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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Little Girl Found; "We Knew It'd Be A Long Night"; Chiefs Keep Rolling
Aired October 21, 2013 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Stranded at sea for 14 hours after their boat capsized. This, folks, is an amazing story of survival.
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PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back, everyone. Rise and shine. You're watching EARLY START on this Monday morning, and I'm Pamela Brown.
BERMAN (on-camera): I'm John Berman. Thirty minutes after the hour right now.
BROWN: This morning, two convicted killers are back in a Florida jail weeks after walking out of prison, thanks to forged documents. This dramatic cell phone video right here shows their arrest at a Panama City motel. Police say the pair, Joseph Jenkins (ph) and Charles Walker (ph) were waiting for a ride when authorities swooped in took them into custody.
Both were serving life sentences for murder, but the bogus documents complete with a forged signature from a judge said they should be released early. Now, the families of the victims say they are relieved.
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EVANGELINA KEARSE, MOTHER OF VICTIM: I'm just filled with joy knowing that those two inmates has been apprehended.
MICHAEL CREWS, CORRECTIONS SECRETARY: It is embarrassing. But my concentration at this point is, I think, as everyone else here is making sure that we come up with a process and a procedure that prohibits this from happening in the future. But ultimately, that is our responsibility.
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BROWN: Prison officials are not making clear how the documents got to them, but police are promising more arrests as they look for whoever may have provided those documents. New procedures are now in effect requiring early release orders to be verified with judges directly, not just court clerks and an investigation into what went wrong is ongoing.
BERMAN: I want to turn to Greece now and a mystery that is only raising more questions this morning. A little girl was found living at a Roma Camp in Greece. Not clear how she got there and why two people there were posing as her parents. Erin McLaughlin is tracking the latest developments live for us in London this morning. Erin, what are investigators saying about this now?
ERIN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, John. Well, the couple, a 39-year-old man and a 40-year-old woman have appeared in court in Greece this morning. They're facing charges of abduction of a minor as well as falsification of identification documents. Meanwhile, the search for this little girl's real parents is still under way.
The charity that's currently in charge of taking care of her has received over 8,000 phone calls from around the world in response to their appeal for help of those phone calls. Police are following up on eight. Four are from the United States.
The mystery surrounding this little girl first came to life last week when investigators were doing a routine expectation of a Roma Camp site when they came across the little girl and noticed her striking features, her blond hair, her blue eyes looked nothing like the people posing as her family. And DNA tests, of course, later confirmed those suspicions -- John.
BERMAN: So, what is this couple apparently posing as this girl's parents? What do these couple say now?
MCLAUGHLIN: Well, right now, the family is saying that she was very well taken care of, very well looked after. Their family lawyer saying that she was given to them by a Bulgarian woman who said she could no longer take care of the child. Take a listen to what he had to say.
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KOSTAS KATSAVOS, ROMA COUPLE'S ATTORNEY: Claiming that we never abduct this child. We just adopted her with way non-legal. That's where -- we're in the middle of investigation, a private investigation. We're in the middle of investigation. We hope that tonight or tomorrow, we are -- we will find the mother.
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MCLAUGHLIN: So, they appear to be acknowledging an illegal adoption but not an illegal abduction. Plenty of questions in this case, John.
BERMAN: Sure. A lot of questions just hoping that girl gets the care she needs and deserves this morning. All right. Erin McLaughlin live for us this morning. Thanks so much.
BROWN: Well, a suddenly admission (ph) here. Former vice president, Dick Cheney, was apparently worried terrorists could kill him by hacking into a device that was keeping him alive.
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BROWN (voice-over): In an interview with Dr. Sanjay Gupta aired first on CBS' "60 minutes," Cheney said he had doctors disable a wireless feature on his implanted heart device. That device was designed to keep his heart pumping until he could get a transplant.
He worried that terrorists might find a way to hack that device and send a deadly jolt to his heart, killing him. You may remember this. John and I, we know this episode. This is an episode of the TV show "Homeland," that used a possibility, that exact possibility Cheney was worried about as a plot point. Cheney said that was an accurate portrayal of what was possible.
