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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
No Snowden Here
Aired July 04, 2013 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
REZA SAYAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And I think all parties involved here in this transition want to make the claim that this is not a military coup. And case and point, the man leading the transitional government will be the former head of the top court, which is a civilian institution. In the meantime, Mohamed Morsy under house arrest. No indications that he's been charged. State media reporting that he's under house arrest as a precautionary measure.
However, other Muslim Brotherhood leaders, key figures under arrest. The Muslim Brotherhood's networks, several of them, networks -- television networks belonging to former President Mohamed Morsy supporters also shut down. That raises a whole bunch of questions. Is this a swift and aggressive campaign to sideline the Muslim Brotherhood?
We're going to find out in the coming days and weeks. In the meantime, more celebration in Tahrir Square. We thought we've seen it all, but moments ago, we saw military jets flying up above with their vapor flumes. They made shapes of hearts in the sky, their way of showing the Egyptian people that they love them, love in the air, literally and figuratively, here in Egypt -- Michaela.
MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: So, the tone really is of celebration from what you can tell, Reza?
SAYAH: Right now, the people behind us in Tahrir Square are celebrating, but certainly, the supporters of the president, the Muslim Brotherhood, other Islamist groups. This is a tough pill to swallow for them. A humiliating defeat. The question is, what happens to them as a political movement? Can they regroup? Will this new government allow them to regroup? Some of the unknowns that's coming ahead.
PEREIRA: They're unhappy about this -- what they are calling an illegitimate coup. Well, they feel disenfranchise in how will they react. Reza Sayah reporting there from Egypt. We appreciate it.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Some other big news overseas right now. He's put himself out there, but so far, NSA leaker, Edward Snowden, has no takers in his bid for political asylum. He put Bolivia on his wish list of countries. That has triggered a serious diplomatic kerfuffle after a plane carrying the Bolivian president was forced to land on suspicion that Snowden was on board.
Meantime, Snowden remains holed up in Moscow's airport. CNN's Frederik Pleitgen is live in the Russian capital. Kerfuffle doesn't even begin to cutter (ph) here, we were talking, Fred. This really does seem to get more dramatic, more twisted by the day.
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: More dramatic, more twisted, and more bizarre, John. You're absolutely right. Evo Morales' plane was forced to land an emergency landing in Austria after the French, the Spanish, and the Portuguese wouldn't let him through their air space thinking that John Snowden -- that Ed Snowden might be on that plane.
He wasn't on the plane, but it's cause massive diplomatic fallout not just between Bolivia and Europe, but between all of South America and Europe and, of course, the United States. Bolivia is accusing a lot of European countries of being lap dogs of the United States saying that all of this was illegal. It is a gigantic round (ph).
One of the interesting things about it is is that France, apparently, didn't allow Morales through its air space even though the French are one of the countries that are most heavily criticizing the U.S. because of all of this NSA leaks. The French are even calling into question trade agreements that the EU and America are talking about for transatlantic free trade agreement, and yet, apparently, they didn't let Morales through the air space.
Again, we're in day 12. Snowden is still at that airport. No one knows when he's going to go anywhere or where he's going to go, but certainly, this is becoming a gigantic headache for the Russians, for the Europeans with big diplomatic implications, John.
BERMAN: Playing out on so many continents all started by one 29-year- old kid. All right. Frederik Pleitgen for us in Moscow this morning. Thanks, Fred.
PEREIRA: Meanwhile, was someone trying to listen in on Julian Assange?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PEREIRA (voice-over): Ecuador claims they found a hidden microphone in its London embassy. That's where the WikiLeaks founder has been living now for more than year. The Ecuadorians claim it was put there by a private surveillance company.
The bug was found in an electric outlet in the ambassador's office and could be activated with a phone call. They're now asking the British government to investigate.
BERMAN (voice-over): And amid growing questions about alleged U.S. spying overseas, President Obama has agreed to hold high level meetings with European officials as soon as next week. The president spoke with German chancellor, Angela Merkel, on Wednesday, and the White House says he told her he takes Europe's concerns very seriously. There've been several reports in recent days that the U.S. spied on diplomats and bugged European Union offices.
