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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

McConnell's Move on DHS Funding Bill; Face of Terror; Wild Winter Weather; Report: $250K for Mayweather-Pacquiao Ringside Seats

Aired February 24, 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: The clock ticking to the homeland security shutdown. Senate majority leader trying to find some middle ground. What does Mitch McConnell propose? And can it satisfy all sides?

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: And is this the woman who lured three girls from home to join ISIS in Syria? A new focus on the so-called is bride as officials try to find these three missing teenagers.

ROMANS: And old man winter not going anywhere yet. Ice, freezing rain, ugly conditions sending planes, truck dangling. We're going to talk about the Northeast. It is in the South, so we're going to tell you the areas getting hit hardest this morning.

Good morning. Welcome to EARLY START. Nice to see you, everybody. I'm Christine Romans.

BERMAN: Old man winter, it is hard for him to move around at his age, which is why it's sticking.

I'm John Berman. It is Tuesday, February 24th. It's 5:00 in the East.

And new this morning, Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell trying to break the stalemate over the funding of the Department of Homeland Security. There was a vote late yesterday, another failed vote in the Senate which would have adopted the House's version of the funding bill. After that, the Senate majority leader announced what he will try to do is split these issues. Split the immigration issue, try to have two votes. Maybe that will make things happen.

But Democrats and Republicans both express doubt whether that measure can be passed by the end of the week if at all. If nothing happens, homeland security runs out of money Friday, sending non-essential DHS employees home, and forces essential employees to work without pay.

CNN White House correspondent Michelle Kosinski has more on this looming shutdown.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, John and Christine. Well, now, for the first time, we hear the administration say that yes, it looks like this political showdown is heading for a shutdown for the Department of Homeland Security. For the first time, we are hearing the administration, in fact, the president himself spell out the cutting off funding for DHS will have a direct impact on national security. The reason that is interesting, for the past several days, it seems like the White House has gone out of its way to avoid using that language. When asked directly by reporters, what impact will this have, they would refer us to the Department of Homeland Security for more detail or they would say, well, it can't have a good impact on national security.

But now that the president put it out there, they are giving a little more detail on how exactly this could affect our security. Things like having no funding for planning or local programs, also the fact that some 30,000 non-essential DHS employees will be furloughed. And even though they are called non-essential, overall, that could have a negative effect.

The White House is, of course, blaming Republicans for this for tying funding DHS to trying to stop the president's executive action on immigration. The White House has called that irresponsible to toy with homeland security in this way, and they said, well, even though some of these essential employees of DHS will have to go to work and not get paid, they say Congress will continue to get paid for not doing its job -- John and Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right. So, riddle me this, a judge has already stayed the executive action on immigration.

BERMAN: Correct.

ROMANS: So, it's already been stayed. And immigration services are funded by fees. They are self funded. So, cutting it off wouldn't do what Congress wants to do.

BERMAN: You are doubly correct, Christine Romans. Look, the issue here is one of politics. There are a lot of conservatives who think that the president overstepped his constitutional authority and they think taking a stand on that is more important than funding Homeland Security right now.

ROMANS: Politics, not policy. I got it. I understand now. All right. Thanks.

President Obama set for high-level feedback on the war against ISIS today. One meeting with the emir of Qatar and the other meeting with Defense Secretary Ash Carter just back from a trip to the Middle East. Meantime, we're learning more this morning about the woman authorities think may have lured three teenage girls from Britain to Syria to join ISIS. She has been identified as 19-year-old Aqsa Mahmood. She's from Glasgow, Scotland.

After disappearing from her home in November 2013, Mahmood seems to have turned up on social media, urging women to sign up with ISIS.

Atika Shubert is in London for us. She's been following all this for us.

So, here's a 19-year-old woman who was own family was mortified when she disappeared. Now, she's trying to lure young girls to come with her to join this fight, to be an ISIS bride.

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. She writes a kind of a step by step blog on what to bring, what clothes to pack, what electronics you'll need, and what to expect when you get to ISIS- controlled territory. And she makes it sound more like travel adventure, and sometimes even a romantic journey because many of these young women are told that when they get there, they may be matched up with the jihadi fighter. It sort of fulfils this romantic notion of leaving under ISIS role there.

