Return to Transcripts main page
Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Pope Francis Gets to Work; Budget Battle; New York State Shooting Spree
Aired March 14, 2013 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ZORAIDA SAMBOLIN, CNN ANCHOR: The first full day of Pope Francis. We're already talking about it. The start of a new era for Catholics around the world.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Standoff with a suspected killer. Right now, police think they have the gunman what killed four people surrounded in upstate New York.
SAMBOLIN: Survival against all odds. A skydiver lives to tell about his terrifying plunge, after his parachute failed. That has to be one of the scariest moments ever.
BERMAN: I can't imagine.
SAMBOLIN: All right. Good morning to you. Welcome to EARLY START.
Glad you're with us. I'm Zoraida Sambolin.
BERMAN: And I'm John Berman. Great to see you this morning. It is Thursday, March 14th. It's 5:00 a.m. in the East.
We're going to start with Pope Francis. You know this, is the first morning that anyone has ever said those words. This is the first full day on the job for the first Latin American pontiff. He was scheduled to meet with a man he was to replace, Pope Emeritus Benedict. But the Vatican now says that is not likely to happen today.
Pope Francis will hold a private mass with the cardinals who elected him at noon Eastern at the Sistine Chapel.
Of course, the question -- as so many people around the world are asking this morning -- who is Jorge Mario Bergoglio? And what will his election mean for the world's 1.2 billion Catholics?
We are covering this like no other network can. Miguel Marquez, Jim Bittermann reporting from this morning. Dan Rivers is in Assisi, Italy. And Shasta Darlington is in Buenos Aires where Pope Francis touched the lives many in his service as archbishop.
Our coverage begins with Miguel Marquez live from Rome this morning.
Good morning, Miguel.
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning there, John. Of course, the newspapers here are full of Francisco, Francis news today. But this is probably the most interesting and cool one.
When's the last time you saw a newspaper in Latin? Fantastic.
But the moments that he was presented to the world, that he met the people out there, was an unbelievable moment to experience.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARQUEZ (voice-over): The anticipation, intense. The crowd, 150,000 strong, jammed into St. Peter's square.
White smoke billowed. And the largest bell in the basilica signaled the election of a new pope. And within minutes, the square filled to capacity.
And then --
(on camera): This is the moment -- the moment that the tens of thousands of people gathered here in the square have been waiting for. It's electrifying. It's an extraordinary moment. Look at all of the cameras snapping a picture of the new pope.
(voice-over): Argentine Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio becomes Pope Francis. He asked the crowd to pray for his predecessor, Pope Benedict. Then, in a dramatic and touching moment, he asked for a silent prayer.
From the massive crowd, not a word, not a sound. The prayer, he said, was for him to help him in his new role.
(on camera): A hundred thousand people, probably more, and the silence.
LAURA HIDDEMEN, WITNESS: I know. I know. I was shocked, too. Definitely. It was -- I think it's just you're in the moment. You wanted that one curtain to drop and see who it was.
MARQUEZ (voice-over): For his fellow Argentines, it's a moment not only for their country, but the world.
RICARDO SAENZ, ARGENTINIAN PRIEST: He's a very humble person. Everybody in Argentina knows that. He doesn't use a car. He doesn't -- he uses the metro, the subway. He doesn't like to be called himself monsignor, your excellence, his imminence. Just Jorge Mario. You can call him is father.
MARQUEZ: A humble man about to embark on an extraordinary journey.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MARQUEZ: Now, even though you had this unbelievably enormous event last night, you still got the sense of the humility of the man. He left the stage. And he came back out to wish everybody a good night. And thank you for coming and to ask people to pray for him.
He is expected to then today -- he will meet today with 114 cardinals who elected him at the Sistine Chapel, where they will hold a mass.
John, back to you.
BERMAN: Miguel, it was almost grandfatherly the way he spoke to everyone out there.
Miguel Marquez, it must have been so exciting to be in the middle of it all, like you were. Those are great pictures of you. Thanks so much this morning.
Zoraida?
SAMBOLIN: Pope Francis is carving out a repetition of a pope of firsts -- a humble man who has been known to defy tradition and do things his way.
Here's Jim Bittermann.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
POPE FRANCIS I, CATHOLIC CHURCH (through translator): Let us begin this journey.
(CHEERS)
JIM BITTERMANN, CNN SENIOR EUROPEAN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): His journey began Wednesday when Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina was elected to lead the Catholic Church. He's the first non-European pope since the eighth century and the first pope ever from South America. He'll be called Pope Francis, in honor of St. Francis of Assisi.
