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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Texas Copes with Aftermath of Deadly Floods; U.S. Military Mistakenly Ships Live Anthrax; The War on ISIS: Iraq Suffers Setbacks; World Soccer Officials Busted. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired May 28, 2015 - 04:30   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:30:37] CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, some parts of Texas evacuating as more rain -- more rain moves in. Rescuers pulling victims from the receding flood waters. Community facing historic devastation and it is not over. Storms still to come ahead.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Anthrax alert. The U.S. military ships live anthrax across the United States and around the world by mistake. Dozens of people exposed now being tested. We are live with how it happened.

ROMANS: New setbacks for Iraqis trying to take back seized territory. We go live to Baghdad ahead.

Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.

BERMAN: I'm John Berman. Thirty-one minutes past the hour right now.

And happening now, authorities in Texas are ordering voluntary evacuations along part of two rivers. They are worried the predicted heavy rain will cause more flash flooding this morning.

This as crews push ahead with the clean up from major flooding that hit this week. More than a foot of rain pushed water over the banks in Hays County, and elsewhere in Texas. Thousand were torn from their foundations and also cars pushed downstream.

The search for bodies is still underway with at least 21 known confirmed deaths at this point in Texas and Oklahoma. One family outside Houston spent Wednesday searching for the body of 73-year-old Alice Tovar, reported missing when she did not show up for work.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JESSE YANES, SON OF FLOOD VICTIM ALICE TOVAR: She is cold. She's wet. She belongs at home. That's where we're trying to get her. You just got to do what you got to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: So sad. Her body was found late in the afternoon, less than 100 yards from the crossing where she went missing.

ROMAS: The latest on the aftermath of the deadly flooding. I want to bring in CNN's Ana Cabrera from Wimberley, Texas.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANA CABRERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John and Christine, residents here are in clean up mode. This flood was catastrophic. In fact, nine cabins on just this vacation property were mutilated, leaving behind these huge piles of splintered wood, of twisted metal, of tossed furniture. The owners of this property say they had this place in the family for 70 years and they have never seen flooding like this.

Normally, the Blanco River stays down there. But the water rose with such fury and so quickly that some people couldn't escape, several are still missing. In fact, the Texas task force one has been called in now to lead the search effort. We have seen people searching by helicopter, by boat, and on the ground along the river banks.

That is the main priority right now, finding those missing. But we continue to hear stories of survival, incredible stories like that of Galya McNeil, who says she barely made it out of her home as the water broke through windows, busted walls, tossed furniture in every direction. She and her husband got to her car, but then as the water rose around it, the air bags went off.

And listen to what happened next.

GALYA MCNEIL, HAYS COUNTY RESIDENT: I couldn't get out. I was driving and my husband was able to get out on that side. And this man just appeared and pulled me out, and -- because I could not get out otherwise.

CABRERA: Right. Who was this man?

MCNEIL: His name is Chance. That's all I know.

CABRERA: As residents like McNeil try to get their feet back under them, the flood threat remains throughout the weekend, with isolated thunderstorms still in the forecast that could bring a huge amount of rain in such a short amount of time, soaking an already saturated ground. The water just has nowhere to go -- John and Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: Nowhere to go. Ana Cabrera, thank you.

We also continue to get harrowing images of the moment water tore through houses along the Blanco River. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, no!

(END VIDEO CLIP) ROMANS: It looks like a washing machine. The water just churning through there. Caught up in the same flood were three families sharing a vacation cabin in Wimberley, including Jonathan McComb, his wife and two small children. They are 4 and 6.

The raging water picked up the cabin and carried it downriver, tearing it apart all along the way. At one point it ran into a bridge and the roof peeled off.

Jonathan McComb's father, Joe, said his son was separated from his family as they fought for survival.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE MCCOMB, FATHER OF FLOOD SURVIVOR: I just kept praying and saying, I've got to get out of here. He said, I was swimming -- trying to swim, grabbing for air.

