Return to Transcripts main page
Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Mountain Fire Raging in Southern California; A Tale of Two Jurors; Royal Baby Watch
Aired July 19, 2013 - 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: A dangerous heat wave gripping the country from coast to coast. Continuing today. Temperatures barreling into triple digits. But there is relief in sight.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: A bloody surrender. Shocking photos released of the suspected Boston bomber turning himself into police.
ROMANS: Drowning in debt. Detroit become the largest American city ever to file for bankruptcy. A very historic and a sad, historic day.
LEMON: So --
ROMANS: That's right.
LEMON: Speaking of a sad day, I got out of my building this morning. I walked outside and I went --
ROMANS: How hot was it?
LEMON: I don't know.
ROMANS: Eighty-five -- 85 already in the morning?
LEMON: Instant sweat. The first thing I said to the taxi driver was, turn the air up, please, right now.
ROMANS: Turn up the air.
LEMON: Good morning, everyone. I'm Don Lemon, welcome to EARLY START.
ROMANS: I'm Christine Romans. It is Friday. It's hot but it's Friday, July 19th, and it is 5:00 a.m. in the East. Day six now of this dangerous heat wave, just not letting up. Right now 23 states are under heat advisories. That's affecting more than 141 million Americans who've been sweating out temperatures approaching triple digits for the better part of the week now.
In New York the heat index made it feel like 105 degrees yesterday. EMS workers reporting scores of patients suffering from heat, stroke and dehydration. It's so hot in the Big Apple firefighters are being rushed to hospitals with heat exhaustion while trying to battle fires.
ROMANS: Tragedy in Alabama, an 11-month-old girl dead from the heat after being locked in an SUV. Police say by the time they got to the infant, it was 130 degrees in that car.
LEMON: You know it's hot when this happens because Amtrak is warning passengers in the northeast to expect delays today. Trains are being slowed down because the heat wave is driving the internal temperature of the rails above 120 degrees. And that could pose a real safety problem.
ROMANS: At the Iowa State Fair this weekend, there's a lot of concern about the farm animals. To beat the heat there the cows, the pigs, the goats are getting hosed down every hour and their stalls are being equipped with cooling misters.
LEMON: So we come to know what to expect today, I'm pretty sure, when are we going to get a break, right?
ROMANS: That's right. We need the break.
Meteorologist Indra Petersons is outside New York's Central Park this morning.
Good morning, Indra.
INDRA PETERSONS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I think I need a break.
(LAUGHTER)
I mean, you guys are talking about that two minutes you're out. But I know you're inside because you're wearing black. I cannot tell you. Just being out here this morning, we can feel the difference. Now typically the last several days it's been about 79 degrees in the morning. Right now, we're 84 degrees, 73 percent humidity.
What does that feel like? Currently, 91 degrees. And this is before the sun is even up this morning. Unbelievable. Take a look at some of these maps here. We really going to be talking about more warnings. Hard to believe. Today is expected to be hotter than it was in these previous five days of this heat wave. We're talking about more extreme heat warnings now in some advisories.
What does that mean? That means temperatures anywhere from 105 to 110 degrees. So put it this way. New York today looking for a high of 99. You add in that humidity factor, it's going to feel like 106. Places like Boston, Philadelphia, New York, down through D.C., even Detroit, could feel anywhere from 105 to 110 degrees today once you factor in the humidity.
What everyone wants to know is when are we going to cool down? Well, you can actually see we do have a cold front starting to make its way first in the Midwest and eventually make its way to the northeast. You can see the temperatures cool off. But we're still talking about 80s even as we go towards the weekend. The difference is that cold front is going to start to producer showers. You can see some rain kind of mixed in with still 80 degree temperatures.
So yes, it's cooler. And the good news, it won't be this drastic heat wave. But it's still going to have that hot muggy feel out there. The biggest concern, of course, is that cold front meshes with this hot, humid air. That means a threat for severe weather. You can see that from Friday, Saturday, starting already today from Iowa to anywhere from Michigan and eventually into the northeast by this week and we'll be talking about severe thunderstorms along with some warm temperatures.
