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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Technology and Obamacare; Special Prosecutor in Missouri Rape Case; Florida Inmate Investigation
Aired October 22, 2013 - 04:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You know, he got bullied, but he didn't have anybody to talk to, that he didn't have anybody to go to in the school before he decided to do this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: The teen apparently took the handgun from his parents. Reno police say it's too early to say if he was targeting anyone in particular.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: In Washington, the president is promising a fix is in the works for the Web site that Americans have been trying to use to sign up for health insurance coverage. But with so many contractors saying they knew the site was not ready for its launch on October 1st, the question really remains, how did this happen?
Here is Casey Wian.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Way more glitches than I think are acceptable.
CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Glitches?
KATHLEEN SEBELIUS, SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES: The Web site launch was rockier than we would have liked.
WIAN: Rockier?
OBAMA: We're working out the kinks in the system.
WIAN: Kinks?
By now, it's clear that stronger words are needed to describe the web launch of Obamacare.
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: It's been a fiasco.
WIAN: The White House struggled to answer questions about what many have said was inadequate testing prior to the launch of the web site.
REPORTER: Do you know whether the web site was beta tested?
JAY CARNEY, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: In terms of the types of testing and I just don't want to pretend to be an expert. What I can say is that the system has not worked as effectively and efficiently as -- obviously, as we wanted it to, the president, the secretary, anybody wanted to.
WIAN: The Secretary of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius says the online insurance market place needed five years of construction. In reality she said, quote, "We had two years and almost no testing."
Catherine Srekovich is an executive of Navigant Consulting, a contractor hired to help set up the health care exchanges.
CATHERINE SREKOVICH, MANAGING DIRECTOR, NAVIGANT: I think it's not so much a surprise initially. I think the fact that there seems to be so much ongoing problems noted as more of the surprise.
WIAN: The largest Obamacare contractor is CGI Group, a Canadian firm that developed much of the Web site's architecture. In a statement, CGI said it and other contractors, quote, "are working round the clock toward the improvement of healthcare.gov, a system that is complex ambitious and unprecedented. We remain confident in our ability to deliver continuous improvement in system performance and a more positive user experience."
But that's not enough for some critics.
MCCAIN: Send Air Force One out to Silicon Valley, load it up with some smart people, bring them back to Washington and fix this problem.
WIAN: Matt Mullenweg is one of those smart people from Silicon Valley who founded WordPress, which hosts one in five Web sites.
MATT MULLENWEG, FOUNDER, WORDPRESS: You know, in software, they say, you can have it fast, cheap or good, pick two out of three. It sounds like they went for the fast and cheaper.
The launch date was probably picked politically and the software and everything else was backed into that.
WIAN (on camera): We may find out if that's truly what happened when congressional committee holds a hearing on Thursday. Several contractors are expected to appear and Secretary Sebelius is expected to testify next week.
Casey Wian, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PEREIRA: We are hearing this morning from the mother of an American held in North Korea, days after she finally saw her son.
Myunghee Bae went to Pyongyang hospital earlier this month. She saw her son Kenneth for the first time since he was arrested nearly a year ago. She told CNN in an exclusively interview, it was a difficult reunion and even harder to leave.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MYUNGHEE BAE, MOTHER OF KENNETH BAE: I cannot express my pain and my heartache to leave him behind as a prisoner in North Korea. How long it takes to see him again? How long should I wait for him to return? It's very hard to leave him over there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PEREIRA: The North Koreans say Kenneth Bae was trying to topple the government. She says he was there to help the leadership. She is begging the leadership to pardon her son and sent him come home.
BERMAN: A Missouri teen rape case dropped by prosecutors last year is about to get a second look. A judge has now appointed a special prosecutor to investigate the allegations. Daisy Coleman, just 14 at the time, says she was raped by a high school football star. She claims political pressure forced the authorities to drop the charges.
