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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

CIA Spills Torture Secrets; Protests from Coast to Coast; Obama Hijacks "The Colbert Report"; Stocks Down Around the World; Plane Crashes into Home; U.S. Didn't Know About South African Hostage

Aired December 09, 2014 - 04:00   ET

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

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Bracing for backlash. Security on alert at U.S. facilities around the world hours before a seminal report on CIA torture. New information on how harshly the U.S. interrogated terror suspects after 9/11. What's in the report and why its release is creating is so much controversy.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: We can't breathe. Protests across the country, streets shutdown, stores vandalized. And now, NBA players demonstrating, t-shirts on the court, rallying against no indictment in the Eric Garner and Michael Brown case. We'll have details ahead.

ROMANS: President Obama hijacking the Colbert report defending Obamacare and the economy, and executive actions that have infuriated Republicans.

Good morning. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.

BERMAN: I'm John Berman. Great to see you. It is Tuesday, December 9th. It is 4:00 a.m. in the East.

And new this morning: tightened security around the world. Military and diplomatic sites are bracing for the release of a Senate Intelligence Committee report. The 400-page report is set to reveal long awaited findings on enhanced interrogation with some called "torture" during the Bush administration.

CNN's Elise Labott has the latest from Washington.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELISE LABOTT, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Well, John and Christine, U.S. diplomatic posts and military bases around the world are on high alert today as the Obama administration braces for the explosive report on the Bush administration's use of torture. Thousands of marines on stand by after a dire classified assessment, warning of a violent backlash. There was a last-ditch effort by Secretary of State John Kerry to persuade the Senate Intelligence Chair Dianne Feinstein to delay the report's release. But we understand Senator Feinstein undeterred in that report, is expected today.

Now, it's expected to accuse the CIA of lying about the use of torture after 9/11 and claim the waterboarding of three terrorists in particular, including Khalid Sheik Muhammad failed to produce results. Now, the administration fears the report could subject American hostages to the same acts of torture and invite violent anti-American protests at U.S. embassies.

Now, the head of the House Intelligence Committee Mike Rogers, he's calling the report's release a terrible idea, saying in addition to the intelligence assessment, foreign leaders are warning the release of the report could cause violence and deaths.

Now, lots of countries cooperated with the U.S. in the war on terror, at some political risk. And they rely on American discretion. So, if that report is released, there is a concern it could definitely deter U.S. allies in the global coalition against ISIS because they will fear terrorist reprisals -- John and Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right. Thanks for that release.

The White House admitting that American personnel and facilities in the Muslim world are special risk as the Senate report comes out this morning. Meanwhile, U.S. allies who maybe named in the report is cooperating with the CIA and thought to be especially concerned about public reaction in their countries.

CNN's Ian Lee is in Egypt.

Ian, how is the U.S. embassy in Egypt preparing for today's announcement?

IAN LEE, CNN REPORTER: Well, Christine, I just got off the phone with the U.S. embassy. And they told me that they're not going to comment on the security procedures of the embassy. Although, that being said, the British embassy right across the street and Canadian embassy down the street have increased security over the past few days. The U.S. embassy has told us, though, yesterday and the day before, that it has been business as usual for them.

ROMANS: How is the relationship -- Egypt's relationship with the CIA? How far back does it go?

LEE: Well, when you talk about the CIA's relationship with Egypt, we are talking about the rendition program. This is where the CIA would bring one of their suspects to Egypt for interrogation. And this process -- this program goes back as reports say to the '90s and the Clinton administration. There's one very famous case in 2003 where an Italian man Abu Omar was taken from the CIA to Italy to here in Egypt.

Now, the Italian prosecution charged and convicted almost two dozen CIA operators in that case in 2009, a very big embarrassment for the CIA.

ROMANS: Ian, far -- far lesser things really stir up public sentiment against United States around the world in terms of the United States military. How is Egypt reacting at this point? LEE: Well, the Egyptian government is waiting to see what actually

comes out of this report. Like we said, they had a long relationship with the CIA and Egypt has been -- rights group say that systematic torture takes place here on a daily basis, on a regular basis. So, it's likely that they could be mentioned, although the foreign ministry, we talked to them, they are not commenting. They're going to wait and see what actually comes out in this report, Christine.

ROMANS: Ian Lee for us this morning in Cairo -- thanks for that, Ian.

BERMAN: Breaking overnight: outgoing Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, he has arrived in Baghdad. He is there to thank American troops for their work helping to fight ISIS.

Secretary of State John Kerry will be on Capitol Hill today. He will brief senators on the threat from ISIS. The secretary is scheduled to testify before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee as it begins debate on authorizing the use of military force to battle ISIS. The secretary is all but certain to mention the new plan to allies to send about 1,500 additional troops to Iraq. They will advise and train Iraqi and Kurdish troops fighting ISIS.