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BROWN (on-camera): The entire interview will air again tomorrow night on "AC 360." That's at 8:00 p.m. eastern time.
BERMAN: That is so unrealistic. That could never happen.
BROWN: I think anyone who saw that was thinking the same thing.
BERMAN: Wow.
BROWN: Little that we know Cheney thought that even before that episode.
BERMAN: Intrigues.
All right. Texas senator, Ted Cruz, isn't making clear his plans for the next time the government is on the brink of a shutdown.
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BERMAN (voice-over): He tells our Dana Bash he sticks by his call for Obamacare to be done away with, but he will not say if he'd support lift letting funding expire again as he did this time around. As for one day running for the White House? He said he's focused right now on being in the Senate.
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SEN. TED CRUZ, (R) TEXAS: I get that everyone wants to talk politics.
DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, and you know, some trips to some of that first primary and caucus states might be little hints.
CRUZ: But you know, look, there's a reason for that, which is the only way to win this fight and, for that matter to win some of the other fights we've had is to energize and activate the grassroots of the American people. I've traveled all over the country to town halls and rallies to make the case to the American people. You don't get two million people signing a national petition without going directly to the people. And what we're trying to do, listen, I think what we're trying to do is bigger than the economy than the budget, bigger even than Obamacare. What we're trying to do is really change how Washington operates. The reason people are so frustrated is career politicians in both parties, they aren't listening to you and even more than that, the American people have the sense for good reason that the system is rigged.
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BERMAN: Cruz said the Republicans failed in the shutdown because Republicans in the Senate did not unite with those in the House.
BROWN (voice-over): Same-sex couples in New Jersey are waking up with the right to be married. Some couples tied the knot just after midnight when a court ruling took effect legalizing gay nuptials in the garden state. The state -- court refused (INAUDIBLE) ruling that the state had little likelihood of winning the case. And Governor Chris Christie, despite opposing gay marriage, has vowed to abide by the court's decision.
BERMAN: Governor Christie on the subject of, I should say, is running for re-election this year and getting a very lukewarm endorsement from New Jersey's largest newspaper. The "Star Ledger of Newark" calling Christie a remarkable political talent who is overrated, they say. His spin, the paper writes, is way ahead of the substance, and it blasts his, quote, "measurable failures."
So, why you might ask is he getting that paper's endorsement? The paper writes that his opponent, a Democratic state senator, is deeply flawed and has not made the case why she deserves the job.
BROWN: Also in New Jersey, problems for some homeowners who were hit by superstorm Sandy. Consumer advocates now say that many of those who were entitled to insurance payouts to help rebuild their homes are being shortchanged. The problem? Insurance adjusters who apparently did not calculate the damages properly or didn't include the cost of sales tax in their estimates.
The insurance companies, however, dispute that large numbers of customers are being paid less than they're owed.
BERMAN: An investigation under way in the bay area after a B.A.R.T. commuter train struck and killed two transit workers. An official for the transit system there says a train with only employees aboard hit the workers who were inspecting a section of track east of Oakland. B.A.R.T., meanwhile, this morning, is officially shut down as workers remain on strike locked in a contract dispute with management over pension and benefits.
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BROWN (on-camera): All right. Well, there is some snow. That's right, snow, in parts of the country and it's only October.
BERMAN (on-camera): Let's get a check with the weather now. Indra Petersons is here with that and much more.
INDRA PETERSONS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I literally shopped for coats because it's going to be that cold. That's one thing. I have the heads-up. I know it's going to get cold and colder as we go throughout the week. All this arctic air is going to be diving down over the next several days. First starting around the Great Lakes and eventually spreading into the northeast around Wednesday.
So, what is going on? We have a series of fronts out there. One, two, three, really four if you add in last week each one of this bringing in more cold air than the one previous. So, they notice right around the gulf. Let's still see some wrap-around showers since some leftover showers there in the tail or the front.