Bergoglio was born in December 17th, 1936, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, the son of an Italian immigrant, a railway worker. He had four brothers and sisters. He studied to become a chemist before receiving a call to the priesthood.
The 76-year-old was ordained a Jesuit in December of 1969, and has served as archbishop in Buenos Aires. He was made a cardinal by Pope John Paul II on February 21st, 2001.
Bergoglio is said to be the runner-up in the 2005 conclave. And in 2013, he was the oldest of the possible candidates, barely mentioned as the top pick.
Some fellow Argentines are looking forward to his new chapter in the Catholic Church.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think we want to move forward. Hopefully make some good changes. Hopefully, he'll be similar to John Paul II in some ways and being progressive. So, we'll just have to wait and see.
BITTERMANN: Bergoglio is the 266th bishop of Rome, leader of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics. But to many, he's known simply, Father Jorge.
Jim Bittermann, CNN, Rome.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SAMBOLIN: Vice President Joe Biden, the first Roman Catholic vice president, will lead the U.S. delegation to Pope Francis' formal installation, which is happening next week. President Obama said the selection of the first Latin American pope spoke to the region that is increasingly shaping our world.
The news also seemed to energize American Catholics.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I ran to work. I had to come to the church. I work a couple of blocks down and I said I have to come to the church and thank God that we have this pope. That we are not alone.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's exciting for the Catholic Church, especially in America, to have a South American cardinal named pope. That's good. That's good for anyone, you know?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's a man of the people. Raised poor. Rode buses. So, they made a wise choice.
(END VIDEO CLIPS)
SAMBOLIN: Everybody seemed to have a positive opinion.
House Speaker John Boehner who is Catholic, called the selection of a non-European pope, a big step in the right direction for the church.
BERMAN: We've been talking about this all morning. And I thought something you said was so striking. You said you were watching, like so many of us were.
SAMBOLIN: I was riveted and glued.
BERMAN: And you were struck by his smile.
SAMBOLIN: First when he came out, he was very stiff and he looked very uncomfortable waving his hand.
But when he smiled, it changed everything. Even the people who are standing around them, if you looked at them, it changed their disposition, as well. He has an incredibly warm smile. The more you learn about him, the more interesting.
BERMAN: It came across as warm. It came across as almost gentle.
SAMBOLIN: Genuine, I'd say that as well.
BERMAN: And he asked the people of Italy, everyone in St. Peter's Square, he told them, get a good rest.
SAMBOLIN: Yes. And there was silence. Complete silence when he started to pray. And I thought that was significant, also. The fact that he chose to ask people to pray for him first. I thought was just poignant and very special moment for a lot of people
BERMAN: I also love the fact that he's a sports fan, big soccer fan.
SAMBOLIN: You share that. You guys have that in common. You can talk sports.
Coming up in our next half hour, what this means for the future of the church. We'll be joined by CNN senior Vatican analyst, John Allen, and CNN contributor, Father Edward Beck, as well.
BERMAN: It is about eight minutes after the hour.
And at this moment, there is a tense standoff between police and a gunman suspected of killing four people and blowing up his own house.
SAMBOLIN: We're live at the scene, coming up.
You are watching EARLY START.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BERMAN: A California skydiver whose frightening plunge to earth was caught on camera, he is now speaking out. On Sunday, Craig Stapleton's main chute --
SAMBOLIN: Look at this. Oh my --
BERMAN: Oh, man!
His main gets tangled up while diving over Ocampo, California. His backup chute also gets tangled up. He begins to spin. He hits the ground at an amazing 30 miles an hour. And what's worse, it's just a few feet from iron stakes that hold up the grapevines of a local vineyard.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CRIAG STAPLETON, SKYDIVER: I landed parallel to the grapes. One of my last thoughts before I hit was, I hope I don't hit an iron spike because it would just be messy.
I knew it was bad when I was living it. And when I saw the video, it was like, wow, that's a lot worse than I thought. You know, how did I walk away from that? How did I manage to survive?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: I really hope I don't hit an iron spike. That would just be messy.
SAMBOLIN: Yes. My poor family.
BERMAN: So, Stapleton suffered a separated shoulder. That's it. And some bumps and bruises.
And I can't believe this. He's going to take the weekend off. And then, resume jumping out of airplanes.
SAMBOLIN: He just does this for fun, seriously? That's not fun. Right there, that's not fun.
BERMAN: Almost dying, rarely very fun.
SAMBOLIN: Oh my goodness.
Twelve minutes past the hour. Let's get you up to date. Guess who is back? Christine Romans.
Welcome back.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. Good morning.
