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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Jail Document: Bland Previously Attempted Suicide; Trump Defends Attacks on Opponents; Selling the Iran Nuclear Deal; Secretary Carter Lands in Baghdad; Jamaica Stuns USA in Gold Cup Semifinals, 2- 1. Aired 5-5:30a ET
Aired July 23, 2015 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans. It is Thursday, July 23rd, 5:00 a.m. in the East. John Berman has the morning off. Nice to see you, folks.
Up first, new developments in the death of Sandra Bland, the Illinois woman who police say hanged herself in the jail cell three days after she was arrested during a routine traffic stop.
[05:00:08] The results of an autopsy ordered by her family expected to be available today.
And there are details of the videotapes of Bland's arrest, tapes that appear to be edited. Police denied altering the video, passing it off as a technical issue.
We are also learning from authorities Bland told a jail employee she recently tried to commit suicide.
And we are hearing for the first time a voicemail bland left for a friend one day after her arrest.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
SANDRA BLAND'S VOICEMAIL FROM JAIL: Hey, this is me. I'm -- I just was able to see the judge. I don't really know, they have me at a $5,000 bond. I'm still just at a loss for words, honestly, about this who process. How did this witching lanes with no signal turn into all of this, I don't even know. But I'm still here. So I guess call me back when you can.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
ROMANS: For very latest on the Sandra Bland death investigation, here's CNN's Ryan Young.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christine, just a lot of information coming from the jail. In fact, new documents show that when there was an intake here are at jail with Sandra Bland, that she marked here that says she attempted suicide in 2014 after losing a child and apparently she tried to use pills to commit suicide.
On page four, though, it says that she suffers from epilepsy. But the question number 12 of page 4 says, "Have you ever attempted suicide?", and that's marked no. So, there are questions about the paper work that's coming from the jail. But jailers putting to page 2 where it says she did try to commit suicide. A lot of questions about how the jail manages people who obviously have said they tried to commit suicide before. Are there more checks for somebody who has gone through that process? That's something that we'll be asking the next couple of days.
We have also learned from officials about the idea that she may have been cutting her arm and using marijuana to self-medicate. All this goes into the background and makeup of Sandra Bland, questions that need to be answered as investigators try to find out what happened in the jail -- Christine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: All right. Ryan, thank you for that.
To politics now. Donald Trump heading to the Texas/Mexico border today. The Republican front runner scheduled to meet with border patrol and law enforcement officials in Laredo. He says they invited him to come because they want to honor him for speaking up about immigration.
The billionaire businessman also defending his treatment of fellow Republicans, telling CNN's Anderson Cooper he is just reacting to their personal attacks.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: They are saying horrible things, like, I don't even know these people and they're saying this. Now, am I supposed to -- you know, to say oh, it is OK for them to say -- one guy, I guess it was Lindsey Graham called me a jackass. So, am I supposed to say, oh, it's OK if I'm called this? I'm called a jackass. You have to fight back. The country has to fight back. Everyone's pushing our country around. We can't allow that, Anderson.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Is it presidential, though?
TRUMP: I think it's presidential to fight back.
COOPER: To give out a personal phone number of your opponents?
TRUMP: Well, that was a long story. I mean, you have to see the long story, the whole story the way it morphed, OK? That was a whole long story, where he wanted to get on "Fox & Friends" and he called me out of the blue. I never met the guy. Then he wanted to come in for campaign contributions.
And then he starts hitting me years later, then I happened to have this crazy phone number. And I held it up. I said this guy was over here. And actually, as you probably know, the room was packed, standing room only, in fact they had, theaters, it was overflow crowd, closed circuit television into other rooms. The place went wild. We all had a good time.
COOPER: But is that presidential?
TRUMP: I think so. I think it's fine.
COOPER: Is that something as president, when you're opposed by somebody in Congress, you would give out their personal phone number?
TRUMP: I was hit by somebody unfairly. I was called names by somebody. So, he was up, somebody's hitting me saying what a bad guy I am, was up in my office asking for money asking and asking if I can get him on television --
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: When you are president of the United States, you're going to be hit by half of the country.
TRUMP: That's true.
COOPER: Are you going to call them, dumb, stupid?
TRUMP: No, I think it's a little bit different. Right now, I'm trying to do something to make the country great again. Politicians will never make this country great again. Now --
COOPER: As president, you would change your tone?
TRUMP: Oh, I think so.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: He would change his tone as president.
Well, the tone is still pretty ugly in the meantime. The war of words with Graham in particular, not stopping there.