The second one looks like we'll start to see some showers right around New York and the northeast right around Wednesday. And the third one is now Alberta clipper. This is the key, because it means even more cold air quickly moves across the country. Now, remember, Alberta clippers, they're dry. We don't get a lot of rain out of this or a lot of snow.
Talking about one to two inches in the Dakotas, right around Minneapolis. Also, we'll be seeing maybe just a little bit of a dusting, but, the key is, again, we are going to be talking about rain and cold air into the northeast. So, yes, around Wednesday, we'll see a couple of these showers again to the northeast.
But here are the temperatures that we are talking about. Look at the three-day here. New York City Monday, 67, Tuesday not bad, 65 and Wednesday, 53 degrees. And we are not isolated here. We're talking about 40s in Detroit and 40s even to Chicago, D.C. at least stays about 57. And people say, you know, it's the time of the year. No, it is not. That is below normal even for here for this time of year.
BERMAN: Below normal (INAUDIBLE)
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PETERSONS: That's what I have to say.
BERMAN: And that's the high, 53 degrees in New York City. That's going to be the high?
PETERSONS: Yes. Try high 48 in Detroit.
BERMAN: All right, Indra, thanks so much.
BROWN: Big reality check there.
BERMAN: Coming up for us next, stranded at sea for hours after their boat capsizes. How these boaters managed to stay alive? This, folks, an amazing story of survival coming up next.
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BERMAN: Welcome back to EARLY START, everyone. A very good morning for two New Hampshire men who survived a terrifying weekend on the water, in the water. They were out in a homemade sailboat traveling from Massachusetts to Boston. It was a strong gust of wind that hit the boat. It capsized it and it left them clinging to life on a wooden plank.
They had no radio. They had no way to call for help. And their only life jacket, there was just one for two of them, had drifted away, but these men, they held on for 14 hours.
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GEORGE REYNOLDS, RESCUED BOATER: We knew it would be a long night. We knew our best chance was to stay with the boat and that not to panic.
FRED SCHAEFFER, RESCUED BOATER: We prayed together.
REYNOLDS: Yes. And encouraging each other because we knew -- I tell you what, that's a life and death struggle out there in the water.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: Praying together. Eventually, a fishing crew spotted them and alerted the authorities. The men refused treatment. This whole thing, obviously, could have been much, much worse. Just one life jacket out there. Officials say this should be a reminder. Always wear a life jacket. Have emergency equipment like the radio which they did not have available and ready to use.
BROWN: Yes. And they were actually really lucky that it wasn't colder there.
BERMAN: Definitely. Fourteen hours in the water this time of year, very, very lucky. Glad they're OK this morning.
All right. A very special time. It is time for your "Morning Rhyme," our tweets of the day. First up, we have one from Mitten Joshy (ph). This is on the news this morning. He says, "Fall is fully in the air. Can we now finally fix Obamacare?" The man following the news here.
BROWN: All right. And then, there's this one from Chain Johnson (ph). Trust me, this is how we all feel on a Monday morning. "5:00 in the a.m. watching the news, lost so much sleep, got the blues, but with coffee warming my heart, I'm ready for my EARLY START." Love that one.
BERMAN: Multiple rhymes and excellent use of the 140 characters right there. That seemed a lot longer than that. Very impressive. We had some great tweets this morning, some great rhymes. Thank you for participating. You can always come up with your own. Tweet us here. The hash tags are morning rhyme and EARLY START.
BROWN: I'm still trying to think of mine. I really am not very creative this early in the morning.
All right. Now, let's take a look at what's coming up on "NEW DAY." BERMAN: Chris Cuomo, Kate Bolduan are here. Hey, guys.
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, guys. Happy Monday. Hope you had a good weekend.
BROWN: Yes. Hope you did, too.
BOLDUAN: Thank you.
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No rhymes about the Pats and Jets, John Berman?
BERMAN: I'm still thinking about the Sox. I'm still thinking about the Sox. No, no, no. Let's get flag. You know, we'll throw flags at the end of the game.
