Return to Transcripts main page

Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

President Obama Visits National Counterterrorism Center; Kerry to Chair U.N. Meeting on Syria; Theme Parks Deploy Metal Detectors; Piecing Together Paris Ringleader's Moves. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired December 18, 2015 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:17] ALISON KOSIK, CNN ANCHOR: The neighbor of the San Bernardino shooters arrested on terrorism charges. What investigators are now revealing.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Plus, Donald Trump duking it out with Jeb Bush but cozying up with Russian leader Vladimir Putin. Dramatic new developments in the race for president.

Good morning. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm Boris Sanchez.

KOSIK: And I'm Alison Kosik. It's Friday, December 18th. It's 4:00 a.m. in the East.

And there are major new developments in the San Bernardino terrorism case this morning. A friend and former neighbor of attacker Syed Rizwan Farook has been arrested and charged in connection with plotting two earlier attacks with Farook. Attacks that were never carried out. The complaint against 24-year-old Enrique Marquez does not claim he was directly involved in the mass shooting that left 14 people dead, but it does allege he bought two AR-15 rifles used in that attack as well as explosive material used in a pipe bomb found at the scene.

CNN's Kyung Lah is in San Bernardino with the latest.

KYUNG LAH, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Enrique Marquez faces three federal charges, the gun charges, visa and marriage fraud charges, as well as a very serious charge of material support to terrorism. According to a federal complaint, Marquez and Syed Rizwan Farook plotted as recently as four years ago to attack several -- a couple of different locations in Southern California. A cafeteria, at a community college in Riverside. They planned to drop pipe bombs on an Orange County freeway during the rush hour to maximize casualties.

The complaint also says that Marquez bought explosive powder that was then found in undetonated bombs left in the room that was the San Bernardino massacre.

Enrique Marquez did make an initial court appearance. He did not enter a plea. There is another court appearance next week -- Alison, Boris.

SANCHEZ: A bizarre turn to a truly tragic event. Kyung Lah, thank you. The victims of the San Bernardino terror attack and their families

will meet with President Obama tonight at a private event. The president's show of compassion also part of a weeklong push to spotlight the administration's efforts on national security and terror issues. On Thursday, the president made a rare trip to the national counterterrorism center in suburban Virginia for a Christmas time terror briefing.

Let's bring in senior White House correspondent Jim Acosta with the latest -- Jim.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Alison and Boris, it was one more attempted show of strength from President Obama as he vowed to keep the nation safe from ISIS terrorists and their so-called lone wolf followers during the holidays. After a rare briefing at the National Counterterrorism Center, the president said there is no current, specific or credible threat to the U.S. homeland and with that intelligence in hand he urged Americans to remain calm.

Under discussion at the president's meeting, the growing high tech menace of terrorists concealing their intentions on social media and through encrypted messages on smartphones. Here's more of what the president had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: When terrorists pull off a despicable act like what happened in San Bernardino, it tears at our hearts, but it also stiffens our resolve.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Later today, the president will pay a visit to the families of the victims of the terrorist attack in San Bernardino en route to his family vacation in Hawaii, an annual trip that has been interrupted by threats to the homeland before. And the president will have one more chance to defend U.S. efforts for defeating ISIS and protecting Americans at home at his annual end-of-the-year news conference here at the White House later today -- Alison and Boris.

KOSIK: OK. Jim, thanks for that.

And Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin launching a mutual admiration society -- sort of. The Russian president calling Trump a very flamboyant man, very talented and the absolute leader of the presidential race. At his annual State of the Union news conference, Trump returned the compliment in a statement saying, quote, "It's always a great honor to be so nicely complimented by a man so highly respected within his own country and beyond."

SANCHEZ: You can bet some of the other candidates on the Republican side were watching. And now Jeb Bush is using this love fest between Trump and Putin as an opening to hammer at the theme that he spotlighted at the debate but it's proof that Trump is entertaining but not really fit to be commander-in-chief in dangerous times. Bush told EARLY START's own John Berman overnight that Putin's seal of approval isn't necessarily a good thing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEB BUSH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don't respect Vladimir Putin. He is the leader of an important country, certainly a regional power as Barack Obama called him. But to get praise from Vladimir Putin is not going to help Donald Trump. He is not a serious candidate. And he would bring chaos to the presidency just as he's done to this campaign. It's entertaining but the simple fact is we're at war right now with Islamic terrorism and he's not offered one compelling specific thing to do to keep us safe.