PEREIRA: A terror threat ahead of the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia. In an online video, Chechen rebel leader, Doku Umarov, promised to use any methods necessary to derail the games which he called satanic dances. Umarov is considered Russia's most wanted terrorist. He spent years leading a campaign against the government. He suspended attacks back in 2012, but now, he says he must retaliate for the government's targeting of peaceful --
BERMAN: That's a pretty chilling video.
Former congresswoman, Gabrielle Giffords, and her husband, Mark Kelly, are in Cincinnati today before (ph) stop under nationwide tour, trying to draw up support for universal background checks. The pair are visiting places where guns are popular like Nevada, Alaska, North Dakota, and New Hampshire.
Giffords even fired a gun at a Las Vegas shooting range. The pair are trying to convince senators who voted against stepped up background checks to now support them instead.
PEREIRA: Texas lawmakers set to vote again on a bill banning most abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy and restricting where they can take place. A state House committee approved the restrictions Wednesday, and it's expected to go to the full House for a vote on Tuesday. Last week, Democrats successfully blocked the law in the state Senate, but this time, it is expected to pass.
BERMAN: The senate in North Carolina has approved a bill that also restricts abortions where they can take place. The required procedure happened in surgical centers which effectively closes more than a dozen clinics. The bill will now move to the state assembly, which is set to consider it next week.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PEREIRA (on-camera): Well, Tallahassee, Florida, it looks like you'll be likely spending the Fourth of July cleaning up. Wow. What a storm. Pretty powerful one left its mark on the area, ripping trees right out of the ground, bringing down power lines. Thousands of Tallahassee residents were left in the dark. Quite a mess to clean up from there.
BERMAN (on-camera): That is a mess. We are now five and a half hours into this holiday weekend. Let's go to Chad Myers. He's tracking the forecast for us.
PEREIRA: And look at that patriotic tie.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I worked on this. I really did. I shopped yesterday when I was in New York, because that's what I do when I go to New York. I shop, because what else would you do? Hey, think about this. You go, you rent a beautiful beach house in Panama City or Inlet City, Florida, Inlet beach, 13 1/2 inches and 24 and it's still raining.
BERMAN: What?
MYERS: And it's going to rain all day today. I know, but that's the bad news for you. Bad news for Atlanta, Nashville (ph), and Ashville. But the best news is that all the I-95 cities, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, all good. The nation's capital, fireworks fantastic tonight. It will dry out. The pattern has shifted the rain to the west. So, Cleveland, Columbus, Atlanta, Nashville, maybe not so good.
Still hot in the west, raining in the middle part of the country, but not raining for the big cities. Hot. 94, Boston, even the heat index today in New York City, 95. It's going to be 75, 78 in Atlanta. Twenty degrees colder in Atlanta than it is here in New York City. And also in the Boston, the heat will be on. Salt Lake City, 98. And the winner or the loser, depending on your point of view, Las Vegas at 114 this afternoon.
BERMAN: The jackpot in Las Vegas, shall we say.
MYERS: I was there at 107 two weeks ago. And 107 is hot. 114 is ridiculous.
PEREIRA: People don't go on the streets. Well, they do, actually. They really do.
BERMAN: Good thing those casinos are air-conditioned.
PEREIRA: Absolutely.
BERMAN: Not feel that -- all right. Thank you, Chad.
Thirty-seven minutes after the hour. A school board meeting turns into a screaming match. And this thing was all caught on camera. It happened at Spring Valley, New York, northeast of New York City. A mother and a frequent school board critic was talking about her special needs child when a private lawyer for the board apparently started smirking.
So, this escalated into a screaming match that went all the way to the parking lot. You have to look at this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're still smirking at me. Please.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Will you please shut up?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You really need to get out. You need to get out.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shut up. (EXPLETIVE DELETED)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: You know, it's a school board meeting. It's all about the kids, right?
PEREIRA: it's all about the kids.
BERMAN: What a great example they're setting. The board plans to discuss the incident at a meeting next week. That should -- PEREIRA: I know. I was shocked, too. (INAUDIBLE). Did you see how many people have their cell phones? They're like, we're recording this. We want this to be noted.
All right. Coming up, 50 Cent charged, accused of attacking his ex- girlfriend. What she says happened, next.