So much news today you guys. It's day one on the job for Pope Francis. He was scheduled to meet with the man he replaced, Pope Emeritus Benedict. But the Vatican says that's not likely to happen today. The new pontiff will hold a private mass at noon Eastern in the Sistine Chapel with the cardinals who elected him.
Prosecutors say two high school football stars from Steubenville, Ohio, sexually assaulted a visibly intoxicated 16-year-old girl. They treated her, quote, "like a toy." Seventeen-year-old Trent Mays and 16-year-old Malik Richmond are now on trial for rape. In their opening statement, the state claimed the teenagers bragged about it to their friends.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We know this photo is sent by Trent Mays to a number of other teenagers. And you will be able to read the text messages that were sent where these boys not only confess to the sex acts that were performed on my client, but they also bragged about their knowledge of how impaired she was. They used the word "dead" over and over.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Mays and Richmond have pleaded not guilty to those charges.
Charmed? Not so sure. President Obama's latest move in the White House is so-called "charm offensive" fails to get House Republicans to move on budget talks. The president received a standing ovation as he entered a conference room in the Capitol basement. But in nearly 90- minute long meeting left Republicans unmoved.
The president spoke last night about those talks.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Over the last several weeks, the press here in Washington has been reporting about Obama's charm offensive. Well, you know, the truth of the matter is, all I've been doing is just calling up folks and trying to see if we can break through some of the gobbledygook of our politics here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Drop the charm offensive and bring up the gobbledygook. That will be the new headline for the day.
Utah Republican Jason Chaffetz tweeted a picture from the meeting where several GOP House members asked the president whether his motives were purely political.
All right. The president has chosen a new ambassador for Libya. Deborah Jones will be his nominee for that post. She was U.S. ambassador to Kuwait for three years.
Jones also served in Turkey, Syria, the UAE and Ethiopia. She would replace the late Christopher Stevens in Libya. He, of course, was one of four Americans killed last year in an attack in Benghazi.
All right. Tough times in the Motor City. Michigan Governor Rick Snyder is expected to declare a financial emergency in Detroit. Sources tell CNN, he'll recommend an attorney from Washington take over as emergency manager. Snyder's announcement expected to come this afternoon. That's been a very difficult financial situation there for people trying to fix it and the people who live there.
SAMBOLIN: Yes, absolutely. Thank you, Christine.
ROMANS: You're welcome.
SAMBOLIN: It is 15 minutes past the hour now.
Happening now in Upstate New York, police are believed to have surrounded a man wanted in a shooting spree that left four people dead and two others in critical condition. That standoff is taking place right now in Herkimer County, about 70 miles northwest of the state capital of Albany. Police are making loud noises over a P.A. system to try to flush him out of an abandoned building.
CNN national correspondent Deborah Feyerick is live with the very latest.
What's happening now, Deborah?
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Zoraida, we can tell you that the standoff has been going on since early yesterday afternoon. We knew it was going to be a long night last night when they brought in floodlights. They have been trying to make contact with him throughout the evening.
Sixty-four-year-old Kurt Myers is in that empty store. It used to a bar. Police have surrounded him. We know that there are sharpshooters in the vicinity. Also, a heavy state and local presence here, other police forces from other jurisdictions. The reason that police have not gone in yet to get him out is that they are proceeding very cautiously. They don't want to lose anymore life.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D), NEW YORK: The police believe they have him in a location in the building that was just discussed. However, until he is apprehended, until the police are sure, we suggest that people in the immediate vicinity remain in their homes, and stay in a safe place and stay off the streets, in the meantime.
JOSEPH D'AMICO, NEW YORK STATE POLICE SUPERITENDENT: At this time, you know, basically, we're concerned about officers' safety. So, we're in no rush to bring this to a conclusion. We want to make sure no one else gets injured today.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FEYERICK: And all of this is playing out on Main Street. Not too far from the police and the fire stations. Just to locate you. It all began about 9:30 yesterday. Police say that Kurt Myers set his house on fire. They later discovered several guns inside that home.
Whatever set him off, he went to a barbershop, opened fire, killed two, injured two others with a long gun, with a shotgun. He then went to a local jiffy lube, where he killed two other people, including a former New York state corrections officer.
Police do not know what set him off, what triggered this rampage. But they believe he is inside that building right now. They're just trying to wait him out. It is cold. It's snowy. They've been up all night. They're waiting to get him out and hope this ends peacefully -- Zoraida.
SAMBOLIN: We saw they were using those little robots that are mounted with cameras in order to ensure safety. We're happy to see that.
Deborah Feyerick, reporting live, thank you.
BERMAN: Eighteen minutes after the hour right now.
Facebook's chief operating officer, Sheryl Sandberg, making waves in the workplace. Her new book titled "Lean In" hit number one on Amazon's bestseller's list. The first day it went on sale.
