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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

New NSA Allegations; More Information on Nevada Middle School Shooting; Wild Beach Party Photo; "God Only Knows The Toll"

Aired October 25, 2013 - 05:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And they're saying they have to have these talks by the end of the year. Now, a lot of this is going to be posturing, because let's face it, every country has their own intelligence gathering, but it's the scale and the scope and the audacity of tapping the leader of another country's phone. This seems pretty incredible. And it's also embarrassing especially for German intelligence to find out that Angela Merkel's phone may have been monitored.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: It's also the get and caught, apparently, which is one of the big issues here. You said Germany and France demanding, really, a meeting before the end of the year, according to "The New York Times." Any sign that this could get in the way of key cooperation between the U.S. and its European allies? On trade, their big trade discussions going on, their security partnerships at stake here. Any sense those could be in any kind of jeopardy?

SHUBERT: I think the security partnerships are very solid, but there has been some discussion about whether or not this could possibly even derail an EU/U.S. trade pack. That's very unlikely, but it could certainly delay it. And also, there's a data privacy protection act that's currently working its way through European parliament and that has gathered a lot more momentum as a result of this.

And that could have an impact on companies like Facebook and could see the EU passing laws that say, hey, Facebook, Twitter, other companies, you won't be able to gather the kind of data you had on customers before in Europe.

BERMAN: It really does seem like this is going to leave a mark. Atika Shubert for us in London, thanks so much.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: All right. We're hearing now for the first time from one of the students wounded in the shooting this week at a middle school in Sparks, Nevada. A beloved math teacher, Mike Landsberry, was killed. The shooter has been identified as a 12-year- old Jose Reyes. He took his own life.

CNNs Stephanie Elam spoke exclusively with a classmate who says he tried to help the teacher before he, himself, was also shot.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Did you come face-to-face with him? Did he say anything to you? He just shot you? How far away from you was he?

MASON, SHOOTING VICTIM: About 10, 20 feet.

ELAM: And did you realize right away that you had been shot? Did you know? You knew it?

MASON: Yes. There is a very sharp pain in my stomach.

ELAM: Was Mr. Landsberry one of your teachers?

MASON: No. He was just a really good friend of mine that -- because I used to go visit him every time at lunch and before school.

ELAM: Why did you like him so much?

MASON: Because he was funny and friendly and fun to hang around.

ELAM: When you came to him, was everyone else running when you tried to go to him when he was on the ground?

MASON: The first shot was my friend, and then, Mr. Landsberry got shot. And then, I was looking around my school and like why is everybody running from? And nothing. And then I go, wow, I saw Mr. Landsberry got shot. He was laying on the ground and I ran over and a couple of friends like we need to get him into the school and so we tried. One of my (INAUDIBLE) said that get in the building, get in the school fast, and then that's when I ran and I got shot.

ELAM: Did you know the boy who was doing the shooting? What kind of person was he?

MASON: He was nice. But I think he had some mental issues in his head.

ELAM: Why did you think that?

MASON: Because he argues with people a lot. I see him being argumentative with teachers and students and that is why I think he is a little mental up in the head. So, you know?

ELAM: Did he have friends? Did you see him with friends?

MASON: I had seen him with friends, but I don't think he was being bullied at all.

ELAM: Oh, really? You don't think he was being bullied.

MASON: Because if he was being bullied, then I saw it, I would have stuck up for him. I was one of his friends.

ELAM: So, when you saw it was him with a gun, shooting you, what were you thinking?

MASON: Before I got shot, I'm like, please don't shoot me, please don't shoot me. I looked at him and I saw and he raised it and he shot me in my stomach. ELAM: And he didn't say anything to you?

MASON: He didn't say anything like please don't shoot me, please don't shoot me, and then he raised it and, boom, he shot me.

ELAM: But he's someone you say was a friend, someone you say you would have stuck up if you saw him getting bullied, and yet, this is the same boy that shot you. What did you think of that?

MASON: After he shot me, I thought that he wasn't my real friend.

ELAM: What do you want people to learn from what you've been through?

MASON: I want people to learn from what I've been through is to -- if you ever shot a gun and you accidentally killed somebody, you would have made a very big mistake from that and I used to treat guns not poorly, but a little poorly, because I thought they were a toy, but when I got shot, I learned that they're not just a toy.

They are a weapon, and it could damage somebody very bad. So, I want everybody in the world to know that in war and battles and anything doing with weapons and knives, they are all weapons and they could kill you very easily if you hit the right spot. I'm lucky to be alive and the bullet didn't go through me. If it did, I would have been dead. But it just went around me, so I'm very lucky to be alive.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: Just heart breaking to listen to that kid what he's already been through.

BERMAN: No kid should ever see anything like that.

ROMANS: I know. And that was his good friend, the teacher, just watching that unfold. And that was our Stephanie Elam doing that incredible reporting and exclusive chat with that young man.