But the reality when they get there may in fact be much different. And her family, the Mahmood family put out a statement over the weekend saying their daughter is a disgrace and that they are very, very shocked and troubled to find she may be helping to recruit young school girls like this.

ROMANS: Tell me, what is it that she's -- you see, talk about her blog. The families of these three girls missing, they think they are in Turkey? They must be very upset.

SHUBERT: They are. They are absolutely heart broken. They are shocked. They say they have no idea that their daughters were even interested in Syria or Middle East.

But when you look at their online profiles, they were following a number of jihadi accounts. One of them had as many as 10,000 followers of a similar mindset, and at least one of them attempted to contact Aqsa Mahmood. That's why police are looking into what communication she had online, and whether she guided them to go from Turkey into Syria.

ROMANS: All right. Atika Shubert for us in London, thanks so much.

That story leaves me speechless. There are so many layers there that is disturbing.

All right. Six minutes past the hour. Not just the northeast of this country getting socked by the cold, snap. The South also getting hit, prompting widespread school closures. Look at this, students from Texas to Arkansas, to the Carolinas to Texas will not be in class today, that's because the whole region is expecting bone-chilling temperatures. Some places will see snow, freezing rain. To make matters worse, the weather already means 600 flight cancellations across the country.

Scary moment for the passengers on the American Airlines flight at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport. The nose gear slipped off the taxi ways, the plane turned the corner. None of the 68 people on board was hurt. Icy conditions -- this is John's most terrifying picture of the day.

BERMAN: This is unbelievable.

ROMANS: I know. This is the truck dangling off the overpass, an overpass in Dallas, a slick overpass. Amazingly, that driver, he did escape.

BERMAN: Good for him.

All right. Flagstaff, Arizona, snowing hard there. That area could be slammed with about 11 inches of snow.

ROMANS: Let's go to Maine. An SUV -- I don't know that's my scary picture. Submerged in icy -- you see the front bumper. This is an apparent act of road rage. Three people now hospitalized with hypothermia. Authorities say they can't believe anybody survives.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DEPUTY AL WINSLOW, CUMBERLAND COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE: Extremely lucky. But the way the temperatures are, with the windchill, the temperature of the water, I'm amazed they were able to get out of the vehicle in time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Investigators now trying to figure out which driver was at fault, and whether they will face any charges.

BERMAN: All right. Some insane pictures to look at from Dallas, a shopping mall parking lot. Some guy doing donuts there, having a good time as a helicopter flies overhead and takes his picture. The driver was eventually caught by mall security. They let him go with just a warning.

ROMANS: A guy on Twitter giving us grief. That is a good thing to do.

BERMAN: Why is it a good thing to do?

ROMANS: When you are in a real-life situation, you will have the muscle memory to be able -- to train yourself for a spinout.

BERMAN: If you are a stunt man, maybe that's a good thing to do. If you're training to be on the A-team.

All right. Is there any relief in sight for any of us?

Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri tracking the cold air and now the possibility of snow.

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, John and Christine.

Yes, on Monday, we had major disruption out of areas around Dallas and Dallas Ft. Worth Airport. All of that shifting off to the Southeast, now across Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson Airport, the busiest airport in the world, seeing some 300 flights preemptively cancelled on you Tuesday, wet weather pushing in, in fact. Some sleet reported across the Atlanta metro area into the early morning hours. And about 25 million people dealing with wintry weather across the southern United States where we have not had significant snow accumulations and certainly only get a couple of opportunities for you. It certainly looks like this time around, maybe one of those opportunity.

Atlanta, winter weather advisory in place, working on into Columbia and Charlotte, with some sleet, some ice, some snow all in the forecast over the next couple days. If your travel plans take you across I-20, just east of Dallas, all the way to Atlanta, that is where the first bout of wintry weather mainly in the way of ice going to be possible, and then comes the snow showers.

Some of the models at this point really want to keep everything north of Birmingham, north of Atlanta. Notice you get to the western mountains of North Carolina and we are talking significant snow accumulations. But regardless, at least some snow is possible and if you are heading to Arkansas or North Carolina, that looks the most likely area for heavy snowfall -- guys.

BERMAN: All right. Thanks, Pedram.