CUOMO: Yes. How about that touchdown to hill, though, where your boy McCourty just --
BERMAN: I saw you whining about that. I saw you whining about that for hours on Twitter. You have a lot of pent-up anger, obviously.
CUOMO: Not anymore.
BOLDUAN: You're just realizing that today?
CUOMO: Not anymore.
BERMAN: It's all good. It's all good, man.
(LAUGHTER)
CUOMO: Look at him clenching his hands all tight. Enraged! It is good. I got to enjoy this. This does not happen very often when the Patriots lose to the Jets. I'll tell you that right now.
BOLDUAN: This is true. Enjoy the moment.
CUOMO: Something that has been happening very often, though, is that both parties in Washington, D.C. been taking a beating from the rest of the country because of what happened in the shutdown. The proof is now in the pudding. New polls show that Americans think, listen to this, that GOP control of the House is bad for the country.
President Obama is preparing to address Obamacare today and talking about the glitches that are affecting the website. So, both sides are feeling the pressure. We will tell you what changes and strategy may be coming.
BOLDUAN: And we have a disturbing new twist in the case surrounding these two girls that were arrested in connection with the suicide of another little girl, 12-year-old girl. Well now, one of their mothers has been arrested after shocking video surfaced allegedly showing her beating at least one of her children.
We're going to talk to the sheriff investigating this case and how much deeper it could go. There's clearly a lot going on in this case and it's horrible and, obviously, ends in tragedy and it seems the tragedy just seems to continue. So, we're going to be covering that.
BERMAN: A lot of questions there, no doubt. We'll see you guys in a little bit.
Coming up for us next, it was Peyton versus Andrew in Indianapolis. Two will enter and one will leave victorious. Would it be Manning? Would it be Andrew Luck? Joe Carter, he will have the answers coming up next in the "Bleacher Report."
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BROWN: Peyton Manning received a warm welcome from fans in his return to Indy, but Andrew Luck seems to have all of the luck when they played the Colts inspired football and spoiled his homecoming. Joe Carter has more in the "Bleacher Report." Hi there, Joe.
JOE CARTER, BLEACHER REPORT: Hey, good morning, guys. You know, the Colts have actually beaten some pretty good teams, so far, this year. They've beaten the 49ers, the Seahawks, and now the Broncos. And you got to give credit to Andrew Luck because the second-year quarterback outplayed the future hall of famer last night, and before the game, it was really Manning's moment.
He was given a standing ovation from the fans that seemed like forever. They also played video a video on the big screen of his best moments with the Colts. But during the game, Robert Mathis, man, he terrorized him. He played with Peyton for seven seasons in Indi, and he wasn't allowed to come within five feet of practice (ph), but last night, he was all over Peyton and Indianapolis is officially Andrew Luck's city now.
Luck passed for three touchdowns. He also ran in another, and it may have been Peyton Manning's week, but in the end, it was the Colts night.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I truly appreciated. It was a great reception from the fans and I'm truly appreciated that as well. Something I'll always remember. I'm very grateful for it.
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CARTER: Well, after winning just two games all of last season, the Kansas City Chiefs are off to a 7-0 start this season. Under new head coach, Andy Reid, the Chiefs are the only undefeated team left in the NFL. And the strength of this team is really their outstanding defense. Late in the game, they had a turnover that basically locked up the one-point win. Now, as for Houston, after starting the season 2-0, they've now lost five games in a row.
And Robert Griffin III, RG3, finally looked like his old dynamic self after last season's devastating knee injury. The Washington quarterback threw for nearly 300 yards and two scores. And late in the game, RG3 led his team to a game winning 80-yard scoring drive with just 45 seconds left on the clock. So, Washington wins a shoot- out over the Chicago Bears 45-41.
And one of the top stories in the lineup section at BleacherReport.com this morning, the Patriots loss to the Jets because of a never before called penalty. In overtime, the Patriots, Chris Jones, was flagged for using his teammate as a battering ram. See, it's a new rule this year. You can't push your teammate into the opponent's formation. The 15-yard-penalty gave the Jets a second chance at a field goal.