BERMAN: And this is news for all of us. Why wearing a bikini on a hot summer day got one woman kicked out of a swimming pool?
PEREIRA: One would argue at least she had the suit on.
BERMAN: It's an argument.
PEREIRA: There's always a way to look at things.
BERMAN: I love the way you think.
(LAUGHTER)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BERMAN: Welcome back to EARLY START, everyone. An addiction specialist testifying at Michael Jackson's wrongful death trial in Los Angeles. He suggested that Jackson was not abusing pain meds in the years before signing his deal with AEG Live for series of comeback concert in London. Katherine Jackson is suing AEG over her son's death. The addiction doctor painted a picture of Jackson as a typical a pain patient until Dr. Conrad Murray entered his life.
PEREIRA: 50 Cent is facing domestic violence charge. He's accused of attacking his ex-girlfriend. The rapper whose real name is Curtis Jackson was hit with five criminal counts. Prosecutors say he went after the mother of his child and ransacked her bedroom during an argument in June.
Police in Los Angeles found broken chandeliers and furniture, a broke TV and clothes threw in all over the floor and say when the girlfriend tried to hide, he kicked in the door and then kicked her. The rapper faces up to five years in jail if he is convicted.
BERMAN: It is, of course, Independence Day, and many of us spend the Fourth of July taking swim in the pool or the lake, the ocean, but one Missouri woman acclaims she is no longer welcome at a water park because of her body. Madelyn Sheaffer says staff at the Adventure Oasis Waterpark in Independence, Missouri told her she had to cover up her bikini bottom because it's too small.
PEREIRA: Bottom?
BERMAN: Bottom. She recently lost 100 pounds. She was feeling confident. Now, she says she feels singled out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MADELYN SHEAFFER, SAYS EMPLOYEES KICKED HER OUT: There's 16-year-old and 19-year-old girls wearing the same amount and no one is criticizing them or making them feel ashamed or making them feel uncomfortable in their bodies. It's summertime. It's a swimming pool. I'm wearing a swimming suit.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: Can't argue with that. Good morning, Missouri. She filed a complaint against the water park.
PEREIRA: Newfound confidence after losing all that weight.
BERMAN: Well, good for her if losing a weight.
PEREIRA: Yes.
BERMAN: Let's take a look at what is coming up on "New Day." Swimsuit wear as Chris Cuomo, Kate Bolduan join us now.
PEREIRA: This is so weird from inside the box to inside the box. Hi, guys.
(CROSSTALK)
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You jumped boxes.
(LAUGHTER)
PEREIRA: I did.
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Happy Fourth of July to you two beautiful people. And to you, Berman, I must say, the woman to your left is very impressive.
BERMAN: We brought her on the big show today, guys.
(LAUGHTER)
CUOMO: You with the pink tie on the Fourth of July.
PEREIRA: I know. Don't you love this?
CUOMO: You see my tie?
BOLDUAN: I think it's strong.
(CROSSTALK)
CUOMO: This has flags on it. You know why? Because I'm an American.
(CROSSTALK)
CUOMO: I'm not calling him an Ameri-can't (ph), but I'm saying --
(CROSSTALK)
BERMAN: Almost red and blue. And I'm white. So, it's like red, white and blue.
BOLDUAN: For those of us who are color blind -- and you made it racial. You look red, white, and blue.
(LAUGHTER)
CUOMO: Look, it's great to see you both, but don't stay there too long. Come over here. You know, we love you more. Come back to us.
(LAUGHTER)
CUOMO: Big news show today, right? We're all watching the Egypt situation and here's why. The president in a statement didn't use the word coup. Why? If you use that word, it means something in terms of government aid. So, what's really going on there? What are the American expectations? What can we think will happen next? We're going to take you through it very important elements there in a very developing situation.
BOLDUAN: And very important for everyone here in the United States. They are a key U.S. ally.
We're also going to be talking about the George Zimmerman trial. Matter of DNA. Jurors find out what was found on George Zimmerman's gun the night Trayvon Martin was killed and how much the neighborhood watchman knew about Florida stand your ground law before all of this happened.
We're going to break down how this evidence affects the case. Prosecution is pushing really hard on inconsistencies in statements that George Zimmerman has made. A pretty strong day for them.
