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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Three Terror Arrests in Brooklyn; More Syrian Christians Captured by ISIS; Obama Promises to Push Forward Immigration Policy; New Low for U.S.-Israeli Relations

Aired February 26, 2015 - 04:00   ET

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

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Terror arrest here at home. Three Brooklyn men accused of trying to join ISIS. And this morning, the FBI is warning this could be just the tip of the iceberg, revealing there are people in various stages of radicalization in all 50 states.

Good morning everyone. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm John Berman.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Christine Romans. It is Thursday, February 26th. It is 4:00 a.m. in the East.

Happening now, three Brooklyn men in federal custody this morning charged in connection with an alleged plot to join ISIS in Syria. The men also committing -- discussed committing acts of terror on American soil, including an attempt on President Obama's life.

FBI agents arrested one of the men, a 19-year-old, originally from Kazakhstan at Kennedy Airport, preparing to board a plane to Turkey. Official say his 24-year-old friend from Uzbekistan was due to follow later. A 30-year-old, also from Uzbekistan, allegedly helped organized and financed this whole operation.

CNN's Deborah Feyerick has the latest from the federal courthouse at Brooklyn.

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, Christine, two to three Brooklyn men were here in federal court. The hearing was delayed for a couple of hours because one of the men actually wanted an Uzbek translator so he could understand all the charges and the documents that were filed against him.

The 19-year-old, he was picked up as he was on the jetway ready to board that plane to Turkey, that's when he was arrested. The third men, the money man, he was at a hearing in Florida. He owns a series of kiosks in Philadelphia, Savannah, Virginia Beach. That's how he makes his money. He sells kitchenwares as well as replaces mobile or fixes mobile phones. But all three are facing conspiracy charges of providing material support to terrorists.

The two-wannabe Jihadists who were here in this court, they actually wanted to get to Syria to join the terror group. Now, both of the men did have backup plans. The 19-year-old, the reason he had a backup plan is because his mom had confiscated his passport fearing that he was going to try to get to Syria. His plan allegedly was to join to the military, funnel information to ISIS, and then if he was caught, he would simply open fire on soldiers. His other plan was to buy an AK-47 and go out and shoot police officers as well as FBI agents.

The 24-year-old, he works at the Gyro King. He was going to actually try to get to Syria that if that failed, then he allegedly told the FBI and repeatedly said that he was going to shoot the president once he got the green light from ISIS. Now, the men were here on court. They're rather small. They're about 5 foot 3, 5 foot 4, both of them wearing hoodies, both told the judge that they understand the charges against them. They're scheduled to be back here on March 11th. John, Christine.

BERMAN: Now, thanks to Deborah Feyerick. This is serious. The lawyer for one of the suspects though, cautioned that we have not heard the whole story yet. The FBI's case against the three men comes partly from their social media postings and partly from a confidential informant. Attorney Adam Perlmutter says that his client is not admitting or denying anything at this point, but the attorney is questioning the credibility of the FBI informant.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ADAM PERLMUTTER, AKHROR SAIDAKHMETOV'S ATTORNEY: This is all information that is delivered to the FBI from a confidential informant that the government says in their own complaint, they can't rely on the credibility of. And we only have again, these small snippets of what my client logically said. We don't know the background. We don't know the context. We don't know how this confidential informant manipulated my client. He has not had to enter a plea yet. He's not been indicted yet. All that's happened is he's been presented on a complaint and there's no need for him to enter any type of plea or make any type of statement to that effect at this point.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Now, the FBI says, homegrown violent extremism is a nationwide problem with investigations active in all 50 states. FBI Director James Comey, telling state attorneys general in a speech Wednesday, ISIS has developed a message and a web-savvy packaging that can reach what he called "Troubled Souls" in every corner of this country.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES COMEY, FBI DIRECTOR: ISIL in particular is putting out a siren song through their slick propaganda through social media that goes like this, "Troubled soul, come to the caliphate," right, "you will live a life of glory, these are the apocalyptic end times, you will find a life of meaning here fighting for our so-called caliphate, and if you can't come, kill somebody where you are."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: This morning, committees in both the House of Senate will hear testimony on the ISIS terror threat from high level intelligence officials.

BERMAN: Right. Just into CNN from northeastern Syria, activists say that ISIS has kidnapped far more Christians from villages than we knew. More than 220, that according to two human rights organizations, 220 kidnapped Christians right now being held hostages. Families are anxiously awaiting word on the faith of the women, children, and the elderly kidnapped from these dozens of Syrian villages. Advocates say they fear the worst.

