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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Tense Standoff in Cairo; Abducted Toddler Wandering the Streets: Early Release for San Diego Mayor; Lea Michele Remembers Cory Montieth at Teen Choice Awards; Life on Mars; Jason Dufner Wins PGA Championship
Aired August 12, 2013 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: A tense standoff in Cairo this morning as Egyptian security forces in pro-Morsy protesters race for more violence. We're live.
ZORAIDA SAMBOLIN, CNN ANCHOR: Two suspected in a double homicide and custody, and an abducted toddler found wandering the streets. We're going to have all the disturbing details for you.
BERMAN: And an early release. The San Diego mayor accused of sexually harassing numerous women is kissing his rehab program goodbye. Why he left the intensive therapy program a whole week early?
SAMBOLIN: Welcome back to EARLY START. Glad you are with us this morning. I'm Zoraida Sambolin.
BERMAN: And I'm John Berman. Thirty-one minutes after the hour right now. And in Cairo this morning, a sign of relief for protesters after Egyptian police apparently postponed their plans to stop two massive sit-ins against the ouster president, Mohamed Morsy. The goal was to cut off protesters access to supplies and food, but now, it appears this is not happening, at least, not yet.
Reza Sayah in Cairo this morning. Reza, what's the latest on this?
REZA SAYAH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Things are calm at this hour, John, but you get the impression that a lot of people are still anticipating what's to come. I think a lot of people here in Egypt went to sleep last night thinking they might wake up and a crackdown would be under way against two pro-Morsy rallies sit-ins that have been taking place proposed (ph) to six weeks now.
Morning came, however, the crackdowns did not. No sign of security forces, no sign of police. The demonstrations continue as we speak. So, what we have is this high stakes waiting game and this political conflict where on one side, you have the military backed interim government. On the other side, you have supporters of the ousted president, Mohamed Morsy and the Muslim Brotherhood.
They say they won't leave the sit-ins until Mr. Morsy is reinstated again. That's a scenario that seems very unlikely at this point. There was about a ten-day stretch where the international community led by Washington and the European Union came to Egypt. They tried to get these two sides to sit down and make peace. That didn't work.
Last week, the interim president here said the mediation efforts were a failure. And the prime minister said that the crackdowns would take place at some point. And then, last night, the Associated Press and Reuters cited unnamed security sources and reported that the crackdown could come as early as dawn this morning, but obviously, that didn't happen.
So, we wait, Zoraida, to see what today brings if a crackdown is going to happen within the next 24 hours or if this is part of an information war, and perhaps, the military backed interim government is using fear tactics against these demonstrators, Zoraida.
BERMAN: All right. Reza Sayah for us in Cairo this morning. A temporary reprieve for protesters but still an extremely tense situation. Thanks, Reza.
SAMBOLIN: Thirty-three minutes past the hour. For the family of 16- year-old Hannah Anderson, it is joy this morning after she was rescued in the Idaho wilderness from a family friend who had allegedly taken her captive.
She's now at a government facility and she's recuperating from nearly a week on the run with James Dimaggio (ph) accused of killing her mother and brother then burning his own house down before taking off with her. Dimaggio is now dead. He was killed by an FBI agent, and Hannah is said to be physically OK. Her family says now is the time for healing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SARA BRITT, HANNAH'S GRANDMOTHER: Now, we can take our time to grieve my daughter and my grandson. But we have our granddaughter, and we couldn't ask for anything more at this point.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAMBOLIN: A group of horseback riders cited the pair camping and told police something did not seem right. Hostage rescue teams had to hike some two hours to reach that scene and then take Hannah away.
BERMAN: A missing Rhode Island toddler has been found wandering alone on the streets of Providence. The disappearance of two-year-old Isaiah Perez (ph) triggered an amber alert Sunday morning after two people were found murdered inside the house where that boy lives. What an adorable boy. Two suspects now under arrest.
Malcolm Crowell (ph) and Danny Rodriguez (ph) were expected to face murder and kidnapping charges. Police do not know how the boy ended up alone on the streets.
SAMBOLIN: Wandering the streets all by himself. Thirty-five minutes past the hour. New developments in the case of San Diego's mayor accused of sexually harassing more than a dozen women. Bob Filner has now made an early exit from intensive behavioral therapy program. City officials say Filner left the two- week program a week early and will continue therapy on an outpatient basis now. That is more local officials are calling on Filner to step aside.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I do believe in due process, however, all the information that has come in is coming out and will continue to come out points to him not being able to lead the state.
