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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

North Korea Readies Missiles; Remember Hero Husband, Not His Killer; March Jobs Report Out Today; Remembering Roger Ebert

Aired April 05, 2013 - 05:00   ET

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

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: New this morning, North Korea not backing down. Another missile moved into position and poised for a possible attack.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LISA CLEMENTS, TOM CLEMENTS' WIDOW: For the rest of my days, I could be angry that someone made a mistake. But it won't bring Tom back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Forgiveness in the face of devastating loss. An emotional CNN exclusive with the family of murdered Colorado prison chief Tom Clements.

BERMAN: Saved from the side of a cliff. Take a look at this. A missing hiker rescued after a four-day ordeal in the wilderness.

ROMANS: Takedown at the airport security gate. An off-duty cop caught on camera taking action.

BERMAN: Wow.

ROMANS: Saving the day!

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

BERMAN: Look at that. All right. I'm John Berman. Zoraida is off today. It is Friday --

ROMANS: Say it again.

BERMAN: It's Friday, April 5th, 5:00 a.m. in the East.

And we're going to start with missiles on the move. Just a short time ago, a U.S. official told CNN that North Korea is hiding a second missile along its east coast. That missile and its launch components were transferred in the last few days close enough to strike South Korea and Japan.

Now, this apparent deployment comes along with escalating rhetoric from the North which accuses the U.S. of pushing the region to the brink of war.

CNN's Jim Clancy has more now from Seoul, South Korea. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM CLANCY, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: U.S. and South Korean military sources are firm. They believe that North Korea is planning a test missile firing. Speculation in the media suggests this may be a Musudan missile, one that was developed with Russian help by the North Koreans and has a range between 3,000 and 4,000 kilometers. That's significant, because it would put not only South Korea but Japan and U.S. air and naval bases on Guam at risk.

But no one thinks that North Korea is planning attack any of those targets. This is more likely a test to provoke Pyongyang's foes.

Here's what Victoria Nuland, a spokeswoman for the U.S. State Department, had to say. "When you have a country that is making the kinds of bellicose threats that they are making, and taking the steps that they are taking, and when you have allies and treaty commitments, you have to take it seriously. There is no other choice," she said.

And so, the U.S. already has ships in the region including a radar platform. South Korea is said to be moving its own spy ships into the waters off the Korean peninsula to monitor developments.

Now, it may also be an opportunity for the North Koreans to show off their military, their ballistic military technology. It is precisely this kind of technology that they sell to Iran and other countries to earn export income.

Jim Clancy, CNN, Seoul.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: Developing over night, the cooling system at Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant is up and running again after it failed. Tokyo Electric Power sounding an alarm when the system stopped working. It's designed to keep spent atomic fuel cool at the Fukushima Daiichi plant. This was the system's second failure in a month.

BERMAN: New this morning, a psychiatrist who treated suspected shooter James Holmes warned police a month before the massacre that he was a danger to the public. Documents released this week showed Dr. Lynn Fenton, a psychiatrist with the University of Colorado, contacted a campus officer about Holmes. An affidavit claims Holmes had stopped seeing Dr. Fenton and was sending her threatening text messages.

ROMANS: All right. New video this morning shows the district attorney of Kaufman County, Texas, shopping for guns the day before he and his wife were found shot to death in his home. According to the store's owner, Mike McLelland was not shopping for himself but for people who work for him at the D.A.'s office. They were nervous following the fatal shooting of an assistant D.A. outside the county courthouse back in January.

Funeral services will be held today for Mike and Cynthia McLelland. And a memorial service for the couple was held yesterday. BERMAN: The manhunt continues this morning in Colorado for two white supremacists in connection with the death of the state's prison chief, Tom Clements. He was gunned down in his home last month. A clerical error allowed the man accused of killing him to get out of prison early.

But in a CNN exclusive interview, Clements widow and two daughters say they want the focus to be on the hero victim, not on his killer or killers.

CNN's Jim Spellman has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM SPELLMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was the courage and strength most of us could only help for, Lisa Clements, widow of slain Colorado prisons chief Tom Clements, along with daughters Rachel and Sara down with CNN's Anderson Cooper.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: What do you want people to know about your husband?

LISA CLEMENTS: There's been so much about who he was, his career, and what he did in corrections. Certainly he had a significant impact and was a leader in his field. But for me, much more significant is the integrity of the person that I know and love. And that he really, truly cared about other people.

SPELLMAN: Something she saw in Tom from an early age.

COOPER: He met you when you were 19?

LISA CLEMENTS: Yes.

COOPER: At school?