While that's happening, officials say that ISIS is actually facing more setbacks in Iraq, losing territory to the Iraqi security forces, that's in the Anbar province in the western part of that country. For the latest, let's bring in CNN's Ian Lee. Good morning, Ian.

IAN LEE, CNN REPORTER: Good morning John. And yes, about those Christians who were kidnapped, it took place during an ISIS offensive. There's a string of small Christian villages in the eastern part to the southwest, ISIS controls a mountain range. They were able to push into these towns fighting off YPG, Kurdish fighters, as well as Christian militias. We're told that those fighters were able then to retake those towns but not before ISIS kidnaps over 200 people, and these are women, children, priest, and elderly we are being told.

We don't know the fate of these people but we do know from experience that it isn't good. They've hold Christians from the past that they either need to convert, run, or die. Not a lot of options there. And we know also for the women have been sold into sex slavery as well, and even young girls have too. So being captured by ISIS, they are known but it doesn't look good, John.

BERMAN: Of course. While that's happening, we also know that there is military battle going on with the front lines in Iraq, also in Syria, and now, with people located here in the United as well. Ian Lee, thanks for being with us, appreciated it.

ROMANS: All right. With terrorism, so prevalent right now, we're tracking the political showdown that could lead to a partial shutdown at Homeland Security. The Senate now deciding to send a clean DHS funding bill back to the House, that means no add-ons to overturn the president immigration reforms. Homeland Security funding runs dry at midnight Friday. Law enforcement officials of big cities like New York are getting nervous.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL BRATTON, NYPD COMMISSIONER: This is not the time to engage in activities that would threaten our counterterrorism capabilities, such as have been exhibited in the movement on this case, and effectively to hold our counterterrorism agencies hostage to political machinations in D.C.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: It's not clear whether the House will leave in a vote on the clean DHS funding bill once it arrives later today or tomorrow. A short-term measure to fund the department through the fall, may be the only way to avoid for furloughs next week.

BERMAN: Overnight, the president vowed to push ahead on his promises on immigration. He said he will aggressively appeal a Texas district judges ruling that blocks the executive action. At a town hall in Miami, the president said the pressure needs to stay on Republicans in order to pass comprehensive immigration reform.

White House Correspondent, Michelle Kosinski has the latest. Michelle.

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, John and Christine. Well, a part of this impasse is that a federal judge in Texas essentially put on hold implementation of the president's executive order on immigration. But at a town hall meeting in Miami where many in the crowd were asking him, "Why can't you do more on immigration?" His tone was confident and defiant, saying he's absolutely confident that first of all, the administration is on the right side of the law on this, and will ultimately prevail, even if they lose this first round appeal that they would ultimately be successful in a higher court.

And in the meantime, the president said that he is using this prosecutorial discretion to prioritize deportations on -- as the White House keeps putting it "felons, not families." And that he's put out these directives to customs and immigration officials that they're not supposed to be deporting people who are here working and raising families. He said that if that wasn't met, then there would be consequences.

He also put the onus on Republicans saying it's about time to act for comprehensive immigration reform but also on voters with only about a third of eligible voters doing so in the last election. He asked them, "Why are you not doing your part on this? Why are you not participating?" John and Christine.

ROMANS: All right. Thanks to that Michelle.

A key vote to the Senate today as the Judiciary Committee decides on sending the nomination of Loretta Lynch, she was Attorney General to the full Senate. The vote coming as Republican opposition to Lynch is growing. The roadblock to the confirmation of Lynch to replace Eric Holder is her support for President Obama's (inaudible) executive actions on immigration.

BERMAN: A long-awaited vote today on the devise of the issue of net neutrality, the FCC's five-member board is expected to approve new rules meant to preserve an open equal access internet and prevent Internet Service Providers from the discriminating against content makers.

Internet Service Providers and a whole bunch of Republicans say that plan to regulate it as a utility much like a landline phone service, they say it is over (inaudible).

ROMANS: All right. 10 minutes past the hour, time for an EARLY START in your money. U.S. Stock Futures slightly higher but it doesn't take much these days to notch records. Yesterday the Dow needed just 15 points to close at a record high, its third record this year. The Nasdaq snapped its longest winning streak in five years though because of pullback in the world's most valuable company, shares of Apple. So, almost 3 percent after Google introduced a technology to push companies to use Androids for work.

Morgan Stanley has agreed to pay $2.6 billion for its role in the mortgage meltdown. Part of a Justice Department probe in the allegation that Morgan Stanley misrepresented the quality of mortgage bonds. It turned out they weren't so good, remember. The settlement is Morgan Stanley's biggest bill yet, perspective that bank loss $6.2 billion last year. Big American banks have paid almost $130 billion in settlements and signs related to the financial crisis.