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SAMBOLIN: A citizen's group plans to rally today to tell Filner he is not welcome back in the city and they want him to resign immediately.
BERMAN: There are questions this morning about the fiancee of former NFL tight end, Aaron Hernandez. He is accused of killing a semi pro- player named Odin Lloyd. And search warrants, affidavits attained by the "Bristol Press" newspaper in Connecticut show police are considering the possibility that Hernandez's fiancee may have helped him hide the murder weapon.
Investigators still haven't found the weapon allegedly used in the killings and plan to continue searching a pond near his childhood home this week.
SAMBOLIN: These are some pretty scary pictures from Florida where a building has collapsed at a resort near Orlando. And another one is slowly dropping into a massive sinkhole. It is now 60 feet wide, 15 feet deep and it is growing. This happened at the Summer Bay Resort in Claremont, north east of Orlando.
And witnesses on the scene say they heard windows cracking as the buildings began to sink. Some 35 people had to be evacuated. Crews are on the scene right now. But, we have no reported injury, so far. So, that's the good news.
BERMAN: That is a big building.
SAMBOLIN: Now, is this happening more often or are we just reporting it more than we used to? This is really scary.
BERMAN: Either way, it is scary. That's just a big building.
SAMBOLIN: It is.
BERMAN: All right. Let's get a check on the weather right now. Jennifer Delgado in for Indra Petersons. Jennifer is in Atlanta for us. Good morning, Jennifer.
JENNIFER DELGADO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, guys. And Zoraida, you know, we're just more aware of the sinkholes now. Of course, remember the one that happened earlier this year in Florida?
SAMBOLIN: Yes.
DELGADO: We're just more aware of this, and this happens all the time across parts of Florida especially with the type of soil that they have there.
SAMBOLIN: That swallowing up these big buildings. It just seems like that's more in the news lately. I don't know. It's really scary concept.
DELGADO: It is.
SAMBOLIN: Sleep and you go away. Thank you.
DELGADO: All right. You go away now. Let's talk about the radar. And this morning, across the northeast, it is wet out there. The rain moving out of Allentown, moving into North Jersey as well as into New York. That's where we're going to see the showers this morning. And then, more rain coming down through parts of the upper Midwest as well as into the plains. You can see for parts of Kansas as well as into Missouri and in Chicago, a rainy start to your morning.
And we'll start to see more of that rain as we go through the next couple of days. Now, the problem is, so many areas are already saturated. And we're talking two to four inches across parts of Kansas as well as into Oklahoma down toward the south, several inches for you.
And this is all because we're going to get another frontal system moving through, and this is going to bring that reinforcing shot of more rainfall across the region. As I said to you, yes, very saturated ground. We already have flood watches in place in anticipation of this heavy rainfall event. Right now, we'll send it back over to you, guys. If you see some clear skies this morning, you can still see the perceived (ph) meteor shower. Just want to get that out there.
BERMAN: -- Jennifer Delgado.
DELGADO: And then watch EARLY START --
(LAUGHTER)
BERMAN: Exactly. With a tease with all the answers. Jennifer Delgado, always great to talk to you. Thanks so much.
SAMBOLIN: Thirty-eight minutes past the hour.
Coming up, remembering a "Glee" star who died way too young. What his former girlfriend and co-star is saying about him? That's coming up next.
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BERMAN: Welcome back to EARLY START, everyone. A heartfelt remembrance of a TV star gone too soon. Accepting the Teen Choice Award for TV, actress and "Glee's" Lea Michele decided -- dedicated it, rather, to 31-year-old Cory Monteith, her boyfriend and co-star who died last month.
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LEA MICHELE, "GLEE" STAR: For all of you out there who loved and admired Cory as much as I did, I promise that with your love, we're going to get through this together. He was very special to me and also to the world. And we were very lucky to witness his incredible talent, his handsome smile, and his beautiful, beautiful heart.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: The "Glee" cast returned to the set last week to begin shooting its next season. Producers say they will deal with Monteith's death during the show. It was ruled an accident result of a combination of drugs and alcohol.
SAMBOLIN: Forty-three minutes past the hour. Going vegetarian? Humans do it. So, why not the fishies? Researchers at the University of Maryland say they've gotten the carnivorous cobia to eat a vegetarian diet. Cobia usually eats squid, crab and smaller marine life, but the scientists were actually able to show the fish gobbling down a mixture of plant-based proteins and amino acids.