LEMON: Can I just complain a little bit more to you guys?
(LAUGHTER)
Have you been on the subway?
PETERSONS: Yes.
LEMON: It's unbelievable.
PETERSONS: There's no good place.
(LAUGHTER)
LEMON: Except indoors and the air conditioning.
PETERSONS: Right.
LEMON: Thanks, Indra. We'll check back.
ROMANS: All right. If a picture is worth 1,000 words, then those -- these new photos of Boston marathon suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev speak volumes. They show him bloody and disheveled in just the moment before his capture and arrest. These pictures were taken by a Massachusetts State Police officer. And that police officer released them without permission to "Boston" magazine.
This officer said he did it because he was furious about that. The controversial "Rolling Stone" cover which he called insulting to the survivors of the Boston attacks. That police officer has been suspended from his job for one day for releasing the photos.
LEMON: As you -- yes, yes. It's unbelievable. And as you said this is historic. This next story. It's a depressing day as well, Thursday for Detroit. The Motor City now the largest city in America to ever file for bankruptcy as Detroit emergency manager Kevin Orr explains the move was a longtime coming.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KEVIN ORR, DETROIT EMERGENCY MANAGER: Services will remain open. Paychecks will be made. Bills will be paid. Nothing changes from the standpoint of the ordinary citizens' perspective. What this does do is give us an opportunity to begin to address some of the city's overbearing debt which we have discussed ad nauseam at this point.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Well, the city faces more than $18 billion of debt and has been hemorrhaging residents for years. At its high point Detroit was the fourth largest city in America but years of crime and deteriorating services have left it with just 700,000 residents making it the 18th largest city in the country.
ROMANS: A massive mountain fire is Southern California is burning out of control this morning. Right now only 15 percent contained and it's forcing 6,000 people in the artist community of Idyllwild to evacuate. The flames threatening 4,000 homes there this morning.
Miguel Marquez on the front lines of that firefight.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Torching more than 35 square miles, this massive wildfire is nowhere near under control. It is fed by tender dry and thick pine trees and brush. It is burning so hot the trees so dry they literally explode into flames.
Firefighters mounting an all-out air assault. Helicopters dumping retardant, plains, too, even the heaviest weapon in the arsenal. A DC 10 capable of dropping 12,000 gallons of retardant in one go.
On the ground, the fight also in full swing. Woody Bouska has fought fires for 33 years.
(On camera): Are you feeling confident about this one at the moment?
WOODY BOUSKA, FIREFIGHTER: In our section, yes. I have no -- like I said, I don't know what's going on on the other side. There's still a lot of smoke coming out. It could be doing horrible things over there, I don't know.
MARQUEZ (voice-over): Changing afternoon wind conditions along with this widespread fire complicating the job.
(On camera): This is the time in the afternoon that firefighters worry about most. The wind is picking up and this is what they are fighting the fire in. That used to be a pine tree. And it is surrounded by years and years of growth of chaparral. This stuff, completely dry.
(Voice-over): More than 4,000 homes threatened by the blaze and evacuations for some 6,000 residents. Bonnie and (INAUDIBLE) were in Texas when they heard about the fire.
(On camera): You hustle back here to do what?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get important things that you can remember, you know, family things.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Family things, pictures, whatever we can.
MARQUEZ (voice-over): A quick escape, but leaving so much behind.
Miguel Marquez, CNN, Idyllwild, California.
(END VIDEOTAPE) LEMON: Top secret intelligence information leaked by Edward Snowden is making it harder for the U.S. government to battle terrorism. That's according to the head of the NSA, Keith Alexander. He says there's concrete proof that terrorists are changing their tactics because of the information Snowden made public.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEN. KEITH ALEXANDER, NSA DIRECTOR: The purpose of these programs and the reason we use secrecy is not to hide it from the American people. Not to hide it from you, but to hide it from those who walk among you who are trying to kill you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Alexander says the NSA is already working on procedures to make it more difficult for employees to steal classified data.
