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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Shutdown Showdown; More Questions in Nairobi Mall Attack; Motive Unknown in Preacher Killing
Aired September 30, 2013 - 04:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ZORAIDA SAMBOLIN, CNN ANCHOR: The U.S. government just hours away from shutting down. Congress in a standstill. What are they doing? They are blaming each other.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Got to blame it on something.
SAMBOLIN: Someone.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TALISHA HARRIS, DAUGHTER OF RONALD HARRIS: He was a strong person. Whatever came his way, he stood on the word of God. He never wavered.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: A Louisiana pastor shot and killed while delivering a sermon in front of his church. Who police have arrested for this crime?
SAMBOLIN: His wife in the congregation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He is like, she is having a baby! And I'm like, I need gloves!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAMBOLIN: And a police officer springing into action when one baby could not wait to get to the hospital. It's a happy ending there.
BERMAN: Love those stories.
SAMBOLIN: I do too.
BERMAN: All right. Welcome back to EARLY START, everyone. I'm John Berman.
SAMBOLIN: And I'm Zoraida Sambolin. Thirty-one minutes past the hour.
BERMAN: That hour would be 4:00, by the way, 4:30 in the East.
We want to show you a live look at the Capitol in Washington. There it is, quiet, peaceful.
SAMBOLIN: A clock next to it, tick tock, tick tock.
BERMAN: Tick tock, right? No one is there right now, you know, and they're doing less damage to the country right now than they have done in days, maybe weeks. Why? We are approaching a government shutdown that is to take effect at midnight Monday night into Tuesday.
Really, there is no sign right now that Democrats in the Senate and Republicans in the House will come to any sort of agreement on a way out of this. The latest developments, the Senate today is expected to take up a spending bill passed by the House over the weekend. It was passed, by the way, House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi not present. She was celebrating her 50th wedding anniversary. Congratulations to her.
The bill would keep the government running but delay the implementation of the health care reform Obamacare for one year. Senate Democrats saying that's just not going to happen. They will strip out the Obamacare delay and send the bill back to the House where it is not likely to be approved.
This all sounds confusing. The bottom line here is the government looks like it will shutdown and no one is doing anything to stop it and the blame is already flying.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. DAVID SCOTT (D), GEORGIA: Been hijacked by a small group of extreme folks who simply hate this president.
REP. JOHN CULBERSON (R), TEXAS: The president of the United States will talk to the dictator of Tehran but he won't even negotiate with the House of Representatives.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAMBOLIN: All right. So what will this shutdown mean for you? Well, most of us will not see a major change in government services come midnight. You're still going to get your mail.
The military and federal law enforcement will continue to serve all of us, although they won't get paid. You know what they are going to get? An IOU. And most federal courts remain open and you do still have to pay your taxes. So, you don't think that you're getting off here.
But if you're planning to go to a national park or a museum, many of them will be closed. Passport applications will not be processed, nonessential government workers will be told to stay home. And government loans funding small businesses and home purchases, those will be put on hold.
BERMAN: Now, arguments from some Republicans to keep the government from staying open right now some Republicans are saying it's all about Obamacare. They want to defund or delay Obamacare. They say that is a condition of opening up the government. The health insurance plan begins to take affect tomorrow, the exchanges that are part of that plan.
You can shop and sign up for these exchanges starting tomorrow. Vice President Biden is defending the law, writing in the "Des Moines Register" that it will finally give Americans access to health care and only finding coverage a lot easier, he says. The vice president writes, companies will not be able to use your medical history to determine how much to charge you. They won't be able to charge you more just because you're a woman. They'll have to be transparent about what they are offering and compete against each other. He says it is going to make a world of difference.
SAMBOLIN: In other news this morning, let's head over to Kenya now and the latest on the deadly terror attack in a mall in Nairobi. Nine suspects are in custody. Dozens of people remain missing this morning. And now, authorities are facing more questions about how they handled the raid that brought that deadly siege to an end.
David McKenzie is live in Nairobi for us this morning. What is the latest there?
DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Zoraida, the latest is a lot of questions being asked of the government. First, how did they do that rescue operation and why did it take four days for the siege to end? Sources are telling us that there might have been confusion in command and control helping that drag out. Other questions about intelligence. CNN learning that there are several intelligence warnings in the months ahead before this attack happened with very specific warnings about terrorist attacking that mall.
U.S. intelligence officials saying to CNN that there is the threat of further attacks here in Kenya and in the region, and also the State Department has renewed its travel advisory for American citizens living here who might be traveling here to Kenya, a popular vacation spot. Taking this into what the Kenyan government said about the advisory.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are concerned by the advisory, which is uncalled for, unnecessary, and unfriendly. The advisory was issued despite the fact that we have asked the United States government as a friendly country not to issue such an advisory.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCKENZIE: Well, according to the government there, they say the U.S. advisory is basically rubbing salt in the wound -- Zoraida.