Some explosive, newly leaked cables reveal discrepancy between what Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the United Nations in 2012 about Iran's ability to build nuclear weapons and what his intelligence service was telling him.

The source of the secret cables comes, of course, from the Mossad, the Mossad via South Africa intelligence.

CNN's senior international correspondent Nic Robertson is tracking these latest developments live for us from London.

Good morning, Nic.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning, John. And, of course, this potentially embarrassing for the Israeli prime minister given he is days away from the visit to the United States where he will make a speech before the elections in Israel.

What Israeli authorities are saying is in fact these leaked documents don't show a gap between what the Israeli prime minister was thinking and what the intelligence services were thinking.

What the intelligence agency did, Mossad did, was write its own assessment of Iran's current nuclear threat back in October of 2012 to the South African intelligence services, and that's where these documents have been leaked from. It says that it doesn't believe that Iran at that time is actually making the necessary steps to produce a weapon.

However, just a month before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the U.N. had said very clearly that Iran is intent on doing this and making a weapon, that it's enriching more uranium and then once it completes that middle process, if you will, the step to making a weapon is even closer.

Well, the intelligence service does go on -- excuse me -- to say that in its -- excuse me -- in its assessment and that's the point that the Israeli government is making at the moment. There isn't a gap between the two -- the intelligence service and prime minister was doing. And indeed Iran was going on and continuing at that time to produce enriched uranium -- John and Christine.

BERMAN: Of course, any information like this clouds this controversy with the prime minister, as you say, speaking in the United States next week and negotiators try to hammer out some kind of deal by the end of March.

Nic Robertson in London for us, thanks so much.

ROMANS: A jury in Manhattan finding the Palestinian Authority and Palestinian Liberation Organization liable for six terrorist attacks in Israel between 2002 and 2004 that left Americans dead or injured. The jury award $218 million to dozens plaintiffs, automatically gets tripled under a special terrorism law. That means the damages are $655 million. And the Palestinian Authority and the PLO, they intend to appeal the decision. They have not indicated whether they are able or willing to pay.

BERMAN: An apology from V.A. Secretary Robert McDonald for falsely claiming he served in the military's Special Forces. McDonald was caught on tape saying as much to a homeless veteran. McDonald did graduate from West Point in 1975 and served as an army ranger training but he never actually served in a ranger battalion or any other special operations unit. The V.A. secretary says he has, quote, "no excuse" for his misstatement.

ROMANS: All right. Thirteen minutes past the hour.

Time to an early start on your money. Stocks in a holding pattern this morning. There's testimony from the Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen this morning. That is incredibly important. The U.S. stock futures barely moving so far. There she is -- Janet Yellen, she testifies before Congress. Her remarks could provide insight into when the Central Bank will raise interest rates.

The president wants more protections for your retirement accounts. He is proposing new constraints on your financial adviser. They would legally have to put the best interests of you ahead of their own interests, even if it means a smaller fee. President Obama says the goal is to protect Americans from higher fees and low returns that cost billions in retirement savings every single year.

This is the top of the fold on "USA Today". Bad advice costs billions. The White House wants new rules so you can keep more of your own money in your pocket for retirement.

Fourteen minutes past the hour. Several college students in the hospital dealing with the effects of a

dangerous drug. The president of Wesleyan University has a stern message for students. We'll tell you what happened.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: Four people at Wesleyan University in Connecticut are hospitalized this morning, two of them in critical condition. The result of complications due to the drug Molly. Police are investigating the incident at a campus party this weekend. School officials are urging students to help.

Let's get more from CNN's Jean Casarez.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christine and John, the Littleton, Connecticut police department has an aggressive investigation at this point because they want to find who or what people are responsible for distributing or selling a Molly-like drug to students over the weekend and even others.

Now, this is how it all came to light. Around 7:00 on Sunday morning, the fire EMS started getting phone calls about one an hour, I'm told, throughout the day of symptomatic conditions that seem to just have a similar nexus. And so, they were all transported to the hospital. Two of the most serious were medevaced to the hospital. They remain in critical condition.

The initial testing is by urine to determine what chemical composition was there. Further testing at the Connecticut state crime lab to see the exact composition. But the head of toxicology here at the hospital tells me he believes it is not pure Molly, but synthetic form of the drug Molly.