[04:05:02] It's all high volume, lots of talk but nothing specific because he hasn't taken the time to learn the issues. And I think we need someone with a steady hand in the presidency. And we're never going to beat Hillary Clinton with grandiosity, with big language without anything to back it up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Trump meantime continuing to hit back at Jeb Bush on FOX News last night. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I really think he's a nice man but he's doing poorly. He's doing very poorly. I mean, he was down to three or four or something like that. I just came out with numbers at 41 percent. So he's not been doing well. And you know, his pollster said, look, here's what you do. Here's a line, memorize it and say it to Trump. And you know when they let that whole clip run, he doesn't look so good according to everybody. Virtually everybody that's seen it. But, you know, he came out a couple of times during the debate in the middle of nowhere. And I said, what is that? Is that another attack? I mean, it's not just necessary.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSIK: And while Bush was taking on Donald Trump, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, they fought another round in the immigration battle they launched at the debate. Cruz drilling in on Rubio support for a 2013 immigration reform bill that offered a path to citizenship. A bill Cruz later voted against. And Rubio swinging back pointing to an amendment that Cruz pushed that would have granted not citizenship but a path to some kind of legal status.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He's going to have a hard time because he's not told the truth about his position in the past on legalization. And even there at the debate, he said he didn't intend to legalize people in the future. Again I think it's very crafty language.

SEN. TED CRUZ (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Tuesday for the first time in five debates Senator Rubio publicly admitted not only did he support Obama and Schumer's amnesty but he still supports amnesty and citizenship today. He had avoided doing that in the first four debates. He explicitly admitted it in this last debate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Meantime on the Democratic side, Bernie Sanders gaining another big labor endorsement. The Communications Workers of America, the largest media labor union in the country. Backing the Vermont senator's bid for the White House. The Sanders camp also admitting one of their staffers improperly accessed confidential voter information collected by the Hillary Clinton campaign. Sanders' campaign manager blaming it on a software glitch. That staffer has been fired. The DNC warning the Sanders camp it will not be allowed to access the party's voter data again until an explanation is provided.

KOSIK: The Pentagon plans to transfers 17 more prisoners out of Guantanamo Bay over the coming weeks. Defense Secretary Ash Carter confirming Congress has already been informed about the move. The White House says several nations have agreed to take in the lower level inmates. Reducing the total prisoner population at Gitmo to 90. The president is hoping to shut the facility down before he leaves office.

KOSIK: And President Obama's final State of the Union address next month expected to depart from tradition. The White House says instead of ticking off a long list of legislative priorities, the president plans to share his vision for the country but an administration official insists the president has no plans to act like a lame duck in his last year in office with an agenda that includes closing down Guantanamo Bay as we mentioned and perhaps executive actions on gun control.

KOSIK: Time for an EARLY START on your money. Stocks around the world are in the red this morning. So are U.S. stock futures as a global selloff in commodities continues. Yesterday, Wall Street's enthusiasm over the fed's interest rate decision vanished. And the Dow fell more than 250 points. Give a little, you take a little. As oil plunged below $35 a barrel.

A trifecta of lies, deceit and greed. That's how federal law enforcement officials are describing the allegations against drug CEO Martin Shkreli. He was arrested yesterday. Shkreli is known for jacking up the price of the drug used to treat AIDS by 5,000 percent. And he's now been indicted on charges that he bilked another company out of millions of dollars. Officials are saying he ran that company like a Ponzi scheme. Using its assets to pay off old unrelated debt. Shkreli faces up to 20 years in jail if found guilty.

And Twitter went absolutely nuts on this. It's telling -- you know, that's what he gets.

SANCHEZ: Yes. I can't imagine there are a lot of people weeping for him right now.

KOSIK: Except for him. SANCHEZ: Yes.

KOSIK: Although he got out on bond.

SANCHEZ: Yes. $5 million bail.

KOSIK: Yes.

SANCHEZ: Leaders from the U.S., Russia, even Iran right now meeting to figure out how to fight ISIS and stop the crisis in Syria. We are live next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:13:21] SANCHEZ: Secretary of State John Kerry set to chair a meeting of the U.N. Security Council. He's trying to broker a deal to end the civil war in Syria. Russia, Germany, Iran and other European and Middle Eastern powers all at the table.

The U.S. and Russia already agreeing to team up to pressure member nations to help cut off ISIS funding.

Let's go live to Moscow and bring in Jill Dougherty of the International Center for Defense and Security.