SAMBOLIN: David, I have to ask about the recovery effort there. A lot of people are waiting to get the bodies of their loved ones. How is that process going?
MCKENZIE: The process is going very slowly and with very little information, I have to be honest, coming from the government. The government yesterday here in Kenya said there wasn't a single official missing persons request. That is directly opposed to what the Kenyan Red Cross is saying, there are still scores missing possibly who are stuck in the are you rubble of that building.
The families I've spoken to are devastated by their loss. There have been memorials going on in Nairobi. People trying to federal government out how this happened and why it happened and even could it have been prevented -- Zoraida.
SAMBOLIN: All right. David McKenzie, live for us in Nairobi, thank you.
BERMAN: A father is pleading for answers this morning after the stabbing death of his son near AT&T Park in San Francisco. Jonathan Denver was killed last week, a few blocks from the park, after police say a Dodgers fan got into an altercation with the group of Giants fans. A suspect, Michael Montgomery, claims self-defense. He was relieved from jail over the weekend when the district attorney asked police to investigate further.
Denver's father says he just wants to know what happened.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERT PREECE, FATHER OF JONATHAN DENVER: You almost understand how incredibly difficult this and has been for me and my family. Losing a child is a heartache no parent should have to endure. Today, I'm making a plea to the public asking that anyone who may have witnessed the incident to come forward so that both families can have some measure of closure.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: No parent should ever have to go through and no one should ever get hurt going to a game of any kind. The family handed out a flyer to those entering the park over the weekend asking them to contact police if they witnessed the incident or have any information.
SAMBOLIN: And there's still no motive this morning in the shooting of a Louisiana pastor as he preached to a crowd during Friday evening service. Police say 53-year-old Woodrow Karey shot Ronald Harris in front of several dozen worshipers at a church in Lake Charles. Kerry has no known criminal history and it's not even clear if he even knew the pastor. His family remembers Harris as a talented preacher and a family man.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: My dad was a great father. He was an awesome grandfather. He was an awesome preacher, teacher. He had a big heart. He was a strong person and whatever came his way, he stood on the word of God. He never wavered.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAMBOLIN: Investigators say the suspect shot Harris twice with a shotgun and then told police where to find his weapons. He is in jail this morning on murder charges.
BERMAN: A deadly plane crash in Santa Monica, California. The jet, a twin engine Cessna Citation, ran off the runway just after landing and crashed into a hangar. Residents report hearing a loud boom and then they saw the flames.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Neighbors running around and sirens everywhere. And just a lot of very black smoke and a lot of scared people.
UNDENTIFIED BOY: At first, I thought it was part of the movie. Then when I went outside, I just saw a bunch of smoke.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: The plane was coming from Idaho and authorities still are not sure how many people were on board. But they say that the crash was unsurvivable.
SAMBOLIN: There is still no public comment from New Jersey Governor Chris Christie about the ruling by a New Jersey judge legalizing gay marriage in that state. But a spokesman saying the governor will appeal the decision to the state's Supreme Court. The judge ruled that New Jersey was depriving residents to their rights now available in the wake of the overturning of the Defense of the Marriage Act.
BERMAN: Same-sex couples in Illinois are moving ahead with that state's ban on gay marriages. A state judge is letting a suit proceeds, saying the couples should be allowed to present their arguments that they are being discriminated against. An effort to legalize gay marriage to the Illinois legislature is currently stalled.
SAMBOLIN: The Justice Department is set to sue North Carolina over its new voting law. A person briefed on the legal filing tell CNN the Obama administration will challenge the requirement voters show photo ID, the elimination of same day voter registration and the reduction in the number of early voting days. The Justice Department has also sued Texas over its voting laws. In the wake of a Supreme Court ruling earlier this year, throwing out a key provision of the Voting Rights Act.
BERMAN: The next act for one of the country's most storied opera companies might be bankruptcy. The New York City opera is expected to file today for Chapter 11 protection after falling short on an intense last-minute fund-raising campaign to save its current season.
This is a shame, folks. The company in New York cultural staple since 1943 was trying to raise some $7 million by tonight. Some of the most creative and wonderful and innovative operas is in the New York Opera. And it is a shame. I hope they find some way to keep it going.
SAMBOLIN: No kidding. It's so hard to find money for the arts, very unfortunate.
BERMAN: Very.
SAMBOLIN: All right. Now, to a very, very sweet story of an unexpected delivery. This is from Wisconsin for you. The town of Marshall, that's not far from Madison, Wisconsin. Workers there heard someone pounding on the doors of the town office early Thursday morning. It was a father-to-be and his wife was in labor.