Jackson County prosecutor Jean Peters Baker says a full review is coming.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEAN PETERS BAKER, PROSECUTOR: This case will be thoroughly reviewed. Our review of this case will be without fear and without favor. I have assembled a special staff in when we call our special victims unit and to assist with this case.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: This case has rocked the small town of Maryville, Missouri, with the online hacking group Anonymous plans to join a rally in support the girl later today. You remember, Anonymous was a big player in the case in Steubenville, Ohio, which got so much attention.
PEREIRA: Well, a man accused of killing a 4-year-old girl known for decades as Baby Hope has been indicted. Conrado Juarez will be in a Manhattan court today to be formally informed of those charges. "The New York Daily News" is reporting, though, the details will not be revealed until a later date.
After his arrest, police say he confessed to sexual abusing and smothering the little girl and leaving her body in a cooler near the highway. He has since recanted.
BERMAN: The judge in the murder trial of former New England Patriot Aaron Hernandez refusing to step down. Prosecutors argue she is biased against the D.A.'s Office. But Judge Susan Garsh (ph) rejected, saying she harbors no bias against the defendant or the district attorney. The defense called the motion utterly frivolous. Hernandez has pleaded not guilty in the death of his friend Odin Lloyd, a semi-pro football player.
PEREIRA: To a story that had many scratching their heads about how it happened. New revelations this morning about just how two convicted murderers in Florida may have contained the forged documents that set them free.
In an exclusive interview with CNN's Nick Valencia, the head of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement said seven inmates tried to release fraudulent released documents since 2009, five of them at the same prison where Charles Walker and Joseph Jenkins were held.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GERALD BAILEY, COMMISSION, FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF LAW ENFORCEMENT: We have a confidential source that has advised us that there was a cottage industry, if you will, where an individual was able to construct these documents for $8,000.
NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Are you looking at this perhaps being an inside job?
BAILEY: That is a consideration that it was -- that they had help inside, either the prison or inside the clerk in the court's office.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PEREIRA: State officials have apparently been investigating this issue for a year now. They had actually warned prosecutors to be on the look out for fraudulent release orders.
As for those two men who walked out of pretty much last week, the investigation is now focusing on who may have helped them obtain the documents that set them free.
Clearly, they had assistance to get out and to get those documents to those people.
BERMAN: I still have so many questions here.
This video has gone viral and caused a great deal of outrage and now we are learning the Jets fan who was caught on camera punching a female Patriots fan in the face at MetLife Stadium here in New York, that that man has a criminal record. Kirk Patske (ph) served three years in prison in 1990s after being convicted in a fatal stabbing. But his mother, who was at Sunday's game with him, says her son was only acting to protect her from the woman who she claims was the aggressor.
You watch that video.
PEREIRA: It's hard to watch.
BERMAN: There shouldn't be punching among fans at any football game during, before, or at any time.
PEREIRA: Anytime, it's football. Leave the aggression on the field.
A federal lawsuit in Tennessee is demanding that state recognize gay marriages for couples all married in New York or California, saying Tennessee is violating their constitutional rights by refusing to honor their out of state marriages. Tennessee has a voter approved constitutional amendment that defines marriage as being between a man and a woman.
BERMAN: As the same-sex couples tied the knot in New Jersey, a surprising move from Governor Chris Christie. It happened while we were on the air, together a few hours ago somewhere.
Chris Christie dropped his legal challenge aimed at stopping gay weddings in New Jersey. His spokesman say the state Supreme Court spoke clearly when it denied the stay and let marriages go forward. And though Christie disagrees with the ruling, his spokesman says it was the governor's duty to abide by it.
PEREIRA: A surprising move from a major newspaper in Virginia's gubernatorial race. That major newspaper saying it doesn't like any of the candidates.
"The Richmond Times Dispatch" declining to endorse anyone for the first time in history. The paper writes both the Republican and Democratic candidates have, quote, "earned the citizenry's derision. And the libertarian candidate lacks the experience to lead."
BERMAN: Nothing like derision in politics.
PEREIRA: It never happens.
BERMAN: Except umbrage. You know, umbrage is a lot like derision in some cases.
PEREIRA: Well --
BERMAN: All right. They are heading back to work. The strike for workers for the Bay Area Rapid Transit, BART, is over after four days. I have a lot of friends out there who will be happy this morning. Both sides meeting with a federal mediator to end the dispute over pensions, benefits and work rules. Some trains are expected to run this morning but it is not clear if it will be a completely normal commute.