Good morning, Jill. A lot of competing interests in Syria, obviously. It's part of what makes this conflict so complex. The main sticking point, though, is Bashar al-Assad. The U.S. says he has to go. Russia says he has to stay. What common ground are they hoping to find here?

JILL DOUGHERTY, INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR DEFENSE AND SECURITY: You know, I think, Boris, they are getting closer. They are narrowing differences on this. And the Russians are basically saying yes, we want him to stay in power, but more than anything we want some type of government structure there in an interim period where they try to transition away from what we have right now which is Bashar al-Assad's government.

So the Russians aren't saying -- are not saying he must stay, he must stay. They're just saying it's a little -- you know, they're more open to when he might move aside. And then from the American side, initially remember a year ago, whatever, they were saying he must go immediately, nothing can happen until he is out of there. Now they are giving some space on that and saying eventually he does have to go, how that happens, where he is precisely is a little more fluid.

But there's also another sticking point, which is this opposition groups defining who are the opposition groups fighting on the ground who could be at the table with the representatives of the Syrian government. And that's one of the key things they're going to try to work out in New York today -- Boris.

[04:15:10] SANCHEZ: Interesting to see both sides softening their positions especially Vladimir Putin considering some of the rhetoric coming from that side. Also interesting to note, you were at that press briefing yesterday,

the Russian State of the Union, where he spoke so highly of Donald Trump. What do you make of his comments on Trump?

DOUGHERTY: Well, I think it's kind of classic Vladimir Putin, although I don't think anyone really expected him to go quite that far and almost endorse Donald Trump. But he said, you know, he's a colorful person and the leader in the election campaign. So that was quite interesting. But I think, you know, in context what Putin is doing is he's playing to the ego of Donald Trump.

And certainly, you know, Mr. Putin himself has quite a sense of himself. They're both strong people. And then also he's kind of subtlety inserting himself into the American campaign while at the same time saying we don't get involved in American politics, even though they get involved in Russian politics. And then he's also taking a swipe at Obama, President Obama, as basically, you know, the narrative here is really that Obama is weak. And so if Mr. Putin can say Donald Trump is strong, you know, interesting guy, that is a little bit of a dig at President Obama.

So I think we've got a lot of things going on. Don't forget, you know, he headed the KGB. He was a KGB agent for many years. And, you know, he knows how to work with images and things like this.

SANCHEZ: Classic Vladimir Putin. Jill Dougherty, reading between the lines for us in Moscow, thank you.

KOSIK: Hundreds of heavily armed ISIS fighters launching a coordinated multi-pronged on Kurdish forces in northern Iraq. It's the most intense fighting in the region in months with the terrorists using car bombs, armored bulldozers and vehicles mounted with machine guns to attack the Kurds north and east of Mosul.

U.S. military officials responding with a 17-hour aerial attack. The Pentagon says at least 18 Kurdish fighters were killed in the battle.

SANCHEZ: A Pennsylvania man arrested and charged with conspiring to provide material to support ISIS. Authorities say they found high capacity weapons magazines, ammo and survival gear when they searched the apartment of 19-year-old Jalil Aziz last month. Aziz allegedly used several Twitter accounts to reveal information about members of the U.S. military, calling for violence against them as well as American citizens. Authorities say he also helped people who were looking to travel overseas to fight alongside ISIS.

KOSIK: Looking to get into the magic kingdom? Well, these days not only you get to pay a lot of money for tickets, you and the kids may have to pass through metal detectors first. Well, Disney World deciding to beef up security at the entrance to all four of its Orlando theme parks. Security is a major concern in the wake of the San Bernardino and Paris terror attacks.

We get more now from CNN's Alina Machado.

ALINA MACHADO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Boris and Alison, Disney isn't the only one doing this. We know Universal Studios and SeaWorld are also using metal detectors to screen people who visit their theme parks. A spokesperson for Disney released a statement on the changes. It reads, "We continually review our comprehensive approach to security and are implementing additional security measures as appropriate."

Now Disney will be randomly selecting guests for a secondary screening using these new metal detectors. They've also added what they're calling, quote, "visible and non-visible" security measures at all of their parks. These measures include the use of specially trained dogs to patrol key areas.

Some of the other things you might notice if you head to a Disney park, they are discontinuing the sale of toy guns on Disney property and they're no longer allowing people to bring toy guns to the theme parks. And if you're 14 and older, you also won't be able to wear any costume at any of the parks.