BERMAN: I mean how many years later are and still the aftershocks...

ROMANS: There's still the aftershocks, but for a lot of American families, they say, "Wait a second, this is too late." I mean what people suffered in the loss of the value of their home because of that mortgage meltdown. It's just really stunning.

BERMAN: Good point.

11 minutes after the hour. Snow slamming the south this morning. We're talking flight cancels, schools closed, highways shutdown. And now this, the storm has already turned deadly. We'll tell you what you need to know right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: All right. The storm-battered south is dealing with a new round of snow in ice right now. Winter storm warnings in effect in 11 states from Texas to the Carolinas, 900 flight -- 900 already canceled today.

ROMANS: Schools in Atlanta, Knoxville, Greenville, all closed along with Charlotte, Raleigh and other districts in North Carolina where six to 10 inches of snow is falling overnight.

BERMAN: Yeah.

ROMANS: In Mississippi, a two-year old girl was killed in a car accident when the car she was in hydroplaned. Curfews remains in effect for certain counties in the northern part of the state where 9 inches of snow have fallen, that's Mississippi.

BERMAN: In Alabama, talking about dangerous road conditions forced them the closure of several major roads. Wreck stall vehicles reported throughout the state and just to give you an idea of how slick the roads are, you can see right there, we've seen this before this week, one driver took advantage of the icy conditions doing donuts in his truck.

Now, let me tell you, we've had a number of people tell us that doing donuts and icy conditions is a good way to train -- to learn to drive in icy conditions. One viewer who made this point to me was my father.

ROMANS: Really?

BERMAN: Yes. He was very upset that I was taking a stand against doing donuts in parking lots.

ROMANS: Really.

BERMAN: Yes.

ROMANS: We did take a stand against doing donuts in parking lots because we thought it might be kind of dangerous and it might be inspiring maybe less than a safe behavior but -- and a lot of you telling us we're wrong.

BERMAN: Including my father.

ROMANS: We are just old and square apparently.

BERMAN: Well, that's as well as my father.

ROMANS: It's true. This is true.

15 minutes past the hour. State of emergency remains in effect in Georgia. Four inches of snow expected in Atlanta cruise treating the roads, hoping to avoid a repeat of last year's disaster. Remember when ice virtually shutdown the whole city.

BERMAN: Snow not the only problem in the south. A really bad multi- car pile up west of Denver as heavy snow came down -- is what several clashes along I-70 that involved about 70 cars, miles of roads there had to be shutdown.

ROMANS: We keep asking when will the southeast get some relief from this brutal weather. I want to bring in meteorologist, Pedram Javahari for some answer.

PEDRAM JAVAHARI, AMS METEORLOGIST: John and Christine, good morning to you. In the south, yeah, definitely a mess. A lot of people waiting for all of this to wind down, and pretty much all done with across the Alabama the bulk of the snow showers came down. In fact, nearly a foot in a few spots in Northern Alabama, that 8.1 inches in Huntsville was a daily record, also the month of February, nearly 9 inches has come down in Huntsville as well. That's a record across that region.

But snow showers right now exiting the southeast point or pushing their way toward the Carolinas, that's where we have some of the heavier snow. Expect it from Raleigh northward into southern areas of Virginia. Points a foot possible in a few pockets across this region, this is where winter storm warnings and advisories in place at this hour. So accumulations look and such.

Charlotte, you'll see some morning showers. About 500 flights have preemptively canceled, but notice the heaviest snow will be on into Virginia there with a possibility they're getting around 10 or so inches.

High temps in Atlanta at 44 degrees. It should make it up to the mid- 30s in the nation's capital. It could accumulate about an inch to two inches around there, while a half an inch could come down in New York City.

And to answer your question of when it's going to warm up across the South and really across the country, take a look at this, form Tuesday and to Wednesday, 60, maybe 70 in Atlanta, the nation's capital, gets up to around 55 degrees. New York into 40s as well, so at this point, we'll take the mid-40s up there guys.

ROMANS: I'll take the mid-40s but that means a lot of wet, wet walking in he streets because we got a lot of snow piled up.

17 minutes past the hour. United Airlines sending a strong warning to its pilots after frightening incidents involving four different flights. A January 9th bulletin from United to its pilots cited one flight that needed a last second pull up maneuver to avoid crashing, another that landed with less fuel in reserve than regulations require. United is ordering its pilots to double down on safety procedures.

BERMAN: The New York trial of accused al-Qaeda terrorist Abid Naseer, federal prosecutors have revealed for the first time communications between Osama bin Laden and his deputies about plans for terror attacks in the U.S. , Britain, Russia and Europe.