[04:35:00] He said I didn't not whether I was going up or down. He said I got to get -- of here and he kept -- just adrenaline was driving him. He was able to get up and he got up enough to see the light at somebody's house.

Crawled over there, knocked on the door and told them, our house just got washed away, I need help and pretty much just, I guess his energy just collapsed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Jonathan is in the hospital with a collapsed lung. Everyone else in that cabin is still missing this morning.

BERMAN: A new round of severe weather in Texas Wednesday afternoon. Look at this. A tornado touched down in the panhandle. It damaged a gas drilling rig in Hemphill County and injured three people. Two of them critically.

With the ground saturated across Texas and it will not take more rain to cause more flooding. Unfortunately, there is more rain in the forecast.

Meteorologist Derek Van Dam tracking the weather for us -- Derek.

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, a very persistent weather pattern causing this heavy rain. And talking about the saturation, John and Christine, we've had over 20 inches of rain falling in some locations and currently as we speak, we have 183 reporting stations along the creeks and rivers along Arkansas and Texas and Oklahoma at or above flood stage. There is more rainfall in store today and through the weekend.

However, there is light at the end of the tunnel. We'll talk about that in a second.

Look at the shading of yellow, right near the border of Texas and Oklahoma. The area we have received the most rain so far expecting another two to three inches of rainfall.

And just because we don't have the heavy rainfall near Houston and Austin, doesn't mean this water won't move downstream causing the potential for more flooding, especially on those Flood watches and warnings in effect for the region, including the greater Houston region. Upwards of 4 million people under a flood watch as we speak. Here is the radar across Oklahoma and Texas panhandle and parts of Kansas.

This system continues to move east and once we get the daytime heating from the sun, we will see more shower and thunderstorm activity flared up. In fact, we have the possibility of severe weather in western Texas and Oklahoma panhandle and western Kansas and Nebraska, large hail and damaging winds and isolated tornadoes.

I talked about silver lining in the forecast, six to 10-day outlook does show a drying trend. Good news.

Back to you, guys.

ROMANS: That's what they need. All right. Thank you so much for that, Derek.

Breaking overnight, federal officials investigating after the Defense Department accidentally shipped live anthrax samples to labs in nine states and to a U.S. military base in South Korea. Officials say no one has become ill. There is no threat, they say, to the public. But four defense workers in the U.S. and 22 in South Korea have been on post-exposure treatment.

CNN's Kathy Novak joins us live from Osan Air Base in South Korea.

Kathy, what's the latest?

KATHY NOVAK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Christine, it was an emergency situation when this was discovered here in South Korea that this live anthrax had been sent for this training exercise from the lab in Utah. Now, 22 people were involved that may have been exposed to the anthrax. We are told at this stage, they are not showing symptoms of having been exposed, but as a precaution, they have gone through tests. They have been given antibiotics and in some cases vaccinations.

In the meantime, a major investigation is underway. The Pentagon working with the CDC to find out exactly how this happened and how to find the links in the chain that just went wrong. Utah lab shipping to nine states and in the meantime, they are shutting down a shipment of the anthrax until they get to the bottom of this, Christine.

ROMANS: Until they get to the bottom of it. What a terrifying mistake, obviously a mistake. Thank you so much for that, Kathy.

BERMAN: All right. Happening this morning, new information on the battle for Ramadi in Iraq. The Iraqi government insists they launched a major offensive to retake Ramadi from ISIS. But in the U.S., Pentagon officials see no sign of Iraqi forces inside Ramadi. ISIS appears to be fortifying its hold on that the city, laying roadside bombs and booby traps, also sending in new supplies.

CNN senior international correspondent Nick Paton Walsh live for us in Baghdad this morning, trying to separate, you know, fantasy from reality there.

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: John, that is a complex task, obviously, given the level of access frankly we can get to these battle fields. It is clear there is a mixed picture, 30 Iraqi soldiers killed by suicide bombs. Now, that is south of Fallujah, al Masla, down there. That is some distance away from Ramadi, still, remember, Fallujah is held by ISIS as is Ramadi.