Now, family members continue to come in to help those convalescing from this. The elected state attorney Peter McShane tells me he is well aware of the investigation by the police department. He is watching it, but more than anything, his heart goes out to the victim and victims' families because this is a serious situation continuing.

Christine and John, back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right. Jean, thanks for that.

Big, big story for parents this morning. Listen up -- a new study suggests exposure in early childhood to peanuts could help build immunity and prevent serious allergies. British researchers found introducing peanut products into a baby's diet can cut their risk of developing peanut allergies by more than 80 percent. Experts say the results could apply to other allergies, but they're warning parents not to experiment at home. That is a story that's going to get a lot of traction around the water cooler today.

BERMAN: Start feed your kids peanuts from like birth on. It's amazing.

All right. Alex Rodriguez, he showed up early for spring training. So why does that have the Yankees upset? Mr. Yankee right there.

ROMANS: Best banner in TV down there. Look at that, early arrival.

BERMAN: Well done.

Andy Scholes has the details in the "Bleacher Report", next.

ROMANS: That A for Andy.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: Since 2004, no player has meant more than Alex Rodriguez. And the pride of the Yankees arrived in Tampa for spring training. He says he's ready to get back to playing baseball.

ROMANS: We have Andy Scholes with more with this morning's "Bleacher Report". Hey, Andy.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, guys.

Yes, A-Rod, we all know he's still owed more than $60 million in the next three years. The contract doesn't guarantee he will actually get to play. A-Rod says his goal this spring is to try to make the Yankees' 25-man roster. A-Rod showed at spring training a couple days early to get extra work in before the team officially begins workouts. He signed autographed to pretty much for every fan at the complex yesterday.

And then he spoke with the media for the first time since his suspension, again, apologizing for his actions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEX RODRIGUEZ, NEW YORK YANKEES: I cringe sometimes when I look at some of the things I did. But I paid my penalty and I'm grateful that I have that opportunity. No mistake that I made has any good answer or no justification is explainable. That is on me. I dug a big hole and played a price. I am fortunate to a lot of the people, especially the commissioner's office, the players union, the Yankees, to give me an opportunity to play the game that I love.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: The Yankees position players report to spring training tomorrow.

College hoops from last night, eighth-ranked Kansas and Kansas State renewing the rivalry in the Little Apple. The Wildcats erased a second half deficit to pull off the upset, beating Kansas 70-63. Check out the fans storming the court. Jayhawks coach actually got bumped around in all this madness. He said something needs to be done to stop fans from rushing to the court before someone gets hurt. The march on the phrase I'm here so I won't get fined and now the

Seahawks wants to own that. Lynch filed the trademark with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. He owns beast mode and all about that action boss, which is what he said at last year's Super Bowl. The moral of the story is, whenever Lynch does speak, there is a good chance he will trademark whatever he said.

All right. Who is ready for a World Cup in the winter? That is what we will have for the 2022 World Cup taking place in Qatar. A FIFA task force recommended moving the event to November of 2022 because of the extreme heat during the summer in the Middle Eastern nation.

Now, if the change is approved, it's going to make the top European soccer league basically shutdown for about a month and here in the States, they're going to have to compete with viewers that are going to be watching the NFL and NBA. Not an ideal situation for either, but playing in 120-plus degree temperatures during the summer in Qatar isn't ideal as well.

All right. The most anticipated fight in boxing history will be one hard ticket to come by. According to ESPN Radio in Las Vegas, if you want to sit ring side for the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight on May 2nd, you're going to have to a credit line of $250,000 with MGM and you're actually going to have to play the full 250K. And, guys, the pay-per- view is expected to cost about $90, $100 if you want it in HD, which, of course, we all do.

This is going to go down as the biggest boxing event, one of the biggest sporting events in history if all these numbers end up panning out like people expect.

BERMAN: If only it happened five years ago when they were both at the top of their game. But still --

SCHOLES: It would have been nice.

BERMAN: -- it will be a great fight.

Thanks, Andy.

SCHOLES: All right.

ROMANS: All right. Serious trouble brewing for the Homeland Security Department. Funding runs out on Friday. No sign of a deal between the House and Senate. We'll tell you what the Senate majority leader is doing to break the log jam and if it can work.

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