Listen to the South Carolina senator's latest comments he gave to CNN's Brianna Keilar.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think Donald Trump is a political car wreck, and people slow down to look at the wreck, but they eventually move on.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: He is explaining the high poll ratings.
We also have new information about Trump's wealth, his filings with the Federal Election Commission he earns income from more than 150 separate deals ranging from real estate projects to footwear. And he holds executive and board positions with more than 500 different companies and partnerships.
Turning now to the Iran nuclear deal. The White House selling the agreement hard here and abroad. Secretary of State John Kerry, along with the energy and treasury secretaries expected to face some tough questions in the Senate hearing this morning. House Speaker John Boehner already vowing Republicans will do everything possible to kill this deal.
[05:05:03] The Defense Secretary Ash Carter meeting with the Saudi leaders trying to assure them the agreement won't help Iran expand its military reach against the Middle East.
And breaking this morning, Secretary Carter touching down last hour in Baghdad. That visit, unannounced.
Let's get the latest from CNN's Jomana Karadsheh live from Amman, Jordan.
What's the secretary doing in Iraq, this unexpected visit?
JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESONDENT: Well, as you mentioned, Christine, an unannounced visit, landing in Baghdad in the past hour. The secretary of defense is expected to meet with Iraqi leaders, including the Prime Minister Haider al Abadi and Iraqi counterparts and minister of defense there, and a number of key Sunni officials in the country, including the speaker of parliament.
Now, while his Middle East tour has been focused on the Iran deal and reassuring allies like Jordan and Saudi Arabia and Israel when it comes to Iran and this deal, we expect that ISIS and the fight against ISIS to dominant talks between this secretary and Iraqi officials there. Now, we have heard Iraqi officials in the past few months complaining, saying that they're not receiving enough support from the international coalition in this fight against ISIS. They say one year on since the start of the military campaign against ISIS that they still need more support when it comes to more airstrikes, they say.
They say they want more weapons. They want expedited shipments of weapons that the Iraqis have ordered. Something now that we are starting to see the U.S. provide them with, with the arrival of the first batch of F-16 fighter jets that Iraqis believe will be key in their fight against ISIS, something that they hoped to receive from the U.S. for years now.
And also, they want more intelligence sharing and more training and the list goes on. Also at the same time, Christine, we expect that the secretary will also be conveying the message that more is expected from them in terms of the fight against ISIS on the ground with Iraqi forces taking the lead. The U.S. wants to see more of an effort by the Iraqi government and the Iraqi leaders to incorporate the Sunnis in the fight against ISIS. We are only seeing small numbers of Sunni Arabs joining the fight, something the U.S. hopes to change a key part of the U.S. strategy when it comes to fighting ISIS on the ground.
And also part of this visit, we expect the secretary to meet with U.S. forces who are there, 3,500 advisors and trainers who have been overseeing this battle against ISIS in the country. We expect them to probably tell them what they told General Martin Dempsey a few days ago. For now, they think there are enough U.S. troops there on the ground -- Christine.
ROMANS: All right. Jomana Karadsheh for us this morning, thank you for that.
And again, the defense secretary making an unexpected trip to Baghdad this morning.
ISIS is now a bigger threat to the U.S. than al Qaeda because of its ability to inspire Americans to commit acts of domestic violence. That's the assessment from the director of the FBI, James Comey, admitting there is no way to know just how many troubled Americans have been influenced by ISIS during the social media campaign to, quote, "kill where you are."
He says the FBI has arrested a significant number of people who have been radicalized in the last eight weeks with hundreds of other ongoing investigation.
The FBI director also warning lawmakers that terrorists are becoming increasingly more interested in cyberattacks against the U.S. Comey says the plotting appears to be in its early stages, but the bureau is picking up a lot of chatter and the threat level could grow.
The White House is in the final stages of drafting the plan to shut down the terrorist prison at Guantanamo Bay for good. Any plan would have to be approved by Congress. Right now, lawmakers have a ban in place blocking the transfer of Gitmo inmates to the United States. And officials in Havana are demanding the United States turned Guantanamo back over to Cuban control.
All right. Let's get an early start on your money this Thursday morning. CNN Money correspondent Alison Kosik is here.
Another tough day for stocks. What's going on today?
ALISON KOSIK, CNN MONEY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it looks like second quarter earnings season really causing stocks to kind of hang out in the red. We did see the Dow fall for the second day in the row, tumbling 68 points. We did saw stocks lose ground after they weighed down by a 4 percent decline in shares of Apple. That's after Apple didn't sell as many iPhones last quarter as expected.