The new toy gun policy, they say, is being done to make sure a toy gun doesn't cause a distraction or confusion for their cast members and security personnel in the parks. They know that very few people actually bring these items so the impact they expect will be minor. The cost in policy they say is to allow security to better screen people at the parks -- Alison and Boris.

KOSIK: I say it's a good thing.

SANCHEZ: It probably is. Yes.

KOSIK: Yes. When I would go to the parks, you would walk in, and they would just sort of search your bag and I was thinking, how thorough of a job can they really do with everybody waiting in line?

SANCHEZ: I suppose considering the recent news, it's good to have extra security there for parents who are taking their kids somewhere.

KOSIK: Obviously, yes. Yes.

SANCHEZ: Well, we're probably not going to see that white Christmas here in New York, but others might. Winter storms and even blizzard warnings in the forecast.

Let's bring in meteorologist Karen Maginnis.

(WEATHER REPORT)

SANCHEZ: All right. Karen, thank you.

The wife of PGA Tour star Jason Day hospitalized overnight after getting run down by LeBron James. Watch this. Day and his wife, Ellie, were sitting courtside last night at the Cavaliers game when LeBron accidentally slammed into her while he was chasing a loose ball.

KOSIK: Whoa. My gosh.

SANCHEZ: The game had to be stopped as medics put a neck brace on the golfer's wife taking her to a local hospital. Fortunately she was released this morning. She's expected to be OK. LeBron James tweeting out, "Hope you guys come back to another game soon."

Always a risk when you sit courtside at NBA games.

KOSIK: I know. We all want those good seats but, you know, there is always a risk.

SANCHEZ: There's no protection there. Yes.

KOSIK: Yes. All right. New information about the Paris terror attacks. What the ringleader was doing in the days leading up to the massacre. Next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:25:21] KOSIK: We're learning more this morning about the ringleader of the Paris terror attacks and where he was in the weeks leading up to the attack.

CNN's Sara Sidner is live in Lesbos, Greece in -- with the latest on the investigation.

So, Sara, investigators are learning more and more including that Abdelhamid Abaaoud used the refugee crisis to his advantage.

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That is what investigators are looking into, whether or not he's trying to sneak in with asylum seekers alongside them. But we also have to remember, he was a Belgian Moroccan who could very well have had his own papers, and his own legal passports to do that as well. They are still looking in that and haven't revealed exactly how he was able to get into Europe. But what they have said is that they believe he was in Syria, that he made his way to Leros.

In order to do that, just to give you some idea, it would take you coming from Syria into Turkey then taking a vessel to an island that actually has been abandoned first and then oftentimes what happens with refugees when they do it, it is so treacherous, the waters in that part of the sea, that they end up on this abandoned island and then the Coast Guard will often come and have to pick them up. The Greek Coast Guard will pick them up and then bring them to Leros.

It is a very difficult journey because they're usually on these rickety boats that often capsized. And we've already seen that happened today. There are groups of people here on the island of Lesbos who are picking up refugees and they are coming in hoards. Lots and lots and dozens of refugees, children, women, men, all coming trying to escape war. The big worry, of course, for the world, really is, are there people who are slipping in amongst those who truly and really need the help and they think that they are looking at whether Abdelhamid Abaaoud and two others were able to use the refugee crisis to their advantage and end up attacking Paris -- Alison.

KOSIK: And it's those porous borders that is -- are probably to blame for Salah Abdeslam, the other terrorist in this Bataclan attacks. He's managed to evade authorities thanks to the porous borders.

SIDNER: Yes, and the fear here is, right, that people are able to get through these borders. But again we have to remember that if they have passports, EU passports, that's going to make it much, much easier for them to do that. In the chaos of all that happened in Paris, the communication is a big issue. Getting that information and finding out who they are looking for. So I think that's what was going on in that instance. These many weeks later, they now know who was responsible. Investigators finding each of the names and figuring out who exactly was responsible.

And so now there's, you know, worldwide manhunt really trying to find that last person who managed to escape. But, you know, when you talk about the difficulties for the refugees, there are hundreds of thousands of refugees who have come here in Lesbos. And they simply need help. They are not looking to attack. They are not looking -- they are looking for homes. And so they have to be able to make that differentiation -- Alison.

KOSIK: And it's exactly showing that those legitimately looking for a safer way of life certainly are being kept from that, I'm sure.

SIDNER: Yes.

KOSIK: Sara Sidner, thanks so much.

SANCHEZ: An arrest made in the San Bernardino terror attacks. New information investigators are revealing about the massacre next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)