A bipartisan panel of senators is pushing for a vote on a bill to improve U.S. action.

ROMANS: Still no deal on spending bill lawmakers are hoping to approve a $1.1 trillion package late last night. A package to keep the government operating beyond midnight Thursday, but talks broke down over a last minute disagreement involving the renewal of a terrorism insurance program. Congressional leaders say they are ready to pass a short term extension to give House and Senate leaders a few more days to negotiate if necessary.

BERMAN: President Obama will host a town hall meeting on immigration reform in Nashville this morning. That city is home to a fast-growing immigrant populations in the United States. Right now, 17 states are involved in a federal lawsuit seeking to block the president's executive order, which gives temporary work status to more than 5 million immigrants who are in the United States illegally.

So, President Obama made his first and last appearance on Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report". It was a spirited exchange.

Host Stephen Colbert tackled immigration reform, jokingly calling the president emperor, even asked him why he burn the Constitution.

Listen to this exchange on the economy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The truth is the economy had been on a pretty good run. We had 57 straight months of private sector job growth. Over 10 million jobs created. Manufacturing, the strongest since the '90s. The auto industry has come rebounding back.

STEPHEN COLBERT, THE COLBERT REPORT: I'll give -- I'll give it to you. You employed a lot of people --

OBAMA: We have.

COLBERT: -- mostly as secretary of defense.

OBAMA: Well, we have --

(LAUGHTER)

OBAMA: That's boosted our numbers a little bit.

What we haven't been able to see enough of until recently is wages and incomes going up. This last jobs report started to indicate some wage growth, but we still have more work to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: That's right. Christine Romans said the president reads job report like she does.

Meanwhile, "The Colbert Report" ends a nine-year run later this month. Stephen Colbert is prepared to move to CBS where he will take over "The Late Show".

ROMANS: The president is right about making a point of wages. Wages and income have not been rising. That has been a reason why so many people have not felt the 57 straight months of private sector job creation.

All right. Time for an early start on your money.

Stocks plunging around the world. Asian stocks fell.

BERMAN: Look at Shanghai.

ROMANS: Yes, I would say Shanghai benchmark index down more than 5 percent. It's a plunge. Others are not necessarily a plunge, but a pullback. European and U.S. stock futures are lower as well.

Yesterday, the Dow fell 106 points. The biggest dip since October. Energy stocks led the way down.

Oil prices tumbling. Crude oil fell 4 percent. Look at the crude chart. It's below $63 a barrel for the first time in five years. Oil prices have been in a tail spin since OPEC decided not to cut output. Very bad news for oil producers and the countries that depend on oil revenue.

But you know what? It is great news for consumers. The national average for a gallon of regular is $2.67. According to AAA --

BERMAN: Look at that.

ROMANS: -- American households are saving $100 a month compared to the summer. Think about that for a second, $100 extra dollars in your pocket every month because of low oil prices. All right. Breaking overnight: protests erupting across the country.

Demonstrators furious over the police-involved death of unarmed black man Eric Garner. The we can't breathe movement even makes it now to the NBA. Controversy growing and calls for action ahead.

BERMAN: Plus, six people killed when a plane suddenly crash into a home. We will tell you what we're learning this morning. That's coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: Happening right now, new reaction to the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner in Berkeley, California, a third consecutive night of protests. This one has not turned violent as happened over the weekend. More than 1,000 protesters marched through streets, shutting down a subway station, halting traffic on a major interstate. Demonstrators also stopped a train in its tracks.

CNN's Dan Simon reports from the scene.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John and Christine, we are at a railroad crossing in Berkeley where protesters have been able to stop an Amtrak passenger train from moving. You can see it right there on the track behind me.

This has been a massive protest with well over 3,000 people. But from what we have seen, it's been peaceful after the two chaotic nights on the streets of Berkeley. But we have seen things like this. And at one point, the crowd was able to shutdown the I-80 freeway in both directions -- John and Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: Our thanks to Dan.

Protests elsewhere brought traffic to a standstill. In Washington, demonstrators staged a die-in at a major intersection just blocks from the White House. Outside the Brooklyn Nets game against the Cleveland Cavaliers, a large crowd of protesters, they were on the streets chanting "hands up, don't shoot", and also chanting, "black lives matter."

ROMANS: Inside the Barclays Center, the Cavs LeBron James and Kyrie Irving and several other players wore t-shirts bearing Eric Garner's last words, "I can't breathe."

LeBron telling reporters after the game, gesture was aimed at Eric Garner's family.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEBRON JAMES, CLEVELAND CAVALIERS: You know, it's a message to the family that I'm sorry for their loss and sorry to his wife and that's what it's about. I think everybody is getting caught up in everybody besides who is feeling it, and that's the family.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: LeBron James, arguably, the biggest star, sports star in the United States. He has taken a very public stand now on several issues. With the Miami, they also had pictures in hoodies after the Trayvon Martin incident. And now, he -- you know, it's a different thing than what we saw a generation ago with Michael Jordan. This is a relatively new phenomenon in the NBA to see this so public on the court.