It is around those two key population centers that Iraqi security forces and Shia fighting groups are maneuvering at this stage.

[04:40:03] But also, the Iraqi security forces claiming yesterday they got to the outskirts of Ramadi, not something the U.S. necessarily can verify themselves. They say Iraq security forces are near the University of Anbar which is southwest of that main population center.

But it is an extraordinarily mixed picture. It's very slow going. We have seen how sand storms have slowed down. Yesterday, to the north of the Anbar province by the oil refinery, to see how Iraqi special forces are facing off with is. One group described how during the sand storm of two days ago, ISIS used that cover to get within 20 meters of the place they were defending.

The sand storm dropped and a firefight began there. Slow moving and particularly in the oil refinery to push ISIS. They frankly have a realistic vision of the world and quite happily leave behind a burning oil refinery if they were forced to retreat.

They have to move slowly there because of the risk of ecological disaster, but too, they are willing to fight. They wanted to wield their fire power a lot around us. In fact, they say they have the ammunition they need and people they need, but it is slow going. That will be replicated I'm sure around an urban sprawl like Ramadi.

It used to house nearly a million people. It's going to be tough dislodging a group like ISIS who are quite willing to die, but that is the task ahead of the Iraqi security forces with Washington providing at times unhelpful 24 hour commentary as how this is all going -- John.

BERMAN: Interesting. All right. Nick Paton Walsh for us in the Baghdad, thanks so much, Nick.

ROMANS: All right. Forty-one minutes past the hour. Time for an early start on your money.

Asian stocks are lower. Look at Shanghai down 6 percent. That is a big move for one day. European stocks and U.S. stock futures are down too. Yesterday, the NASDAQ yesterday topped the record high close.

FIFA's corporate sponsors are worried, but not backing out of dealing over corruption charges. Overnight, Visa warned the organization, clean up your act. Quote, "It is important that FIFA change now. Should FIFA fail to do so, we have informed them that we will reassess our sponsorship."

Other major sponsors also expressing concerns, but not backing out yet. Coca-Cola, McDonald's, Adidas, Budweiser, Adidas and Visa pay about $32 million a year for their partnerships with FIFA. Coca-Cola and McDonald's and Budweiser pay about $19 million each a year. In They have brands and logos in front of millions of soccer fans. That's a really valuable relationship. The most important relationship is between the companies and the viewers and the fans. Not necessarily FIFA.

BERMAN: But they're uncomfortable this morning. The question is how uncomfortable will they get over the next few days? That may determine Sepp Blatter's future.

All right. Rick Santorum, he is now officially running for president. The man who won the Iowa caucuses four years ago. He is in it again. What are the challenges he faces? He talked to CNN. We will tell you what he said, next.

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ROMANS: After a surprising showing four years ago, Rick Santorum running for president again. We get more from CNN's Joe Johns at the campaign kickoff.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: John and Christine, Rick Santorum kicking off his campaign for president here at this manufacturing plant ten miles down the road where he grew up in Pennsylvania, striking mostly conservative themes as expected saying he will fight for working Americans in the race for the White House.

He had a surprisingly strong run for the Republican nomination four years ago. He is back at it again. Though this time, he faces more competition.

Last time, he finished second behind Mitt Romney. But no one's calling him a front runner. He did it on a shoestring and shoe leather last time. This time, he's got a lot more support.

Santorum has more organization than last time around. He says he has people working for him in all 99 counties of Iowa and other states. His supporters are not expecting Santorum to change the message drastically from four years ago because it helped him win Republican primaries in 11 states. That includes his appeal to social conservatives.

But it's clear also he has tweaked his message and adjusted the focus a bit. Listen.

When you think that Rick Santorum being the runner up for years ago doesn't make you the front runner this time? RICK SANTORUM (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I mean, if you look at

what I had to do when I left the race, I have seven kids. I had to go to work. I had to provide food for my family.

And I wasn't in front of your TV very often over the last three years. I just couldn't be. I have responsibilities to my family. That may have something to do with it.