PEREIRA: I'm going to guess that going from zero to 100 percent, that's going to be a challenge.
BERMAN: Some glitches, as they like to say. Kinks, as the president likes to say.
PEREIRA: Some kinks, glitches, stronger words may be used. I don't know.
BERMAN: What is it like outside?
PEREIRA: I don't know. I don't remember. It was so long ago.
BERMAN: You know who we can check with?
PEREIRA: Chad Myers.
BERMAN: Let's check.
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning.
Good cool morning for a lot of people, 33 degrees around Detroit right now. I guess good evening for you Hawaii. Nowhere near 33 except maybe on top of Mt. Haleakala. Otherwise, we will get some airport delays today. Some showers and low clouds Chicago, Miami also D.C. metros and San Francisco and Seattle with some low cloud cover.
We will have cool weather across the Upper Midwest today. I'm talking 40s for highs. Morning lows way below freezing. If you still have tomatoes, you're lucky because otherwise, everybody else's is already dead!
Forty-four is the high in Minneapolis, 66 Memphis, 27 Atlanta, and still relatively warm up the east coast for another day, maybe day and a half before it finally does cool down again. Here's a look at the clouds and delays again. Chicago, Miami, D.C. metros and San Francisco and Seattle, other than that in pretty good shape today -- guys.
PEREIRA: Great shape, he says.
(CROSSTALK)
BERMAN: We are in great shape today.
PEREIRA: We are in great shape, people.
All right. More news now, to South Florida now. A police officer who decided the best thing she could do for an accused criminal was to give her a helping hand. This is Officer Vicki Thomas. She was called to a supermarket not far from Miami. She caught Jessica Robles pushing a shopping cart out of the store. Inside the cart, some $300 worth of groceries that Robles had not paid for.
So, Thomas stopped her and asked the question, why? That is when Robles admitted her three children were hungry and she had no other choice but to steal.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JESSICA ROBLES, HELPED BY OFFICER: She came out and asked, do you even have food at the house? And I looked at her, you know, her face and I told her, no, I don't.
OFFICER VICKI THOMAS, MIAMI-DADE POLICE: I made the decision to buy her some groceries because arresting her wasn't going to solve the problem with her children being hungry. So I went in and bought her some groceries.
REPORTER: A hundred dollars worth of groceries?
THOMAS: Yes, a hundred dollars.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PEREIRA: That officer showing a tremendous amount of humanity. Robles is facing misdemeanor charges. She will have to appear in court, but she promised once she's able to find work and is back on her feet, she's going to help someone else out just like Officer Thomas helped her. That is the beautiful thing about when you can help someone, you give them a hand up, and they can pay it forward.
BERMAN: Compassion goes very far. She's not getting off easy. She is facing the charges in court.
PEREIRA: No, and also her children will understand, too. It's an important lesson for them to learn, that stealing isn't right but you have to do what you have to do to feed your kids.
BERMAN: I do like to see kindness out there.
Forty-two minutes after the hour.
Coming up --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GREG LEMOND, CYCLING LEGEND: It's like Bernie Madoff. Should he be allowed to come in and, you know, be part of Wall Street managing money? No.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: Cycling legend Greg LeMond with some tough words for fallen star Lance Armstrong. This is really interesting, folks.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PEREIRA: This is usually a time you make Zoraida breakfast?
BERMAN: Yes, this is I -- I bring in the morning bacon bits.
PEREIRA: Turkey bacon?
BERMAN: What is turkey bacon? It's not bacon if it's turkey.
PEREIRA: Bacon made from turkey. Delicious.
BERMAN: I don't buy it.
PEREIRA: I'll go back to EARLY START, where there is no breakfast being served but primetime pop.
BERMAN: You can't bite them for breakfast.
PEREIRA: Very best CNN's primetime interviews. We're going to start with international spy games.
BERMAN: The French government up in arms, over reports of NSA spying in France.