LISA CLEMENTS: Yes.

COOPER: What was it about him that drew you to him?

LISA CLEMENTS: So, he is -- he's fun, he's kind, and passionate about life. So, at a very early age that was very -- very interesting to me.

SPELLMAN: Tom Clemens loved the outdoors in Colorado and hiking with his daughters. As the public focuses on his career, Sara and Rachel see a different man.

SARA CLEMENTS, DAUGHTER OF TOM CLEMENTS: He is my hero. He intervened in my life so many times, just really changed my path. I just want people to know that, you know, he's my dad.

RACHEL MADDOW, DAUGHTER OF TOM CLEMENTS: I would like people to see how he lived his life, and that that is so much more important than how he died. That he lived his life with such passion and such compassion for other people. SPELLMAN: In his professional life, that compassion extended to the inmates in his prisons, and even though it appears one of those very prisoners gunned him down, his wife is already searching for forgiveness.

LISA CLEMENTS: I've heard Tom in our years together so many times talk about victims with whom he's spoken, who describe their entire lives falling apart, their marriages falling apart, their health falling apart because of the rage and the lack of forgiveness towards the person who harmed their loved one or took the life of their loved one.

And, conversely, victims with whom he's spoken who simply said, I have to let go so I can live my life and that's -- that's what I choose.

SPELLMAN: Though it appears her husband's killer was released from prison early due to a clerical error, she vows not to let resentment or hatred dominate her life.

LISA CLEMENTS: For the rest of my days, I could be angry that someone made a mistake and didn't capture what a judge conveyed verbally. But it won't bring Tom back. And then my life is lost in that and my ability to be a good mother to my children. So -- so I choose not to make it a focus.

SPELLMAN: A choice to let the light chase away the darkness.

LISA CLEMENTS: There's a Scripture talking about when darkness overtakes the godly, light comes bursting through. And I think that that Scripture captures exactly what I would like people to know about Tom. That that horrific night and, you know, the sound of that doorbell and all that happened was -- it just was an unmentionable darkness, but I -- I trust that people will see light coming through. That they'll see that a man lived a good life and peoples lives are impacted by that.

SPELLMAN: A light that will be remembered long after his killer is forgotten.

Jim Spellman, CNN, Denver.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: What incredible strength.

ROMANS: You know, I'm always so impressed when people can talk in a situation like that and so eloquently, too. All the best to them.

BERMAN: Eight minutes after the hour right now.

And President Obama's upcoming budget expected to include cuts to Medicare and Social Security along with some new tax increases. It will be unveiled Wednesday.

White House officials say the cuts are meant to show that the president is willing to compromise with Republicans. The budget also includes an offer President Obama made to House Speaker John Boehner, $400 billion in savings to Medicare over 10 years. The White House hopes this will kick-start talks on a long-term deficit reduction deal.

ROMANS: All right. A must-see event on Wall Street this morning. The March jobs report due out at 8:30 Eastern. We're expecting to hear about 190,000 jobs were created last month. Not as good as February when job growth took a surprise and topped 200,000.

We have been adding jobs for almost two and a half years now, but in the past week or so, there have been some worry signs. Reports on manufacturing, jobless claims and private sector employment came in a little weaker, so the estimates for March have been dialed back.

As for the unemployment rate, we're expecting it to hold at 7.7 percent. It's been improving since hitting a peak in 2009, but it's been a slow improvement. I'm going to have that report at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time. We'll see if the sequester, the timing of Easter, the cold weather, all these things that economists and market watchers look at closely to see how they may wreck havoc in those numbers or play on those numbers.

BERMAN: This is like live sports coverage of breaking economic news. You want to be with us at 8:30 this morning.

ROMANS: This is my own NCAA tournament right here.

BERMAN: Which is no longer winning, by the way.

Nine minutes after the hour.

So, no good film is too long, no bad movie is short enough -- words of incredible wisdom from legendary film critic Roger Ebert who died yesterday after a long battle with cancer. He was 70 years old.

Ebert, of course, became a household name reviewing films on television, first with long time colleague Gene Siskel, later with Richard Roeper.

Last night on CNN's "A.C. 360", Roeper shared some of his memories.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICHARD ROPER, FILM CRITIC: With Roger, what you saw on TV, Anderson, and what you read in his blog, of if you saw his tweets, what you saw is what you got. That was Roger. You know, he was a larger than life guy. He had a great passion for the movies.