Naseer is accused of plotting attacks in Manchester, England and on the New York City subway system. He's representing himself at this trial. He denies all the charges.

ROMANS: The jury pooled for the trial of accused Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has been finalized, and opening statements are expected to begin next week. Tsarnaev is charged in the 2013 Marathon bombing that left three dead and hundreds injured. The prosecution and defense teams settling on a pool of 70 perspective jurors which will be whittled down to the final panel of 12 and six alternates. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

BERMAN: Sad story here. Los Angeles Angels star Josh Hamilton who has spent years battling drug addiction -- very publically by the way -- has suffered a relapse. Hamilton confessing to Major League Baseball officials that it happen a couple of months back and involved cocaine.

Earlier in his career, Hamilton was out of baseball completely for nearly three years due to substance abuse. He is expected to enter a rehab program, not clear if he will be a subject of any kind of suspension here. But the important thing for him to do is get his life back on track, and this guy's such an incredible, natural talent. And he struggled with drug addiction, like I said, his whole career, out in public, getting help, his teammates have supported him. He has relapses before, it's really tough. It's really tough.

ROMANS: It's bad. It's too bad. We wish him well. BERMAN: Absolutely.

A security scare in Paris. Police trying to figure out who is behind mysterious drones flying illegally on top of key landmarks in the city. We're live at the latest, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: The Obama Administration struggling with the idea of sending lethal weapons to Ukraine. According to NATO's top commando, the White House is concerned such a move might escalate Russia's military involvement in the region, getting strong consideration now sending defensive lethal aid to the Ukrainians.

General Philip Breedlove telling Congress, Russia continues to build forces in Eastern Ukraine. And the current U.S. policy is providing no deterrents.

BERMAN: And meanwhile, Vladimir Putin's approval rating just in, rising still.

ROMANS: Yeah.

BERMAN: U.S.-Israeli relations hitting a new low. Five days before Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's controversial appearance before Congress, the prime minister accusing the White House and other world powers of rolling over and allowing Iran to develop a nuclear weapon.

Secretary of State John Kerry has fire back, publicly questioning the prime minister's judgment, the administration has no plans to meet with Netanyahu when he addresses law makers about the threat posed by Iran, that is next Tuesday.

ROMANS: Three Al-Jazeera journalists arrested in France for flying a drone over a Paris park. Law enforcement officials not taking chances after two nights in a row of this mysterious drone sightings over some of the city's most famous landmarks.

Let's go to Paris right now. I'm bringing CNN's Samuel Burke. Samuel, what do we now about these new arrest this morning?

SAMUEL BURKE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Christine. In the past few seconds, we just learned that the third remaining Al-Jazeera journalist who have been in custody overnight has been released, but the prosecutor say they will summon him next week for prosecution.

Now, the prosecutors say that they don't believe that these Al-Jazeera journalists who are allegedly flying this drone in that park were -- are connected to the drones that were flying overnight in Paris. Now, the authorities here also tell us that they're tracking down left, right, and center, executing warrants in courts so that they can seize people's drones.

Also, they say that the secret service has been in touched with French authorities. And what we know is that -- Christine that made it to the -- now, we don't know exactly what the secret service has told the French authorities but analysts tell me what they're likely telling them is that they've been working with the drone manufacturer DJI, they made the drone that made it to the White House, and they've now worked to update the software so that drones can no longer fly over downtown Washington.

So probably Americans are encouraging French officials to do the same here, because of course drone use is banned within city limits in Paris, Christine.

ROMANS: So, let's talk about this third night of these drones. Two nights in a row of this drone activity, did anybody -- did you or anybody spot the third night of this drone activity in Paris?

BURKE: We were out until about 2:00 a.m. last night, Christine, with the CNN team. We did not see any drones. And the police told us that at this moment, they still have no reported sightings of drones after the two consecutive nights of sightings over some of the most recognizable and important landmarks in Paris.

But that's a double-edge sword I'm told because on the one hand, it gives Parisians a sigh of relief here who are still reeling from the terrorist attacks at Charlie Hebdo and the Jewish supermarket. But on the other hand, that means that the Parisian authorities have not been able to intercept any drones, and they still really don't seem to have any evidence to figure out who is behind this.

So, it remains an unsolved mystery, Christine.

ROMANS: All right. Sammy Burke for us in Paris this morning. It is a mystery, thank you.

BERMAN: And deeply troubling that...

ROMANS: Yeah. I mean...

BERMAN: ... people in that city.

Three New York men arrested, accused of trying to join ISIS. One accused of even having a plot to kill the president. But we're now learning about their plans and why the FBI believes there could be more arrest to come. That's next.

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