Why? So, the goal is to help make fish farming more sustainable. Many smaller fish are harvested to feed cobia and other farm-raise sea life, and that's depleting the world fishing stuff.
BERMAN: There were life of garden burgers and tofu.
SAMBOLIN: Apparently, yum, yum, yum.
BERMAN: For --
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BERMAN: Next up, jail for three New York men convicted of trying to rob a check cashing store. The wrinkle, they were wearing Hollywood style masks, really expensive ones. So, no one would know their identity. Police say the three spent nearly $3,000 for these masks. These are the real thing, folks.
They made off with some $200,000 in the heist. They were caught in part because one of the robbers e-mailed the mask maker to tell them how realistic the products were. That was dumb. The three face up to life in prison when they are sentenced.
SAMBOLIN: Dumb robbers.
BERMAN: Congratulations for your idiotic bet and your dumb reaction --
SAMBOLIN: Yes. All right. So, would you want to spend the rest of your life on another planet, Mr. Berman? We can send you up there. Some 100,000 people have said yes, I do. So, they have applied or in the process of applying for a spot on the Mars 1 mission. That's a one-way trip to the Red Planet to help colonize it, starting about 10 years from now.
That project plans to announce its first 40 astronauts this year, and they will travel to Mars in groups of four starting in 2022. They're not going to return to Earth.
BERMAN: This is like a reality show. This whole thing is really part of a reality show that's going to fund the trip which allegedly starts very, very soon. Good luck to all you people.
Let's take look at two contestants who will be, you know, flying coming up on "NEW DAY." Chris Cuomo and Kate Bolduan, what's going on, guys?
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR, "NEW DAY": The last line like Z's reading the story and it's like that was pretty interesting. Mars, oh yes, colonize it. That's cool. 2022. That's cool yes. And they will not return --
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CUOMO: Also known as a death sentence.
SAMBOLIN: Yes, indeed. Indeed. A potential death sentence.
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR, "NEW DAY": But it's sure exciting.
CUOMO: No, thanks. Although I heard they're already raising money to send me here on "NEW DAY."
BOLDUAN: That was a kick starter fun for that.
CUOMO: Anyway, there's a lot of mirth (ph) here on the set because we're happy. We have good news. This incredible ending to this multistate manhunt we've been following it here. You've been watching. There she is, 16-year-old Hannah Anderson. Everybody feared the worst when this good family friend, Jim DiMaggio, wound up doing the worst thing imaginable to people he supposedly loved.
The mother was killed. Her baby brother killed, eight-year-old Ethan. The house burned down and then they disappeared. The father was disconsolate. He was on TV here. We talked to him, but it turns out as we'll tell you this morning, an amazing discovery by a group of horseback riders, one of whom was retired sheriff, they start seeing things.
The Idaho police start seeing things, putting together clues. Turns out that they're right. They're on the trail. The FBI comes in. All these details of how it went down saving Hannah. She's back home safe. Bring it to you this morning. And we have interviews with the people who are on horseback who saw them and the police. BOLDUAN: Amazing. The little things they saw that they said just raised some red flags. And that was the reason why we are where we are today.
Another story that we've been following very closely, not just this, but also this story. A pretrial hearing today for a young man that we told you a lot about. He made a very unfunny joke online about shooting up a school, but they say he says it was absolutely a joke. But that joke costs Justin Carter months in prison and he's facing a felony terrorism charge.
We're going to bring you the latest on his case and what this pretrial hearing could mean. We've been following it closely.
CUOMO: So, in that case, it's just getting started. And we have one that is just being closed. A 15-year mystery finally solved. We're going talk with a performance artist who bought the plot next to Lee Harvey Oswald. You ever heard this guy? It goes by the name Nick Beef. We're going to tell you the story right after he comes on. He's going to come on and talk to us. It'd be very interesting. First time he talks.
BERMAN: Ask him about that name, too, because beef, you know, not a common name. Nonetheless.
CUOMO: No. And he has whole story. It's a whole story, J.B.
BERMAN: Mr. Beef, I have a question for you. All right. Chris, Kate, thank you so much.
So, coming up, Dufner is no duffer. His amazing performance to take the PGA Championship. It's all part of this morning's "Bleacher Report," next.