ROMANS: To say he did it for the family, not for the protesters out there, but for the family.

BERMAN: He's not going to be quiet about this.

Fourteen minutes after the hour.

Four of Eric Garner's children weighed in on the protest, speaking exclusively to CNN's Don Lemon overnight. They said the widespread demonstrations have been comforting to the family in a very difficult time.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EMERALD GARNER, DAUGHTER OF ERIC GARNER: You know, did you see Paris? They were laying down in front of the Eiffel Tower. Did you see California? They were doing this and they were doing that. So, it's an everybody thing, you know?

So, it was like for celebrities to be like, you know, support the Garner family because that was wrong, you know, it was wrong. There is nothing they can do to make it right but we can fight --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: The family has been clear all along that they are opposed to any kind of violent demonstrations.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, he announced a new ban on profiling by federal law officers that bans prohibitive characteristics from race along to include gender, religion and sexual orientation among others. The new rules apply to federal, not local law enforcement.

ROMANS: Big demands and damning accusations from a mother of a 12- year-old boy shot to death by police in Cleveland. Samaria Rice says conviction is the only justice she wants following the shooting of her son Tamir. She also says police handcuffed the little boy's sister when she tried to run toward his body and she said police officers nearly give her the same treatment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SAMARIA RICE, MOTHER OF BOY KILLED BY POLICE: I was trying to get through to my son. The police told me to calm down or they will put me in the back of the police car. And so, of course, I calmed down. And I asked the police to let my daughter go. They would not at that time. I asked them, you know, what's going on, and they weren't telling me anything, but just calm down, calm down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Tamir Rice was shot and killed after waving a toy gun at people in a park. The policing skills of the police officer who pulled the trigger have been called into question.

BERMAN: The president of the University of Virginia is reaching out to parents, promising changes at the school. That's in the wake of now somewhat discredited "Rolling Stone" that described and proved rape on campus. UVA's Teresa Sullivan says even though she thinks the article unfairly maligning the university and its staff, she is forming an ad hoc committee to change the culture on campus, including unarmed security ambassadors and new policies on sexual misconduct that adhere to federal mandates.

ROMANS: We are learning more about the six people killed when a twin- engine plane crashed, damaging homes in a Maryland subdivision. The bodies of 36-year-old Marie Gemmell and her two sons, 3-year-old Cole and Devon, an infant, they were found in the second floor bathroom of their home. Three people in the plane also killed Monday. Now, local and federal investigators are trying to figure out what went wrong.

Aviation and government regulation correspondent Rene Marsh, she has latest on this for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RENE MARSH, CNN AVIATION AND GOVERNMENT REGULATION CORRESPONDENT: Well, John and Christine, six people are dead after a twin-engine business jet crashes into a Maryland home, also sending debris tumbling into two more homes and ending with a fiery explosion. Now, the aircraft was going in for landing at Montgomery County airport around 11:00 Monday morning when witnesses say they heard a sputtering sound and saw the plane struggling to maintain altitude.

A mother, Marie Gemmell, and her two sons, 3-year-old Cole and infant Devon, were killed inside one of the homes. Their bodies found in the bathroom, one child between the mother's legs and the other in her arms. Three people on board the plane also died, including Michael Rosenberg, the founder and CEO of the clinical research company in North Carolina.

Now, the plane went down about a mile from the airport. One theory is a bird strike may have caused problems. Multiple warnings about birds in the area were heard on air traffic control tapes before the crash. The plane's recorders have been recovered and we know National Transportation Safety Board investigators are now downloading the data for clues into what caused the deadly crash -- John, Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: You feel for that family.

BERMAN: Just terrifying.

ROMANS: Unbelievable.

BERMAN: All right. Some serious weather in the forecast for the Northeast. I can tell you from coming in, personal reporting, it has already begun.

Let's turn to meteorologist Pedram Javaheri.

Good morning.

ROMANS: We need an expert. We don't want to rely on John's meteorological skills.

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, Christine, it's one of those muddy days, muddy mess you're talking about yesterday. It's going to be set up across the Northeast today. Tremendous rainfall beginning to push in right along the Eastern Seaboard. It's got a mix of rain and snow across interior portions of New England. That's really the pattern over the next 24 to even 36 hours. It's going to paint the picture for you, blossoms here, over the Northeast and pushes across northern portions of New England.

At this point, the snowfall across the interior areas looks pretty wet, and wet and kind of going to stick as far as the power outages concerned being across this region. It's going to be a main issue, and you take a look. Wind speeds also very powerful, 41 miles per hour into the afternoon hours. And you get to Boston, you're talking about 50-mile-an-hour wind gusts.