CUOMO: And we have Danny Cevallos here. He's a topnotch criminal defense attorney. But he's going against a real bum today as the prosecutor --
BOLDUAN: Yes.
CUOMO: I'm going to be trying it out. See how I do against one of the big --
BOLDUAN: It's the holiday. We have to bring in anybody we could.
CUOMO: Join the power of my American tie here on the Fourth of July. I think it will help me. You know, there's celebrations, obviously, going on all around the country, barbecues, but we're going to be live on Liberty Island. Very important. It was closed after hurricane Sandy. We are going to take you there. We have Pamela Brown down there. We're going to give you a little window of insight -- hot dog eating contest on Coney Island. I finished third in 1997.
BOLDUAN: Yummy, yummy, yummy. I bet I could beat you today.
CUOMO: It's not true.
BOLDUAN: We're not going to have a contest, but I bet I could beat Cuomo.
PEREIRA: The thing is, Kate, you have to understand, Chris is a delicate eater. He sort of nibbles. It is very delicate little bites that he takes. And I know, you would just chow and you know?
BOLDUAN: You just put the elbows up and you get --
PEREIRA: Elbows out.
(CROSSTALK)
PEREIRA: Delicate nibbles. Delicate nibbles.
(LAUGHTER)
BERMAN: All right, guys. See you in a little bit. Sorry that I lose Michaela to you, but that's the way it is.
CUOMO: Get ready.
BERMAN: Coming up here on EARLY START, Manny being Manny. Manny Ramirez back in the game. This guy just never goes away. Who he will be batting for this time around?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BERMAN: All right. Our daily dose of big time Boston sports news. The Celtics search for a coach now over. And this is a move nobody, I didn't see this coming. The team hired Butler's Brad Stevens, younger than I am, to replace Doc Rivers. Andy Scholes joins us now with more on the "Bleacher Report." A shocker, Andy.
ANDY SCHOLES, BLEACHER REPORT: I thought you, two, were the same age? You're not 36?
BERMAN: I wish.
(LAUGHTER)
SCHOLES: Yes. Definitely a shocking move. You know, since Doc Rivers left to coach the Clippers, the Celtics search for a new head coach has been pretty much a quiet one. No one was sure who they were looking at, but that mystery definitely solved yesterday afternoon when they surprisingly announced that Butler's Brad Stevens would be their next head coach.
Now, Stevens is considered one of the games brightest and up and coming coaches after leading Butler to back-to-back national title game appearances in 2010 and 2011. He was offered multiple offers to coach a bigger program. Steven declined all of those offers, though, choosing to remain at Butler, but the chance to coach the Boston Celtics was just too good to pass up. According to reports, the 36- year-old Stevens will sign a six-year deal worth $22 million. He will be introduced on Friday.
The Dodgers young phenom, Yasiel Puig, experienced the highs and lows of sports yesterday. He was named the NL rookie of the month and the player of the month in the afternoon. Last night, against the Rockies, look at this, makes the amazing catch, but he slammed into the wall. Puig ends up bruising his left hip on the play. He had to leave the game an inning later, and he's now considered day-to-day.
Well, could we see Manny being Manny again in the big leagues? Yesterday, Manny Ramirez signed a minor league deal with a Texas Rangers organization. The 41-year-old will report today to the team's AAA affiliate in Round Rock, Texas. Manny has been out of the majors since 2011 when he chose to retire facing while a 100-game suspension for a failed performance enhancing drug test. He stayed busy, though, most recently playing in a Chinese professional baseball league.
No pitcher in baseball is hotter right now than the Tigers' Max Scherzer. Scherzer came in last night's game against the Blue Jays with a record of 12-0. But as any pitcher would tell you, you're only as good as the defense behind you. Check it out. Austin Jackson helping out Scherzer with a great leap he'd catch against the wall.
That saves at least one run. The Tigers would get the win. Scherzer improves to 13-0. He's the first pitcher to do so since Roger Clemens did it for the Red Sox back in 1986. Not a bad start to the season.
BERMAN: That was Clemens MVP year, and the year he stuck out 20, of course. Scherzer off to a lightning fast start. Andy Scholes, Happy Fourth of July to you. Great to see you today.
SCHOLES: Happy Fourth to you as well.