So, a police officer jumped into action along with her sister who also works there and they hoped deliver that bundle of joy a healthy and happy baby girl right in the parking lot.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The mom and dad was standing there. It was so much fun to hear that baby cry in the front seat of a car!
OFFICER KRISTINE QUAM, MARSHALL WISC. POLICE: For all of the stuff that we do and all of the things that we see, by far, her birth will be the best part of my career.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAMBOLIN: All right, Christine. Good for you! Both mother and daughter are said to be doing incredibly well.
BERMAN: I love that bow, right?
SAMBOLIN: Look at that, I know, right? That is so we can tell that's a little girl!
BERMAN: She barely fits into the car seat right there. That is hilarious.
SAMBOLIN: Welcome to the world, little one.
BERMAN: Coming up, a new report this morning on how having women leaders.
SAMBOLIN: Hip, hip hooray for ladies!
BERMAN: Women leaders in the workplace may be affecting your company's bottom line.
SAMBOLIN: In a very positive way, of course.
BERMAN: No, no, keep it a mystery. How will it affect your company's bottom line? Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SAMBOLIN: John Berman said to me, it's a discussion I was just going to have and it was going on inside your head, right? It was really important.
BERMAN: It might have been just been me.
SAMBOLIN: You were having that discussion yourself?
BERMAN: Yes, it's possible, thoroughly. There are strange voices. Who knows what's going on? It's 4:45. Give me a break.
SAMBOLIN: I'm going to have another discussion here.
BERMAN: Please?
SAMBOLIN: I think you're going to agree with this one. I'm sorry, but I have to remove this. Is this a gray hair? Wow. It's just hanging from the side of your head!
All right. So, companies that hire female managers are more successful than male-dominated firms. Does this surprise you? This is according to the research firm Sidiso (ph).
Shareholder returns are 53 percent higher and profit margins are 42 percent better in companies where at least one-third of the board members are women.
Listen up, men. The study concludes women tend to challenge traditional assumptions and procedures, leading to better products and services and a high level of innovation.
What? Are you silent?
BERMAN: I know, I'm sure it's true.
SAMBOLIN: Amen, you say.
BERMAN: Apple is now the most valuable brand in the world, knocking Coca-Cola from the top spot after a 13-year-run for Coke. A report from the consulting firm Interbrand pegs the tech giant's value at $98.3 billion.
SAMBOLIN: Wow.
BERMAN: That's a lot of money, folks. That's up 28 percent from last year's report. Google rose to number two spot and Coke dropped to number three, with IBM and Microsoft rounding out the top five.
SAMBOLIN: All right. So, let's take a look at some of the other stories that will be making news this week.
Don Lemon has the weekly five.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DON LEMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Here now are five things you need to know for your week ahead.
Airline passengers are getting closer to seeing the ban lifted on using electronics devices during takeoffs and landing. The FAA will consider easing restrictions on Monday. But don't fire up that laptop just yet. While you won't be able to surf the web or send e-mail, you will be able to read or work on what's stored on your device. New rules could go into effect in early 2014.
Also Monday, President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meet at the White House. Topping the agenda: Israel's concerns about Iran's nuclear programs. Also, the two leaders are expected to talk about the crisis in Syria.
Tuesday, a new gun law takes effect in Maryland. The law takes aim at keeping firearms away from criminals and the mentally ill, while strengthening safety training. Also, 45 types of assault weapons will be ban.
Thursday, the first ever Muhammad Ali humanitarian Awards take place. Former President Jimmy Carter, Christina Aguilera and Michael Bolton are among the honorees. The awards are inspired by the six core principles that guided "The Greatest's" life: confidence, conviction, dedication, giving, respect and spirituality.
And Friday, convicted murderer Jodi Arias back in court. A judge is expected to set the date of her sentencing retrial. Jurors will then decide whether she lives or dies.
And that's your "Weekly Five".
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: How do you like that?
SAMBOLIN: That's a mouthful.
BERMAN: So, stay with us all week to find out how those five things play out.
And coming up, Tom Brady -- my favorite person ever -- leading the Patriots to another big win. They are undefeated! That means they haven't lost yet this season. There is another guy, a guy named Peyton Manning he is pretty good too. He had a fairly good day. We'll tell you all about it. "The Bleacher Report" is coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SAMBOLIN: You're ready.
BERMAN: You know, it's Monday morning, which means that Peyton Manning has just thrown another 18 touchdown passes in the last 45 minutes.
SAMBOLIN: Andy Scholes is going to join us this morning, nice and early.
I got to tell you that this right now is Berman's favorite moment of the day. He says we get Andy Scholes early!