You mentioned how long he's been doing this. When I joined the show, he had already been a film critic for 30 years. He had already reviewed literally 10,000 movies and he would still get excited every time the lights went down and the curtains parted in the screening. He was always rooting for a movie to be good, if it wasn't good, you knew about it.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BERMAN: Later this hour, "Showbiz Tonight's" A.J. Hammer looks back on Ebert's long career.

Let me just say, Ebert was a phenomenal writer, a gifted man of letters and words.

ROMANS: An institution, you know, obviously, in the country. But in Chicago, this guy is a legend. To think of how much bigger he even is in Chicago. So, people in Chicago real sad this morning.

BERMAN: A big loss.

ROMANS: All right. Some pretty some amazing surveillance video to show you this morning. A woman barging into a security checkpoint area at Honolulu Airport, and attacking a female TSA agent. And out of nowhere, a California police officer jumps a barrier to the rescue, rescues the agent, body slams the suspect.

Hero cop Justin Rogers says he was waiting to go to the body scanner on his way back from vacation and then he heard the commotion.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CPL. JUSTIN ROGERS, TOOK DOWN SUSPECT ASSAULTING TSA AGENT: Police officer or not, the woman was being assaulted, she was defenseless, had her arms up trying to defend herself. And somebody really needed to help her. And luckily, I was close enough to be able to help her out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: TSA released a statement saying the actions coupled with the quick response by airport security ensured the integrity of the airport's sterile area was maintained, minimizing disruptions to the traveling public. Mahalo, officer Rogers.

BERMAN: That was like a very quick takedown. In wrestling, that'd be very impressive.

ROMANS: That's all instinct.

BERMAN: All right. Twelve minutes after the hour.

And talk about the nick of time, searchers find a missing hiker clinging for dear life to the side of the canyon. We're going to have more on this rescue and a live report, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: Welcome back to EARLY START.

A dramatic ending to the search for a second missing hiker in Orange County, California, back country yesterday. A search team able to hear 18-year-old Kyndall Jack's frantic screams but they couldn't see her until she finally managed to get their attention by weakly waving her one functioning arm. One of the rescuers risking his own life to save hers, falling 60 feet in the process.

Nick Valencia is in Los Angeles with the latest.

This young woman is so lucky to be alive. Tell us about it.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: She sure is, Christine. And authorities said they never lost confidence given how young and healthy these two teen hikers were. They never lost confidence that they would be found.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right now, everybody is celebrating for our success. And regardless of how hard they worked or how tired they are, or hungry they are, it's a tremendous victory for them.

VALENCIA (voice-over): A victory for search and rescue teams, and a reason to celebrate for the friends and family of the two teen hikers who had been missing since Easter.

Nicholas Cendoya and Kyndall Jack called police sometime Sunday to say they couldn't find their way out of the heavily wooded area in southern California's Cleveland National Forest. Their cell phone battery died before authorities could track them.

Early Wednesday, Jack's father said the two Orange County teens were unprepared for more than an afternoon hike.

RUSS JACK, FATHER OF MISSING TEEN: I want my daughter found. I want Nick to be found as well. So, we're not going to give up until they're found one way or another.

VALENCIA: With more than 100 law enforcement officers and volunteers as part of the search, Cendoya was found first late Wednesday evening, wearing only a t-shirt and board shorts, he was plucked from the dense canyon brush, severely dehydrated and delirious. But Cendoya's rescue gave authorities hope that Jack would also be found.

Officers said she was spotted on Thursday morning, pretty close to where Cendoya was rescued. Both were expected to survive their injuries.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a complicated environment, before you know it you're lost. You don't have the resources available.

VALENCIA: Officials were thrilled at the outcome, but they also, Christine, used it as an opportunity to talk to the public about the dangers that un-experienced and unprepared hikers could encounter -- Christine.

ROMANS: I think when they say be prepared, it's a reminder to be prepared. And just know what you're heading into.

Any update on their condition this morning? VALENCIA: Yes, Kyndall Jack was in and out of consciousness during her rescue. She is expected to survive her injuries. She is being treated for dehydration and still at the UCI Medical Center. "The L.A. Times" reported this morning that she is undergoing tests. We're unclear what those tests are.

As far as her hiking companion, Nicholas Cendoya, he's alive, he's alert, he's saying he is thankful to be alive and he's thanking God for the experience. He's also being treated for dehydration but he's also expected to survive -- Christine.

ROMANS: All right. Nick Valencia, thank you, Nick.

Coming up at 7:00 a.m. Eastern on "STARTING POINT," we're going to talk to four members of the brave crew who saved those hikers.

BERMAN: Eighteen minutes after the hour right now.

Let's bring you up-to-speed.