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SAMBOLIN: So, Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson out of contention, a golfer best known for starting an internet craze --
(LAUGHTER)
SAMBOLIN: -- won the PGA Championship.
BERMAN: Andy Scholes, he was a whole internet craze, into himself is here with this morning's "Bleacher Report." Great to see you, Andy.
ANDY SCHOLES, BLEACHER REPORT: Hey. Good morning, guys. Well, Jason Dufner, he rarely shows any emotion. That's how the whole Dufnering craze got started. Take a look at this famous pic of Dufner in elementary school. This is not the pic. This is Dufner dufnering. Now, there's another pic of him in an elementary school. This one, right here, slouched against the wall, looking bored out of his mind.
That's how Dufnering got started. But now, Dufner, he'll be known for more than just that pose. He finished at ten under yesterday to win the PGA Championship. It's the first major tournament victory of his career.
The Baltimore Orioles outfielder, Adam Jones, said someone threw a banana at him during Sunday's game in San Francisco. Jones who is African-American was not pleased by the racially motivated action. He tweeted after the game, "I want to thank whatever (bleep) threw that banana towards my direction in center field in the last inning. Way to show your class you (bleep)."
Now, the Giants said they received no reports of anyone throwing an object on to the field, but they are looking into the incident.
Well, A-Rod finally had a good game yesterday. Yankee's third baseman belted his first home run off the season in the second inning off Justin Verlander. A-Rod is 12 more homeruns. He'll tie Willie Mays on the all-time list. The Yankees will owe a $6 million bonus. A- Rod's home run is just the beginning of a crazy day at Yankee Stadium.
New York was up four to two in the ninth inning in comes Mr. Automatic, Mariano Rivera, but I guess, that solo home run to Miguel Cabrera and Victor Martinez blow the save. It's the first time in his 18-year career that he's blown three saves in a row. But Brett Gardner come (ph) to the play at the bottom ninth inning and bail out Rivera with a homerun (ph). Yankees win the game 5-4.
Well, in the lineup section on BleacherReport.com today, you can watch Usain Bolt win the 100 meter dash final at the World Athletics Championships in Moscow, Russia. Both cruising to the wind after the slow start on the wet track. Guys, check out this amazing pic from after the race. A lightning bolt strikes behind Bolt as he finishes.
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SCHOLES: That is some amazing photography skills, whoever took that picture.
BERMAN: Andy Scholes, thank you so much. Turns out Usain Bolt very good at running.
SAMBOLIN: Yes, it turns out.
BERMAN: Very good.
SAMBOLIN: Thank you. We'll be right back.
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SAMBOLIN: Welcome back. Fifty-seven minutes past the hour. We're checking the top CNN Trends on the web this morning. It is a hit, no pun intended. Dr. Sanjay Gupta special on marijuana talking about how he was wrong to discount pot's medical benefits and has now changed his mind about weed.
It is drawing a huge online response, pro and con folks. Some calling the documentary amazing and insightful and others say it overlooked the negative side of drug use and might actually encourage people to take a toke for the first time. No matter your stands, the documentary is definitely encouraging a lot of debate.
BERMAN: You learn so much by watching that. It is a fascinating, fascinating documentary.
All right. This is not really related. All bad things must end. Last night, AMC "Breaking Bad" premiered the first of the shows final eight episodes, the eagerly awaited premier sent the blogosphere into a frenzy. We will give you no spoilers here mostly because I had to go to bed and couldn't watch it.
But, fans of the show who couldn't wait for the beginning to the end, for them, it did not disappoint. The show is so popular, the producers actually split "Breaking Bad's" final 16th episode the season into two parts.
SAMBOLIN: Wow. Are you a fan?
BERMAN: Well, i like the show. I'm not nearly caught up enough. I'm like years behind.
SAMBOLIN: Yes. You have to DVR because of the schedule.
BERMAN: Yes.
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BERMAN: All right. To check out the other top CNN trends, you should head to CNN.com/Trends. It is worth your while.
SAMBOLIN: We have to share all of those DVR episodes. I haven't watched even one, but I know people are just crazy for it.
All right. That it is for EARLY START. It is time for "NEW DAY."
BERMAN: Chris and Kate, take it away, guys.
BERMAN: All right. Good morning, guys. We'll see you guys in a bit.
CUOMO: All right. Look at your clock. It's almost the top of the hour, and here on "NEW DAY" that means time for your top news.