My -- that doesn't matter. I did what I felt was right for my family. And now, here I am.

JOHNS: Today and tomorrow, Santorum heads off to Iowa where he narrowly won the caucuses four years ago. Then, he's off to the early voting state of South Carolina -- John and Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right. Joe Johns, thank you.

BERMAN: You know, Rick Santorum has the drive, the kind of drive that any politician wants to succeed needs. You know, four years ago, I interviewed him in November before the Iowa caucuses. He was ninth in the polls, 2 percent.

I said, why are you doing this? You have no chance. He's like, I think I do. And sure enough, he won in Iowa. So, who knows?

The biggest corruption scandal to hit the world of spots. We have new developments in this absolutely monstrous soccer investigation, live right after the break.

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[04:52:45] BERMAN: The U.S. Justice Department is vowing to wipe out corruption in international soccer. That's after unsealing 47-count indictment charging FIFA. Now, FIFA is the organizing governing body of world soccer. They charged FIFA members with racketeering and wire fraud and money laundering. It's just a mess.

The IRS accuses FIFA officials taking more than $150 million in bribes in exchange for lucrative media and marketing deals, spanning the last 24 years, two generations, the indictment says.

I want to bring in CNN's Alex Thomas live in Zurich.

And I have to say, this is a monster level scandal. The allegations are of that.

ALEX THOMAS, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: John, a massive storing and fast moving one, although we're going to struggle to match the fireworks of that U.S. Department of Justice news conference on Wednesday. With all those allegations that read like a Hollywood mafia movie script. As for the godfather, FIFA president Sepp Blatter in this case, he's nowhere to be seen, cancelling public appearances since this all broke on Wednesday morning with those dorm raids at a luxury hotel across town in Zurich. Blatter, wherever he is, though, will have noticed the strongly worded

statement from one of their key sponsors, credit card company Visa threatening to pull its money out of the world game unless there is change at FIFA. Also, 10 members of FIFA's executive committee being interviewed by Swiss investigators looking into those controversial World Cup bids for the 2018 tournament which was awarded to Russia, and then the 2022 event awarded to Qatar, all the day before the election of the next FIFA president which despite all the controversy and scandal is still expected to be Blatter for a fifth term at the age of 79, although his challenger, Prince Ali bin al-Hussein of Jordan, surely, must have better chances now amongst this huge scandal rocking the sport -- John.

BERMAN: It is stunning that this election is still scheduled for tomorrow. The next 24 hours will be fascinating to see if there are any elements. All right. Alex, thanks so much.

ROMANS: All right. Debt free college. Debt free college. It sounds like a fantasy.

BERMAN: It sounds like 25 years too late.

ROMANS: The idea is gaining powerful backers in Congress. It will not help you, John.

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[04:58:57] ROMANS: All right. U.S. stock futures are lower after a great day yesterday. The NASDAQ record high close. The Dow jumped 120 points. It's been kind of a wild week. The market hasn't had a true correction since 2011.

Higher interest rates are coming. The economy is strong and jobs market is improving. I think that combination means more wild swings and unpredictability. So, you could see lots of weeks I think ahead where you got some days up 100 points, some days down 100 points.

Graduate college debt free. That sounds pretty unbelievable, right? More Democrats would like to make that reality. Just yesterday, nine more Democratic senators support the resolution by Senator Elizabeth Warren, their liberal hero and others. It backs up more federal government help to support states and increased financial aid for students. It also aims at curbing soaring tuition costs.

Presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders has a proposal to eliminate tuition at all public colleges and then pay for it with a tax on Wall Street.

BERMAN: You know, it's an interesting debate. Lowering the cost of tuition across the country. Certainly, it would seem to benefit everyone, but it might just be a fantasy.

[05:00:02] ROMANS: I think they are looking for a populist call heading into 2016. They're looking for something that can really resonate on the campaign trail, that they can all get behind. Debt- free college, it would be very, very difficult. BERMAN: EARLY START continues right now.