South Korea's news agency reporting that North Korea has now moved two muscles to an undisclosed facility on its eastern coast. The U.S. official tells CNN that Pyongyang has been moving missiles and launch components to the coast over the last few days. Those components appear to be for a missile that has a range of about 2,500 miles, posing a threat to South Korea and Japan.

Now, the North claims the U.S. is pushing the region to the brink of war.

ROMANS: Grieving as she takes over her husband's duties. Days after her husband was shot and killed, Rosie Crum choking back tears, takes over as Mingo County, West Virginia's new sheriff. She was sworn in blocks from where her husband was shot.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So help me God.

ROSIE CRUM, SHERIFF: So help me God.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Congratulations, sheriff.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Her husband was shot twice and killed on Wednesday in a parking lot. The man suspected of killing him, 37-year-old Tennis Melvin Maynard, was last known to be in critical but stable condition. He as shot in the chest during the exchange of gun fire with the sheriff's deputy after the chase. Rosie Crum will serve out her late husband's term which runs through the end of the year.

People there in that town said she knows him and his crime-fighting ways better than anyone. She should fulfill the rest of his term.

BERMAN: Amazing. New fallout this morning over the video showing former Rutgers basketball coach Mike Rice verbally and physically abusing Rutgers players. One of Rice's assistant coaches Jimmy Martelli has resigned. He, too, was seen on camera berating players and hurling basketballs at them during practice.

And there are growing calls this morning for Rutgers athletic director and the president to step down over their handling of the case.

ROMANS: Well, here's a first. A new poll says most Americans think marijuana should be legal. This is the first time a majority said yes to legalized pot since Pew started asking this question more than 40 years ago. Fifty-two percent now support it, 45 percent say no. And 72 percent said the cost of enforcing the current laws isn't worth it.

Back in 1969, a Gallup poll found only 12 percent. So, 1969, only 12 percent said legalize it.

BERMAN: That's a big change.

ROMANS: Today, 52 percent.

BERMAN: Times, they are changing.

ROMANS: They are.

BERMAN: Something's blowing in the wind, they say.

All right. Twenty minutes after the hour.

Coming up, KFC bringing a big change to its menu, one that would make you wonder, what would the colonel say?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: Welcome back, everyone.

Minding your business this morning -- it is all about jobs today.

ROMANS: Oh, yes.

BERMAN: The March report due out at 8:30 Eastern Time.

Wall Street thinking it might not be as good as February.

ROMANS: We're expecting about 190,000, economists are, created in March. That's down from 236,000 in February.

So, right now, stock futures pointing to a lower open, but investors also may be looking for a reason to sell.

I mean, look, the Dow and S&P -- they have been hitting record highs recently. If you're seeing a slowdown in jobs growth in the biggest economy in the world, some money managers are saying perfect time to take some money off the table. We won't know for sure until the report comes out. All right. A former Enron CEO, Jeff Skilling, remember that name? Could be out of prison early. Jeff Skilling isn't scheduled to be released for another 15 years, but the Department of Justice is considering a new sentencing agreement with him.

According to an appeals court decision, Skilling's original sentence was done under improper guidelines. DOJ is announcing this so that a victim can participate in the hearing. Skilling was sentenced to 24 years in prison in 2006 after being convicted fraud, conspiracy, insider traders, lying to auditors for orchestrating the biggest corporate fraud in U.S. history.

Facebook has unveiled a new product and it's not a phone -- a phone- phone like most expected. Instead it's called Facebook Home. It's a family of apps that pushes Facebook content front and center on your phone. It's sort of like -- it was described to me as sort of like a film, a mask that goes over your Android phone that makes it a Facebook product. Instead of downloading Instagram, Facebook messenger, Facebook camera, it's all right there on Facebook Home. It will be available next week.

All right. Big changes at KFC. "USA Today" says the fast food chain will announce it's going boneless. That's right, boneless.

The national rollout of original recipe boneless chicken is expected next week. It's a risky move, but the restaurant has been losing market share to rivals to Panera and Chipotle and looking for some new ideas.

BERMAN: They're going all boneless or are they just going offer boneless?

ROMANS: Boneless.

BERMAN: Got you. All right.

ROMANS: Going boneless.

BERMAN: Congratulations, Colonel.

ROMANS: The biggest business news of the day.

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

A break to tell you about the killing of Ft. Knox, who police have in custody right now. We'll tell you all about that in a little bit.

ROMANS: It's a strain of bird flu that's never been seen in people until now, and the deaths from it continuing to rise this morning. Now, China is taking action. We're live in Beijing.

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