Nick Folk nailed it in 42 yards out. Game over. Jets beat the Pats for the first time since 2011. And I'll tell you what, Berman, your Patriots lost because of a new rule this year. And you know, the refs are really, really pressured to follow these new rules because it has to do with player's safety.
So, that's why there's so much emphasis put on watching those rules that have anything to do with keeping these guys safe and that's why we saw that penalty called for the very first time.
BERMAN: I think they lost because they couldn't (ph) stop the rookie quarterback when they really needed to, but that call was an unusual time to pick calling a penalty for the first time in the overtime of a game after a (ph) field goal.
CARTER: And I'll tell you what, now that it's been called, I bet you a lot of teams stop doing that because that resulted in, obviously, a loss for one team, a win for another. So, now, I know, teams have been doing that for a long time. And now that it's actually been called and it's made a huge difference, it's likely the teams are going to stop doing it altogether.
BERMAN: Certainly hope they stop doing it with the game on the line. All right. Joe Carter, appreciate it, even though I don't appreciate that story.
(LAUGHTER)
BROWN: All right. Thanks, Joe. We'll be right back.
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BERMAN: That is all for EARLY START this morning. It was great having you here for the entire show.
BROWN: I know. Love making an appearance on EARLY START. Thanks, John.
BERMAN: Time for "NEW DAY" now. Chris and Kate, it's all yours, guys.
BROWN: Have a great show.
BOLDUAN: Good morning. Good morning. Thanks, guys.
CUOMO: All right, everybody. It's time for your top news. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, (R) ARIZONA: Send Air Force One out to Silicon Valley, load it up with some smart people, bring them back to Washington, and fix this problem.
CUOMO: The aftermath. A new CNN poll shows the political price of the shutdown. Republicans in trouble, Democrats not in the clear. The president also in damage control. Can he fix the Obamacare website?
BOLDUAN: Captured. Dramatic new video shows the moment two escaped inmates were caught by police. Now the question, how forged documents set the two convicted murderers free?
MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Laser danger. More and more pilots be distracted by blinding lasers while flying. What's behind this dangerous surge and what does it mean for passengers?
CUOMO: Your "NEW DAY" starts right now.
ANNOUNCER: This is "NEW DAY" with Chris Cuomo, Kate Bolduan, and Michaela Pereira.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CUOMO: Good morning. Welcome to "NEW DAY." It's Monday, October 21st, six o'clock in the east, and we have brand-new poll numbers in the house this morning. Guess what they show? A host (ph) shutdown state of crisis for the country's two major political parties. More than half of Americans feel GOP control of the House is a bad thing for the country.
And we will show you why the dems have a hold to climb out as well. The big question now, will the Republicans change strategy for the upcoming budget battle? We will hear from GOP senator, Ted Cruz, in a CNN exclusive, coming up.
BOLDUAN: And also, $13 billion. That's the tentative deal reached between the largest U.S. bank and the justice department over events leading up to the 2008 financial crisis, but, will JPMorgan's record settlement save them from even more trouble criminal liability, perhaps? We're going to break it all down for you. We have a record settlement to tell you about.
PEREIRA: And former vice president, Dick Cheney, one-on-one with our Dr. Sanjay Gupta. We're going to look at this revealing interview about the former vice president's struggle with heart problems while in office and how it was a factor on 9/11.
BOLDUAN: All right. Let's begin this hour, though, with breaking news. Those just released poll numbers that may spell big trouble for the GOP heading into next year's midterm elections and the new numbers there coming out just as Democrats prepare for their own bit of damage control. The president set to address those glitches plaguing the Obamacare rollout at the White House today. Let's get more all of this from senior White House correspondent, Jim Acosta. Good morning, Jim.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Kate. That's right. A new CNN/ORC poll finds a majority of Americans are not happy with Republican control of the House of Representatives, but the GOP may have caught a big political break.