ROMANS: Two months before the crash of Asiana flight 214 the South Korean government ordered the airline to Improve pilot training and strengthen safety measures. That's according to the South Korea's Transport Ministry. Asiana officials had already submitted plans to the government to make the improvements and they were preparing to implement them when Flight 214 crashed at San Francisco International Airport.
LEMON: A Japan Airline flight from Boston to Tokyo had to return to Logan Airport last night because of a possible fuel pump problem. The pilot burned off fuel before landing five and a half hours after taking off. It's the latest safety issue to plague the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, a problem with lithium battery fires grounded the entire fleet in January. Just last week, a fire broke out on an empty Boeing 787 Dreamliner that was parked at London's Heathrow Airport.
ROMANS: Officials in Forth Worth, Texas, still trying to figure out how demolition crews knocked down the wrong house. The property at 9708 Watercress was supposed to be demolished, but subcontractors wound up leveling a home just down the street instead, leaving one neighbor scratching his head.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEPHEN NEUMANN, NEIGHBOR: I just seen an excavator tearing that house down. I was wondering why. It's a pretty good house. It wasn't all that bad. When it's the one next door has been needing tearing down for years.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: The owner of the demolished home says it belonged to his grandmother. It was about to be renovated so he and his family could move in. No word on how the city plans to compensate him or what happens to the house that was supposed to be demolished in the first place.
LEMON: Luckily no one lived there. Right? All right. Coming up, inside the verdict. Two jurors on the George Zimmerman murder trial explain why they think the neighborhood watchman isn't responsible for the death of Trayvon Martin.
ROMANS: And royal baby watch. Could today be the day? Don Lemon, every morning wakes up and wonders, will there be Princess Diana's grandchild today?
We're going to go to London where the world is waiting for Will and Kate's now -- is it overdue? Overdue baby.
LEMON: Mommy.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Welcome back to EARLY START. George Zimmerman is not getting his gun back. The Justice Department requesting a hold on evidence from his murder trial while it continues to investigate the case.
Meanwhile two jurors are now speaking out. And as Brian Todd tell us, they arrived at the same verdict but they had very different views on the defendant and what he did on that February night.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They're the only two jurors we have heard from since the verdict. Juror B37 spoke to CNN's Anderson Cooper. Alternate juror, E54 who also wanted anonymity spoke to TV station WOFL FOX 35 in Orlando.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not guilty.
TODD: They both agree on the verdict. Both think it was George Zimmerman's voice calling for help in that crucial 911 call. And they both believe Zimmerman didn't racially profile Trayvon Martin.
(On camera): But the two jurors have polar opposite views on whether Zimmerman should have gotten out of his car and followed Martin that night. Juror B37 you're going to hear from first. Followed by the alternate with WOFL.
JUROR B37, ZIMMERMAN MURDER TRIAL: I think he's guilty of not using good judgment. When he was in the car and he called 911, he shouldn't have gotten out of that car.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was fine with that. You know, he was -- he was -- I think at the time he was trying to keep an observation and communicate to the police and was not being confrontational. He had the right to be where he was.
TODD: Opposite takes on whether Zimmerman should have even been there. What do you make of it?
PROF. ANDREW FERGUSON, JURY EXPERT: Both of these clips focus on fault, not just legal fault, but moral fault. Underlying every jury trial are questions of moral fault. They go to the underlying ways the way jurors perceive evidence.
TODD (voice-over): We compare the two jurors with law professor and jury expert Andrew Ferguson, a former public defender. Both jurors felt Rachel Jeantel's account of her phone calls with Trayvon Martin were important. But on whether Jeantel's testimony was credible overall --
JUROR B37: I didn't think it was very credible, but I felt very sorry for her. I think she felt inadequate toward everyone because of her education and her communication skills.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I did pick up some credible information from her. And that's -- so yes, I do think she was credible.