Sandberg has faced a lot of criticism for suggesting that women share some of the blame -- I'm not sure I'd use those words -- for their failure to compete with men in corporate America. But she tells our Soledad O'Brien, it's the men who can help change that moving forward.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: When you talk at your mentors in the book, it's mostly men.
SHERYL SANDBERG, FACEBOOK COO: I've never worked for a woman. I've been really lucky and I had great mentors and great sponsors.
And part of "Lean In" is trying to help people find the right way to develop these mentors and sponsors. And saying to every man out there, it should be a badge of honor to mentor a young woman. It's not something you're ashamed to do, not something you're afraid someone will assume something bad, but a badge of honor that you're willing to spend your time, giving benefit of your experience to young women in the workforce. They need it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: You can watch Soledad's full interview with Sheryl Sandberg Monday morning on "STARTING POINT".
SAMBOLIN: Two big winning streaks creating lots of excitement this morning. Twenty in a row for the Miami Heat. And nine big days in a row for the stock market.
We're going to celebrate both, coming up.
BERMAN: I hope one streak continues.
SAMBOLIN: Yes, you're right. Not Miami.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BERMAN: Minding your business this morning.
And we've been counting the Dow's winning streak every day.
SAMBOLIN: You've been happy. Happy, happy.
BERMA: Very good. There's a milestone today.
SAMBOLIN: The blue chip average has now risen for nine-straight sessions. Something we haven't seen in more than 16 years.
Our Christine Romans is tracking it all for us.
ROMANS: Good morning.
Remember that movie "Fargo"?
SAMBOLIN: Yes.
ROMANS: That was the last time you saw a winning streak like this. "Fargo" was in the movie theaters.
Just to give you perspective on how rare and long ago that actually was. I know.
1996. A long, long time ago was the last time you saw the stock market have a run like this.
And this morning, Dow futures are up again. It looks like at least in the morning, we're going to try to hit another record here. Let's talk about what was happening then. That was when, remember the Fed chief, Alan Greenspan? He was saying, maybe there's nothing irrational about this exuberance?
I want you to listen to that sound bite.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALAN GREENSPAN, FORMER FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIRMAN: But how do we know when irrational exuberance has unduly escalated asset values.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: You see, back then, along that time, we were having a run like this, the Fed chief was concerned that this thing was overdone. And look at the stock market chart. And you can see that after the maestro, Mr. Greenspan, ushered those words, the stock market kept going up for a long time.
And that's the point here. People are concerned they're going to miss out on what is the most lucrative part of a bull market, the very last, last fumes of it. And so, that's why people are unwilling to give up on the assent of the stock market.
Let's talk about the new Fed chief, Ben Bernanke, this is what he said. He doesn't see an equity bubble. He is also spending $85 billion a month to stimulate the economy. He's putting money into the system, which is helping the stock market. And he says he's keeping interest rates low at least until the unemployment rate gets to 6.5 percent.
So, when you look at where we are here, a lot of folks are looking at this particular mix of factors and saying, the stock market could go -- excuse me -- could go higher here. I'm speechless.
BERMAN: I had to admit, I had no idea where you were going with "Fargo." But when you brought it together there -- I like many men, are obsessed with the phone wars going on now. There's a huge announcement today.
ROMANS: I know. The Galaxy 4, the Samsung Galaxy S4 is going to be out later out. This is really an interesting food fight for dominance of the smartphone world. Yesterday, we saw Apple share up a little bit.
But, you know, a lot of people are saying, Samsung -- if Samsung could get some cool in this phone, the Android market is huge. Samsung and Apple have been fighting over their share of this market.
And look at the advertising of these companies, by the way. And you can see that Samsung are really out. It's interesting, $4 billion in estimated annual advertising.
Look at how that compared all of the other, like big names that you know. They're spending an awful lot of money to make sure that you know their phones are cool. And they're going to have a new one out tonight.
SAMBOLIN: And the people that own them actually boast and brag about them. They're like, my phone is better than your phone and so you start comparing to see which one is better.
ROMANS: That brings me to BlackBerry. Blackberry popped overnight in the stock pop because the company said that somebody ordered 1 million of its BlackBerry 10. So, we'll be looking for BlackBerry, maybe those shares to be moving today.
So, you're right, the phone stock wars, too.
SAMBOLIN: All right. Thanks, Christine.
ROMANS: You're welcome.
SAMBOLIN: Twenty-six minutes past the hour.
More than a billion Catholics around the world now have a new leader. More live from Rome on the brand-new pope on his first full day, Pope Francis.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