BERMAN: I was so excited -- well, you know, between -- we get someone who is here and happy to be with us. He is smiling. Look, Andy is happy to be here.
ANDY SCHOLES, THE BLEACHER REPORT: Yes, I'm very happy to be up an hour than usual, guys.
(LAUGHTER)
SCHOLES: All right. Monday morning. What do we talk about?
We talk about Peyton Manning and how awesome the Broncos offense is right now. Manning threw four more touchdowns in yesterday's win blowout over the Eagles. He now has 16 touchdowns this season, which is the most ever by a quarterback in the first month. Denver, they put up 52 points in yesterday's win. That's the most points they have ever scored in a game. Up next with the 4-0 Broncos, a trip to Dallas to take on the Cowboys.
All right. The Patriots trying to keep pace with the Broncos. They were in Atlanta taking on the Falcons right now, while Tom Brady and company aren't putting up record setting numbers but they continue to find ways to get it done. They held off a late Falcons rally on fourth down, under 1:00 to go and Aqib Talib bats away Matt Ryan's pass.
Patriots win. They improve to 4-0. The Falcons, a big disappointment so far, they are 1-3.
All right. Number three in today's lineup on bleacherreport.com, last regular day in the regular season. Everybody is talking about the playoff possibilities, not the Miami Marlins of all teams. That was pitcher Henderson Alvarez threw nine innings of no hit baseball.
The game was still tied at 0-0 after Alvarez last's pitch. Bottom of nine, this wild pitch with the bases loaded gives Alvarez his first career no-hitter as the Marlins win. It was the third no-hitter of the major league season.
Guys, 162 games was not enough to decide the American League post- season team. So, the Rays and Rangers, they will play again tonight to decide who gets that last wild card spot in the American League.
BERMAN: There are two one and done games. This one and the winner plays the Indians. This is kind of awesome, man. I'm psyched for it. This is awesome.
SCHOLES: Yes, you get to play today to play in the playing game to play in the post-season.
BERMAN: Zoraida cannot stand it, she is so excited!
SAMBOLIN: Yes, I'm thrilled. Thank you so much for that.
BERMAN: Andy, thanks for waking up. We appreciate it.
SAMBOLIN: (INAUDIBLE) needs to be just about over.
BERMAN: We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SAMBOLIN: Welcome back to EARLY START.
A remarkable feat to tell you about from China where American Jeb Corliss did the unthinkable, yes, jumping through a 10-foot gap between rocks at the top of a mountain.
Of course, the whole thing was caught on camera. Corliss himself says it almost didn't happen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEB CORLISS, AMERICAN WINGSUITER (via telephone): I didn't realize really what I was getting myself into until I really got here and started jumping out of the helicopter. You look at all of the numbers. You're like, OK, yes, but you don't know really what you're facing until you start to fly it.
I could see it was an incredible challenge and very difficult to do. I didn't understand how nature could create such a strange -- I mean, such a strange formation on stunt day on the weather. Literally, it was horrible weather the entire day. We were going to get to do it and the stunt was canceled and it was shut down.
And then, all of a sudden, somebody runs and says, Jeb, you need to jump (ph) right now.
I stepped out of the helicopter and started flying and the feeling was so overwhelming, I have never felt such a sense of joy, you know? And for me, it's not about the feelings of, you know, adrenaline or any of that. I mean, the concept was to try to push, you know, myself as far as I possibly can and, you know, to see what I'm capable of.
The angles are at such a way that when you enter this crack, all of a sudden, you have to actually do a side slip, you know, so you're inside and you're actually side slipping as you're falling in, otherwise, you're going impact the wall.
And my hands came within, you know, feet of contact at over, you know, I'm doing 120 miles an hour. When you're jumping out of a helicopter and under you're just wearing a jumpsuit, you're flying your body and it actually gives you the sensation of flying. The feeling is so absolutely unbelievable and it's something that, you know, human beings dream about since we have had the ability to dream.
Jumping off cliffs and flying through mountains isn't everyone's dream, you know, but it is mine. I hope that people out there, you know, have the courage to go out there and chase their dream, whatever it is.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: He is completely stable in every way. Would you like him to babysit your kids?
SAMBOLIN: No, are you kidding me? What is it about people like that do things like that?
BERMAN: It's crazy.
SAMBOLIN: A little bit.
BERMAN: All right. EARLY START continues right now.
Countdown to shutdown. Definitely not a hoedown. The U.S. government just hours from shutting down. Congress gridlocked as both political parties wait to see who will blink first.
SAMBOLIN: A record setting storm slamming the Northwest. Roads are flooded and trees are all knocked down and thousands are left in the dark.
BERMAN: Dozens of tourists jumping into the water when their boat suddenly erupts in flames.