Erin Burnett spoke with former CIA agent Bob Bauer who said that spying is a two-way street.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BOB BAER, FORMER CIA AGENT: I was assigned to Paris in the '80s and the French at the time were breaking into American businessmen hotel rooms, copping their briefcases, downloading their computers and the rest of it. We confronted the French on this. We kept it quiet. So, it does go both ways, absolutely.
You know, in the Cold War, they started to listening to phone calls. They sort of she knew to turn a blind eye. But, Erin, remember, 9:/11 was hatched in Europe between in Germany in particular but also France, so-called 20th hijacker Zacarias Moussaoui was French. And what did the French tell us, nothing. So, you have to look at the National Security Agency's point of view, and we have a reason to listen to phone calls there, period.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PEREIRA: Meanwhile, Anderson Cooper had an exclusive with cycling legend Greg LeMond, the three-time Tour de France winner is the only American winner. He had choice words for disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong, who LeMond says once threatened to falsely accuse him of doping.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LEMOND: He did offer $300,000 to a teammate to say that I took EPO, and the guy refused and this is a guy who could use the money.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Why did he go after you?
LEMOND: He is a bully and he's a thug to me and I'm the one that wouldn't put up with it.
COOPER: So, when Lance Armstrong says, look, everybody was doing this, I was just trying to even the playing field.
LEMOND: He wasn't. He couldn't raise the level of the playing field and that is why he bribed the governing body.
COOPER: What do you think should happen to him now?
LEMOND: This is not a sporting infraction. This is criminal.
COOPER: You think he should go to jail?
LEMOND: I do. Yes, yes. There's a point where people are just not good and there are some people -- I'm sorry, but there are people who are criminals that shouldn't be able to participate again in anything.
It's like Bernie Madoff. Should he be allowed to come in and, you know, be a part of Wall Street managing money? No, he shouldn't.
That's what Armstrong. He shouldn't be allowed to be back in the sport. (END VIDEO CLIP)
PEREIRA: Strong words.
BERMAN: Greg and Lance are not friends one bit. >
PEREIRA: Not at all.
BERMAN: Piers Morgan caught up with the mother to be who gave a scare yesterday nearly painting behind President Obama fainting as he spoke about the new health care law. Karmel Allison is 20 weeks pregnant and has type 1 diabetes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PIERS MORGAN, CNN HOST: The whole world is watching in absolute horror as you -- something like you tethered backwards. What was going through your mind?
KARMEL ALLISON, NEARLY FAINTED AT OBAMACARE EVENT: Mostly, "Oh no, don't faint." and then the next thing I knew I was being caught by the president and thinking, "Wow, that just happened." So, you know, it was an incredible honor to be there and I'm really happy to have been there today to support the president as he, you know, takes a stand and reinforces the importance of this -- the ACA and the act and how important healthcare is for all of us.
And I'm extremely embarrassed that I fainted but honored still to have been there and happy that he caught me.
MORGAN: And what did he say to you afterwards the president, anything?
ALLISON: He was, you know, he asked how I was doing, make sure I was OK and, I mean, I was extremely appreciative of that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: Nothing like fainting.
PEREIRA: Have you?
BERMAN: Not on camera.
PEREIRA: OK, not on camera.
BERMAN: Not on camera.
PEREIRA: Do those things in private.
BERMAN: Intrigue.
All right. Coming up for us, the Giants take on the Vikings in Monday night football. They have done something now that they have never done before this season at least. Andy Scholes breaking down all of the game action in "The Bleacher Report". We'll see Andy just after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BERMAN: History made overnight by the New York Giants. It took them seven games but they finally won!
PEREIRA: They won!
BERMAN: They won a game!
They beat the Minnesota Vikings on Monday night football.
PEREIRA: Andy Scholes, how do you put up with this guy? We've got more from "The Bleacher Report". How are you?
ANDY SCHOLES, THE BLEACHER REPORT: I'm good. How are you doing?
Monday night dinner reserved for one of the best matchups of the week. Last night's game featured 1-4 Vikings taking on the 0-6 Giants. Records-wise, this was the worst matchup ever on Monday night football. Pretty ugly game. The one bright spot was that that sack there by wild man Jared Allen. Check it out!