BERMAN: All right. Coming up here, pranksters at the George Zimmerman trial. We'll tell you what they did. This was really crazy. It had the court and really the country confused.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BERMAN: Sometimes, even the eyes of the entire nation cannot stop online pranksters. They even managed to hit the George Zimmerman trial. Jeanne Moos explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Someone should plead guilty to a technical fiasco. It started with one ping and ended with a cascade that left even the witness laughing. One of George Zimmerman's former professors was testifying via Skype from Colorado when apparent pranksters started calling in.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go ahead.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. Can you repeat the question?
MOOS: The Skype names of the callers kept popping up on the screen.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Start again, please.
(LAUGHTER) UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And I'm only laughing because I've had this happen to me before.
MOOS: Not in the middle of a blockbuster nationally televised trial.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look at that screen there.
MOOS: They kept trying to decline the calls, but it was like playing whack a mole, then came a classic understatement from Zimmerman's defense attorney.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's now a really good chance that we're being toyed with.
MOOS: You think?
(on-camera) Apparently, whoever set up the Skype wasn't aware and neither was I until about 10 minutes ago that Skype has a do not disturb mode that would have prevented this.
(voice-over) Twitter accounts surfaced with names matching those that interrupted the trial. One salmon (ph) apologized saying "I am sorry for that. I didn't know he was on TV." While a second salmon (ph) called the first one fake. It wasn't you, bro. The judge got cross.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Turn down the volume, hang up the phone.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. That didn't work.
MOOS: And when they finally gave up on Skype and switched to an old- fashioned speakerphone, even that was a challenge.
MOOS: Order in the court. Order up some tech support so we can at least see the witness.
Jeanne Moos, CNN --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Even you are laughing. I can see all these people calling.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's ridiculous.
MOOS: New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BERMAN: It is a murder trial, though. You have to remember that.
That is all for EARLY START today. (SINGING) all by myself. Let's go to "New Day" anchors, Chris Cuomo, Kate Bolduan, what's going on, guys?
CUOMO: That was a cry for help --
(CROSSTALK)
CUOMO: I'm hugging you through the television. I want you to know that, JB. This is for you.
BOLDUAN: We love you, John. Thank you so much. We'll see you in a bit. You won't be alone for too long.
BERMAN: Thank you.
CUOMO: Boy, oh boy. Happy Fourth of July, everybody. It's almost the top of the hour and you know what that means here on "NEW DAY," time for the top news.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The world needs Egypt to be stable.
CUOMO (voice-over): Breaking this morning, Egypt in crisis. A new president sworn in. The old president now under arrest. Streets have erupted, dozens killed. Will there be a civil war?
BOLDUAN: On the stand, George Zimmerman's past coming back to haunt him. People who knew him before the shooting testified. Did they prove he was a wanna be cop looking for a fight?
PEREIRA: And there she is. Lady Liberty opening today for the first time since hurricane Sandy. We're live at the statue's base helping you kick off your Fourth of July with a patriotic bang.
CUOMO: Your "NEW DAY" starts right now.
ANNOUNCER: This is "NEW DAY" with Chris Cuomo, Kate Bolduan, and Michaela Pereira.
BOLDUAN: Good morning and welcome to "New Day," everyone. It is Thursday, July fourth, probably one of the few days of the year we don't have to remind you of the date. You know exactly what it is because you're on holiday. It's six o'clock in the east. I'm Kate Bolduan. Good morning.
CUOMO: And I'm Chris Cuomo, joined us always by news anchor, Michaela Pereira. You look beautiful today.
PEREIRA: We look a bit like a flag ourselves, aren't we?
CUOMO: We do. We're looking good. We're looking good here. We're looking good for you, obviously. There she is, the most beautiful person in the room, Lady Liberty overlooking New York Harbor. We know that. She's been welcoming visitors to the country since 1886. But for the past eight months, she's been closed.
Why? Hurricane Sandy, of course. Today, the grand re-opening and we are going to take you there live coming up.
BOLDUAN: And we also have a lot of news this morning, including the latest in the George Zimmerman trial. People from Zimmerman's path coming forward to testify, including an interesting witness, one of his former professors. Did they prove that he's a wannabe cop looking for a fight?