FERGUSON: Each one of us knows how to trust someone or not trust them based on our own instincts. If those two people, the alternate and the other woman, were able to debate the issues of who is credible, you night have a different outcome. And that's the beauty of the jury.
TODD (on camera): What are these interviews tell us that we didn't know before about how jurors think in these trials and the pressure that they're under?
FERGUSON: That pressure of deciding and judging another human being is incredible. And here you have ordinary citizens wrestling with it. You see it on the videos. They're wrestling with it at that moment about how we could do it, how do we process it, and did we do a good job.
TODD (voice-over): Ferguson says what adds to that pressure is the fact that jurors are not trained for this task, given very little preparation for it. Then they're told to decide. And for many of them they're given more power than they ever had before. It adds up to enormous stress, he says, and that certainly played out in the Zimmerman trial.
Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: So five days after George Zimmerman's not guilty verdict, Florida Governor Rick Scott finally met with protesters pushing for the repeal of that state's Stand Your Ground law. They met for more than 30 minutes, agreeing to disagree. In his first public comments since the verdict Scott said he assembled a task force to look at Stand Your Ground laws right after the shooting even though Zimmerman never invoked it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. RICK SCOTT (R), FLORIDA: They listened to experts and they concluded that we didn't need to make a change with the law and I agree with their conclusion.
(END VIDEO CLIP) ROMANS: Governor Scott says he will not convene a special legislative session to take up changes to Stand Your Ground laws. Protesters are bound to hunker down at the capital until he does.
Trayvon Martin's parents also calling for the repeal of the Stand Your Ground law. Coming up at 5:30, Anderson Cooper talks to them about life after the verdict and where the family will go from here.
LEMON: A former South Boston liquor store owner who claims James Whitey Bulger extorted him right out of business has been found dead. The body of 59-year-old Stephen Rakes was discovered Wednesday afternoon by a jogger. Rakes had been attending the reputed mob boss' trial every day. And at one point was considered a potential witness. He had just been informed he wouldn't be called to testify. Police are conducting an investigation -- a death investigation. And so far, we're told there are no signs of foul play.
ROMANS: Michael Jackson's mom expected to testify today in the pop star's wrongful death suit. Eighty-three-year-old Katherine Jackson and her grandchildren Prince, Paris and Blanket are suing entertainment giant AEG Live. They claim that the company negligently hired Dr. Conrad Murray who gave the singer a fatal dose of the anesthetic Propofol. The family is seeking a reported $40 billion in damages.
LEMON: Wow. Kate, sure making the world wait. Right now millions of royal watchers are anxiously anticipating the arrival of the future king or queen of England. Media from around the world crammed outside St. Mary's Hospital in central London for the big event. And we're hearing reports the Duchess of Cambridge may just give them the royal slip when it's time for the big delivery.
Max Foster, live from London.
It's so exciting, Max. Why is she going to give people the big slip? What's going on here?
ROMANS: Because who wants to be in labor while in front of all those cameras? Gees, come on.
(LAUGHTER)
MAX FOSTER, CNN ROYAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, exactly. Would you want to come in front -- it is a very, very good point. Basically she's staying out in Bucklebury, a long way away in Berkshire. The local hospital is a backup option. People are thinking increasingly that she's going to go to there. She's not going to come there. Not helped by the fact that they're painting the railings outside that hospital yesterday. Seems like nothing. Probably is nothing.
Palace insists it's still here. But then we've got this new report out today. According to sources speaking to the "Telegraph" newspaper here at the hospital her due date is today. So we've all been here for no reason for a week.
I don't know what to say about this. We haven't been able to confirm it. The palace is not saying anything. But if she is due today, we could be here for a while longer so many more little moments like this to enjoy -- Don.
LEMON: And Kate baby alert on my cell phone here. And I check it like every second.
ROMANS: You do not.
LEMON: I am. Max, don't believe her. I'm checking it every single second. In the commercial break, when you're reading, I have to know.
(LAUGHTER)
ROMANS: Don. Don.