But today, U.S. futures are pointing higher. We are also seeing European markets are in the green.
$18.5 million, that's how much Discover Bank will pay for illegal student loan practices. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau says Discover inflated bills and misled student borrowers about their tax benefits. Discover also violated debt collection rules by calling people really early in the morning or late at night. $16 million will be refunded to more than 100,000 consumers.
[05:10:03] The rest will be paid as a penalty. This is significant because this bureau is really making a statement
on the loan servicers.
ROMANS: Right. Sure, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a kind of a new protection bureau for the money police, if you will. All right. Thank you so much.
All right. Lindsey Graham firing back at Donald Trump after the Republican front runner gave out the senator's cell phone number on live TV.
OK. So, take a look at this new video. This is produced by a conservative web site, entitled, "How to destroy your cell phone with Lindsey Graham". It features the senator using a meat clever, a blender, and golf club, anything else you can find to stop all the calls. The video ends with this parting shot.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GRAHAM: If all else fails, you can always give your number to The Donald. This is for all the veterans.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: In case you were wondering, Senator Graham's cell phone number has been disconnected since Donald Trump announced it on live television.
New legal trouble for Bill Cosby. A new sexual assault lawsuit, that case moving forward. Details ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: Another legal setback for Bill Cosby. California's Supreme Court rejecting his request to block a civil suit by a woman who claims the comedian molested her at the Playboy Mansion in 1974, when she was 15 years old. It means her case can proceed.
Attorney Gloria Allred says she will seek to question Cosby under oath for the next 30 days. Meantime, Cosby's lawyers are trying to keep the settlement in another sexual assault case under wraps.
We get more from CNN's Jean Casarez.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christine, the legal battle continues in the Bill Cosby case. Now, Cosby, along with his attorneys, have filed a motion in federal court asking a judge to keep sealed a confidential settlement agreement involving the very first accuser back in 2006.
Andrea Constand brought a 2005 civil suit, alleging saying Cosby had drugged and sexually assaulted her at his home near Philadelphia in 2004. [05:15:08] Constand was an employee at Temple University and got to
know Cosby. She is asking the judge to unseal the full record a decade later.
Ironically, this weekend, Cosby's sealed deposition from that suit became public because of a court reporting service releasing it. CNN obtained an independent copy of Cosby's sworn testimony where he says that his relationship with Constand was consensual.
Constand's deposition has never been unsealed and she has never spoken because she is bound to secrecy. Her civil suit never went to trial because of the negotiated deal was reached. Constand received money from Cosby. And she along with Cosby agreed they would never talk about the relationship or the agreement.
Cosby says in his motion, quote, "Plaintiff does not seek to void the entire settlement agreement. Obviously she wants to keep what she was paid."
Constand says he and his representatives have spoken out numerous times since last fall when other accusers have come forward which violated the agreement, she says. So, she shouldn't have to be the one accuser that stays silent. Cosby is saying a deal is a deal. And the only reason he agreed to a monetary settlement is because he wanted to keep this case private -- Christine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: Jean Casarez, thank you.
New details emerging from the investigation into the fatal shooting of five servicemen in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Law enforcement officials say the slain servicemen risked their lives distracting the shooter Mohammad Abdulazeez, distracting her from a larger group of potential victims as he opened fire. Abdulazeez was killed by Chattanooga police.
Now, although the gunman's motive may never been known, FBI investigators believe he was radicalized in some way.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ED REINHOLD, FBI SPECIAL AGENT: At this time, we are treating him as a homegrown violent extremist. We believe he acted on his own that day. We believe he entered the facility on his own. We do not have any indication that anyone else was assisting him on that day.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Tennessee's governor says all seven of the National Guard recruiting store fronts offices have now been temporarily relocated to guard armories as a security measure.
The Justice Department bringing federal hate crime charges against Dylann Roof, the 21-year-old accused of a deadly shooting spree last month at a black church in Charleston, South Carolina. Nine people were killed. Attorney General Loretta Lynch says Roof planned the attack for months and the case is clearly a hate crime.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LORETTA LYNCH, ATTORNEY GENERAL: We have here a defendant who was alleged to harbor discriminatory views towards African-Americans, to have sought out an African-American house of worship, one that is particularly noted because of its age and significance, and he also sought African-American parishioners at worship implicating several hate crime statutes. Racially motivated violence such as this is the original domestic terrorism.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: The federal indictment along with state charges raising the possibility prosecutors will seek the death penalty.