And I often talk about these major cities with tall buildings, what we call the Bernoulli effect as the ends kind of enhance and funnel right these buildings. So, that is something worth noting. Perhaps the travel delays line up because of that.

And if you put the moisture in place, 1 to 3 inches around New York City through the next two days. Boston, upwards of 4 inches possible and heavy wet snow across interior portions of New England.

So, really, not the best Tuesday set up across portions of the Northeast. But it looks like it could get better as the later portion of the week approaches, guys.

ROMANS: The Bernoulli effect, I learned something new. Thank you, sir.

JAVAHERI: Learned something, yes, absolutely.

ROMANS: I guess he brought the weather with him, because the royals are in town.

A whirlwind so far for William and Kate on their first visit to the U.S. as a --

BERMAN: I think they create the weather. Don't the royals like mandate what the weather is? ROMANS: I guess so. The British royals ended the day in New York sitting courtside at the Brooklyn Nets basketball game. They got to meet Jay-Z, who is part owner of the team I think for a while. He has a minority stake in the team, along with Beyonce. So, you know, two royal couples.

The couple had face time with LeBron James. And there was a meet and greet with the Clintons at their hotel, Hillary and Chelsea.

Earlier, the duchess was solo on a visit to a child development center in Harlem, while William traveled to Washington, meeting with President Obama before delivering a speech in the World Bank on the subject his passionate about, wildlife crime.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRINCE WILLIAM: In my view, one of the most insidious forms of corruption and criminality in the world today is illegal wildlife trade. Here, criminal gangs turn vast profits from the illegal killing or capture of wildlife.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: The president says the prince's work to protecting dangerous wildlife is very important. Today, the royal he couple will visit the 9/11 memorial in New York City.

BERMAN: You know, it's interesting. He rode the Delta shuttle back and forth to Washington, D.C., along with CNN's Anderson Cooper, who was also on the shuttle. Anderson tweeted last night, and he goes, "Hey, I'm on the D.C. shuttle with Prince William", which is sort of amazing when you think about it.

ROMANS: That is something. That is really something.

BERMAN: Twenty-one minutes after the hour right now.

A failed rescue attempt ending in tragedy. Two al Qaeda hostages, just days away from release, one of them was days away from release, killed when a Navy SEAL tried to free a kidnapped American. Now, the wife of one of those men, the man who was set to be freed, is speaking out. We are live with that part of the story, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: Missed signals compounding the tragedy of a failed rescue effort. U.S. officials say they did not know a South African hostage was only days, maybe hours from release when they tried to rescue American captive Luke Somers from al Qaeda. Both Somers and the South African teacher Pierre Korkie were shot by a militant during the U.S. raid in Yemen on Friday. They died after being transported to a Navy vessel. Korkie's wife is speaking out publicly right now about her husband and this failed rescue just minutes from now.

Correspondent Karl Penhaul is live in London with more. I just cannot imagine how this family must feel thinking that they were hours away from finally securing his release and then finding out he was gone.

KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Christine.

Now, I think there are still a lot of details that we have yet to learn about how this rescue operation went down, whether information was actually shared to plan the best possible operation or whether perhaps the aspects of this operation were simply improvised.

But we're hearing right now in South Africa from Yolande Korkie. She's the wife of the dead South African hostage Pierre. She herself was kidnapped by the same militants and was freed back in January after the South African charity Gift of the Givers mediated in the crisis.

Now at the moment, the message that she is sounding is one of forgiveness. She is taking this and saying we have to forgive otherwise, we cannot move beyond this. But at the same time as she is doing that now, forensic investigators are now doing a post-mortem examination on Pierre Korkie's body, to see perhaps what kind of bullet he was shot with, to see what kind of range he was shot at, and that will perhaps give us the answers as to whether it was, in fact, these al Qaeda militants holding him that did in fact shoot him when they knew this rescue operation was going down. That is what the American version is so far, or perhaps it will shed different light on this. Perhaps indicating could he had been shot by a bullet in the crossfire.

What we don't expect to hear from Pierre Korkie's wife at this stage are any new details about the rescue operation. It seems that she was not informed ahead of time. What we may hear, though, is perhaps more about her hopes that her husband was about to be freed. We know that this charity Give of the Givers had mediated we understand, that a ransom of $200,000 was about to be paid and that he could have been free just hours after. In fact, he was killed, Christine.

ROMANS: All right. Karl Penhaul for that, with that for us in London this morning. Thank you, Karl.

BERMAN: All right. Twenty-eight minutes after the hour.

Torture secrets of the CIA. In just hours, the world will learn exactly what methods or some of the methods U.S. investigators used to interrogate terror suspects following September 11th. This is creating new controversy, the release is, and new securities concerns at U.S. facilities around the world. We'll tell you what we're learning this morning. That's coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)