(CROSSTALK)
FOSTER: Well, what can I say? I mean, everyone is waiting for something. No one more than me.
LEMON: All right. Max, thank you very much. We appreciate it.
ROMANS: Look, if you're in -- I mean, the poor thing, in labor walking -- I mean, I love Max Foster, don't get me wrong, but walking in front of all those people to -- it doesn't feel great when labor starts. It's not like you can do --
LEMON: She didn't have to get pregnant --
ROMANS: A pretty wave. It's like leave me alone, people.
All right. Coming up, Wall Street sizzling this summer. Sizzling, sizzling, sizzling. Breaking more records. I've got money time for you. You're going to be happy with what's in your 401(k).
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Welcome back, everyone. Look at that thermometer. It should be like 400 degrees. Lady Liberty is probably like man, this gown or whatever I'm wearing.
ROMANS: Yes. That green dress is going to be hot, hot, hot. Chip McLaughlin under there because it is hot. Another day. Speaking of hot, another record performance on Wall Street sizzling. The mercury is rising, so is the stock market.
The Dow Industrial, the S&P 500 closing in at new record high. The S&P for the first time ever close with more than $15 trillion in value. Just to give you some perspective, that's still wouldn't be enough to cover the current year. $17 trillion in national debt. But it shows you how huge the stock market is. How the value has increased for the year so far the Dow, the S&P have gained nearly 19 percent. The NASDAQ has rallied nearly 20 percent.
One of the best pulse checks on the global economy will be released this morning, that's General Electric earnings. Wall Street will be listening closely to hear what the far-flung company says about the rest of the year. For earnings analysts expect to see 35 cents a share, revenue of nearly $36 billion.
We had two big disappointments after the close on Thursday. Microsoft, ouch, badly missed its profit expectations on a huge write- down on its surface tablet. And Google profit was squeezed by underwhelming results in this mobile business.
The United States gets the shot in the arm from Moody's credit ratings. Moody's raised its outlook on the U.S. to stable from negative. It affirmed the country -- the government's AAA crediting rating -- sovereign debt rating. Moody's also noted that U.S. economic growth is expanding at a faster pace than other AAA rated countries.
And here's a sobering story for you. A new government watchdog report says the SEC is not such a great place to work. The Government Accountability Office says the morale is low and there's a general atmosphere of distrust. The GAO also says that the Securities and Exchange Commission's structure has not been conducive to motivating and encouraging a high level of performance. The SEC is of course the government agency in charge of policing the financial markets and your investments. So morale low at the SEC.
LEMON: Everything you need to know about money and then some.
(LAUGHTER)
And she's got more, trust me.
ROMANS: All you need to know is you can check your 401(k). Please do. Make you were balanced.
LEMON: Yes.
ROMANS: Because we've had a really, really good year.
LEMON: Yes. Well, coming up graphic new photos released of the suspected Boston bombing -- bomber surrendering to police. Why these pictures are just surfacing now.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Get ready to sweat. A sweltering cross country heat wave entering its sixth day. Is there any relief in sight?
ROMANS: Shocked and angry. Trayvon Martin's parents open up about the verdict that set George Zimmerman free.
LEMON: And wildfire raging. Thousands evacuated as firefighters battle fast-moving flames in California.
ROMANS: Welcome back. Good morning. This is EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.
LEMON: I'm Don Lemon. It's almost 5:30 now -- almost 5:30 in the morning, Eastern Time.
ROMANS: Is it me?
LEMON: No, it's just hot.
(LAUGHTER)
ROMANS: We're now entering the dangerous day six of a dangerous heat wave that's smothering half the nation now. This morning 23 states under heat advisory. That means the heat index will reach 105 degrees or higher. This is going to affect some 141 million Americans who've been sweating out these temperatures approaching triple digits for the better part of a week now.
Meteorologist Indra Petersons is live from Midtown Manhattan this morning where Indra, the sun barely coming up but the mercury already rising.
LEMON: Yes.
PETERSONS: Yes. You know, I can tell you because we've been out here every morning.