Dozens of protesters gathering at city hall in Cincinnati Wednesday, demanding justice for Samuel Dubose. The unarmed black motorist fatally by a white University of Cincinnati police officer last week. Police say they have completed their investigation and presented the findings to prosecutors who will determine if charges, criminal charges are warranted.
Presidential candidate Rand Paul pushing to defund Planned Parenthood, citing concerns raised by undercover video that appears to show organization officials discussing the sale of fetal tissue from abortion. The Kentucky senator introducing an amendment to cut off federal support for Planned Parenthood, eliminating nearly $500 million in funding.
To weather now, severe storms and extreme heat in the forecast for you. Let's get to meteorologist Ivan Cabrera.
IVAN CABRERA, AMS METEOROLOGIST: And we're going to be talking about more storms this afternoon, Christine. Some will be potentially severe. We will have to watch the process in the southeastern United States. It is the cold front that brought us the much -- more pleasant temperatures here across the Northeast, area of high pressure now building in. We also have a boundary towards the Dakotas. We will watch that for development.
But you see the storms beginning to push further down to the south. We will monitor that later on.
Today, where we see the green, we have the potential. This is marginal here. So, again, a low chance for thunderstorms with large hail and damaging winds, and then a higher chance as head up towards the Dakotas.
Nice temperatures though for the next few days. We'll take mid-80s after we were in the 90s for a while there across the Northeast. So, that's more typical for this time of year, certainly average compared to what we've been.
Now, the southeastern United States, these are not the highs, but it doesn't matter because this is how it will feel. This is what does matter. Some of us will get the thunderstorms, but the rest of us here that don't see the rain are talking about triple digit heat indices. Oklahoma City pushing 110.
ROMANS: Oh, be careful out there. It's going to be hot. Thanks, Ivan.
[05:20:00] A stunning upset in the gold cup semifinal. The U.S. men's soccer eliminated from title contention by upstart Jamaica. Andy Scholes has the details in the morning's bleacher report, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: Jamaica handing Team USA a shocking loss in the semifinals of the Gold Cup.
Andy Scholes, what happened?
ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Christine.
You know, it wasn't good. In the history of the U.S. men's national team, they had only lost to Jamaica once. Team USA also had a 60-game winning streak on home soil. But the U.S. hardly looked like the dominant team last night in Atlanta. Already, Jamaica up 1-0. The missile right over the U.S. wall. Jamaica goes up 2-0.
Fast forward to the second half, Team USA gets on the board in the second half. Michael Bradley on the rebound, 2-1 at that point. Team USA had other chances in the game, they could not find the back of the net. Jamaica shocks the U.S., 2-1.
Now, on the other game, tempers were flaring all night in semifinal matchup between Mexico and Panama. The teams nearly came to blows nearly twice in the game. The second coming when Mexico awarded a penalty particular for a phantom handball in the box.
Now, Mexico got another penalty kick in extra time. They win it 2-1. And Panama was really upset. Members of the team chasing after the ref after the final whistle blew.
So, now, Mexico, they will take Jamaica in the championship game. And Team USA will take on Panama for third place on Saturday.
Yankees hosting the Orioles last night. Bottom of the fifth, A-Rod absolutely crushes this one. The ball went estimated 455 feet. It's A-Rod's 20th home run of the year, first time since 2010 that he hit 20 home runs. Yankees win this, 4-3. They have won eight of ten and now a 5.5 game lead in the AL East.
LeBron James getting reviews for his supporting role in the movie "Trainwreck." We may be seeing LeBron in more movies in future. LeBron's entertainment company SpringHill announcing a partnership with Warner Bros to produce content for television, film, and digital platform. This news immediately sparking speculation that we could in fact see a "Space Jam 2" starring LeBron and Bugs Bunny.
ROMANS: I'd see that. I'd see that. SCHOLES: The original "Space Jam" with Michael Jordan and Bugs Bunny, it's pretty awesome. You know, I would really be excited if they did a sequel in this movie and I hope to see Bill Murray to make an appearance because he was awesome in the first one.
ROMANS: And MJ. I'd like to see him. It'd be great.
SCHOLES: It'd be cool.
ROMANS: Thanks. Thanks a lot.
New information this morning, 26 past the hour, new information in the mysterious death of Sandra Bland. Documents revealing she was depressed, tried to kill herself last year. We've got those details, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: New information this morning in the jail cell death of Sandra Bland. What she said about her depression and previous suicide attempt, ahead.
And Donald Trump heading to the border, defending his attacks to opponents, speaking to CNN.