He goes around the lineman and gets Eli by one hand and brings him down. Eli went down there but for the first time this season he did not throw an interception. Giants, they ended their worst start in nearly 40 years. They win 23-7 was the final.
Forbes releasing its annual list of the most disliked athletes in the NFL! Topping the list once again is Michael Bay. Fans haven't forgot about his dog fighting scandal and they haven't forgot about Manti Te'o's fake girlfriend either, claims he was duped. He still comes in as the second most hated player in the NFL. Ndamukong Suh, Ben Roethlisberger and Mark Sanchez round out the top five, and the list was based on an online survey.
One of the top stories in the lineup on bleacherreport.com today is about amazing accomplishment of 6-year-old Keelan Glass. Keelan became the youngest person ever to run a half marathon.
PEREIRA: Oh my goodness.
SCHOLES: Check this out, guys. Not only completed the race, she did in pretty good time, crossing the finish line, 2:46. Took time off there to take a picture of the horses.
She wasn't just running for a record. She did it to raise money for charity. A great cause.
PEREIRA: Way to go, kiddo!
SCHOLES: She has done a half marathon at 6 and wants to do a complete marathon 26.2 miles by the time she is 10.
PEREIRA: Well, you got to have goals. Hey, how was your half marathon? BERMAN: Oh, it was a lot faster than hers. I mean, come on. No, no, but seriously. Her legs are so small! She had to run 30 miles!
I give her a lot of credit, even though I did beat her. I give her a lot credit.
PEREIRA: That is incredible. What a great kiddo. Thanks for sharing that, Andy. Appreciate it.
We're going to take a short back -- short break, EARLY START. We'll have coffee, and everything is going to be fine.
BERMAN: All going to be OK.
PEREIRA: We promise. It will be fine.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PEREIRA: Welcome back. It is 50 -- well, that's not true. It's actually is 58 minutes past the hour.
BERMAN: Or two minutes until the hour.
PEREIRA: Depends on how you like to slice it.
We're going to take a look at the top CNN trends on the web this morning.
Congratulations for Kelly Clarkson. The singer celebrating after tying the knot with her fiance Brandon Blackstock. Clarkson confirming the news on Twitter. That's how we do things.
Sending out a picture of her now husband planting a kiss on her head. The ceremony took place Sunday at a farm in Tennessee. The couple originally had planned, quite a lavish wedding but scrapped over the summer because of their busy schedules.
How pretty though. Look at that.
BERMAN: It doesn't look un-lavish, I have to say.
PEREIRA: It's gorgeous.
BERMAN: That is not a trashy place. It's beautiful there.
PEREIRA: Very nice.
BERMAN: All right. A huge milestone for Netflix. The online movie sharing service reporting it now has 40 million subscribers! That is more than HBO and most of them are signing up to stream movies and not rent DVDs.
The company's CEO saying their goal is one day to catch up with HBO. I just said it was more than HBO. It doesn't in fact match the HBO, to match HBO's 114 million subscribers worldwide.
PEREIRA: The thing to do is stream it on your TV now. I just managed to do that. I got a guy to do that.
BERMAN: My Netflix was not working this weekend. It's not all about me.
PEREIRA: Want me to send my guy?
BERMAN: Send your guy over.
Congratulations, Netflix. Get to work.
EARLY START continues right now.
(MUSIC)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED BOY: He's trying to put, make him put it down but he took the shot right then and there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He probably tried to talk the kid down. I mean, he would protect whoever he could so that sounds like Mike.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: A math teacher murdered and two students shot when a 13-year- old pulled out a gun inside his school.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: There's no sugar coating. The Web site has been too slow. People have been getting stuck during the application process. And I think it's fair to say that nobody is more frustrated by that than I am.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PEREIRA: President Obama owning up to problems plaguing the new health care law rollout, but can the Web site -- can the White House, rather, figure out a fix for that Web site?
BERMAN: And Major League Baseball versus A-Rod. The legal battle to prove that the player cheated his way to greatness.
