean on rubber dinghies that were half inflated.

It's just the story that seems to get worse and worse. Today, European leaders are going to be meeting in Brussels to discuss a policy for what to do.

Meanwhile, the Italians are just in practice saving people, thousands every single day as they come from Libya into Europe by way of the Italian island of Sicily usually -- John.

BERMAN: Just today, which is a way of saying this is happening every day, Barbie, and has been for quite some time. There was that statistic, I saw, which was alarming, 120,000 migrants rescued by the Italians just last year.

NADEAU: That's right, 25,000 have come in since January 1st of this year. Traditional boat season when people come from North Africa to Sicily and Italy hasn't even begun yet. The seas are not calm enough for people to make the journey. People are taking serious risks on high seas to come across and they are dying.

We had a boat that went down with as many as 950 people over the weekend. Only 24 bodies were recovered. Only 28 people survived that wreck. It is just a desperate situation that is really just getting worse by the day -- John.

BERMAN: Barbie Nadeau for us in Rome this morning. Thanks so much. It's 53 minutes after the hour. Floyd Mayweather and Manny

Pacquiao will soon meet in the boxing ring. You will have to see them on TV. You will not believe how much a ticket will cost you. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:57:19]

BERMAN: It is that time for an EARLY START on your money. Alison Kosik is here.

KOSIK: Good morning. We are seeing red arrows before the opening bell. It is still early. We have a lot to go through before that bell actually rings.

This morning, we will get earnings from Pepsi, Dr. Pepper, Procter & Gamble, GM and Southwest, the list going on and on. Yesterday stocks climbed. The Nasdaq is at a high for the year and closing in on its all-time high that was set 15 years ago.

If you are planning to see Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao duke it out in person, I hope you have been saving up your money. Tickets are finally going on sale for the May 2nd event. Face value is at $1,500 a piece. The median price on the secondary market expected to top $11,000.

A little perspective for you, though, you look at Super Bowl tickets. They went for a median $3,300 this year. Floor seats are priced at more than $50,000. Drop in the bucket for the fight, right?

BERMAN: Look, it's the most anticipated match in years. A lot of people saying this could be the fight that saves boxing, which is a sports having trouble right now competing with ultimate fighting, but we'll see. Alison Kosik, thanks so much.

New information in the death of a man mysteriously injured during his arrest. "NEW DAY" has these new questions starting right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Baltimore has had a history of having police brutality.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In this type of an incident, you do not need probable cause to arrest. You need reasonable suspicion.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The family has no confidence that the police can actually investigate the police.

BERMAN: Saudi air strikes have resumed in Yemen.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Houthis should be under no illusion that we will continue to use force.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Iranian warships heading towards American Navy destroyers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've sent ships to that part of the world to prevent a war between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Tensions flaring in the 2016 race to the White House.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Benghazi thing is going to be very difficult for her to dig out of that hole.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Senator Paul is the worst possible candidate.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to your NEW DAY. It's Thursday, April 23rd, 6:00 in the east. Protests are intensifying in Baltimore. As time goes on answers do not come. What happened to Freddie Gray has become a rallying cry. Angry crowds throw bottles at authorities. Keep promising transparency, the question is when.

CAMEROTA: And this press conference with the attorney for the police union only revealed the fire. He revealed that five of the six officers involved in Freddie Gray's arrest gave statements to investigators 11 days ago so why do we still not know what happened?

Let's begin our team coverage with CNN's Suzanne Malveaux in Baltimore. Suzanne, what's the latest?

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alisyn. As you know, these protests they have --