Now, it's the latest chilly details in the death of Colleen Ritzer, the beloved math teacher in Danvers, Massachusetts.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS (voice-over): A source close to the investigation says the suspect, 14-year-old, Philip Chism followed Ritzer into a girl's bathroom in the school, beat her, and then stabbed her with a box cutter.

Her body then reportedly stashed in a recycling bin, rolled outside, and dumped into the woods behind the high school. Chism is pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder. He is being held without bail.

BERMAN (voice-over): A northern California community grieving the loss of a popular 13-year-old boy who was shot and killed by police earlier this week. Two Sonoma County sheriff's deputies were patrolling a neighborhood when they say they spotted Andy Lopez carrying what appeared to be a rifle. Officers say they ordered the young man to drop the weapon and when he turned toward them instead, they shot him seven times. It turns out that Lopez was carrying a toy pellet gun.

ROMANS: A National Guard recruiter in custody this morning after shooting an armory outside of the navy army base in Millington, Tennessee. Police say Amus Patton (ph) wounded two of his National Guard commanders, shooting one in the foot, shooting the other in the leg. The incident came as a shock to people who know this man.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's a great guy. He's always, you know, look out for my house. He's got great kids, great family, great values. He's a great dude.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And you never think that something like this is going to happen on your watch or in good old Tennessee here. And, unfortunately, it did happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: The navy base was on lock down for about 90 minutes following the shooting.

BERMAN: Three e-mails may hold the key to a motive in the Washington Navy Yard rampage. "The New York Post" says Aaron Alexis sent the e- mails to an online mind control outreach group two weeks before the shooting. In them, Alexis reportedly accuses the navy of trying to control his brain with extremely low frequency waves.

The navy reservist turned civilian contractor killed 12 people last month before he was killed in a police shoot-out.

ROMANS: All right. Hard to forget these images. That's john pike, the former UC Davis police lieutenant who casually pepper sprayed protesters at a campus sit-in. He's been awarded $38,000 in Worker's Compensation from the university for the suffering he experienced after the incident. Pike left the (INAUDIBLE) in 2012 after receiving thousands of angry and threatening e-mails and texts.

BERMAN: I saw a lot of angry tweets about this.

ROMANS: Yes.

BERMAN: Controversial to say the least.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN (on-camera): Time now for a check of the weather. Also controversial this morning because it's cold! Indra Petersons is here.

INDRA PETERSONS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It's like some people say it's not cold, right?

(LAUGHTER)

PETERSONS: Hmmm. I think we all know where I stand on this one. Definitely seeing a lot of 30s and a lot of people at the freezing mark this morning. Chicago right now waking up right at the freezing mark at 32. D.C. about 39 right now and Memphis coming in about 42. So, we are feeling that change out there. The forecast today for the afternoon, the northeast, does still have a lot of 50s.

So, temperatures only about 10 degrees below normal, but of course, we have some gusty winds out there. So, a lot of times it won't feel cooler than it actually is. The other big story today is that cold air now is going to be digging farther to the south. So, the southeast, you're going to be feeling the chill as well today. Look at just the current temperatures very easy to see that we have frost and freeze warnings.

Look how many of you -- we're talking from the plains and now northeast down even to the southeast, talking about the freeze threat out there. So, that's how we know the chill is there. And of course, very easy to see the line of the cold air now making its way farther south. Nashville right now below freezing at 31. Birmingham about 41 degrees, and Atlanta about 43.

So, we thought it was just us for a while, but that cold air is affecting even more people today. So, down at the southeast gotten (ph) a little trouble.

BERMAN: Spreading the love.

ROMANS: Of course. Good for the retailers, I think.

BERMAN: You know what else is good for you? You know a good way to get warm? Bourbon.

(LAUGHTER)

ROMANS: Bourbon?

BERMAN: Which brings me to this next story. Police in Kentucky have an all-points bulletin out for a bourbon thief. They do have a new lead. The surveillance video they hope will help them identify a person of interest. Nearly 200 bottles of Pappy Van Winkle which folks is very good, one of the most expensive and sought after bourbons in the world, those bottles were stolen from a distillery last week. That's $26,000 worth of bourbon. Experts say that will make the rare stock even more in demand.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SETH THOMPSON, PUBLISHER, BOURBON REVIEW: Five years ago, you could find a bottle on the shelves. Three years ago, it was tough. Now, I mean, forget about it. People want what they can't have and the Van Winkles have come into a situation where their supply is maintained, but the demand just keeps going up and up and up.

People are guaranteed that never knew the first clue about bourbon, what they ask where, hey, where can I get Pappy?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Where can I get Pappy? If you do find any, send us here. Police suspect, by the way, that this theft may have been an inside job.

ROMANS: Wow. All right.

BERMAN: Intriguing.

ROMANS: The great bourbon caper. Coming up --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I wasn't shopping. I didn't buy the beer or anything like that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Maryland's attorney general caught on camera at a wild teenage party. Did I say he's the attorney general?

BERMAN: He is.

ROMANS: Yes. It's illegal, right?

(CROSSTALK)

ROMANS: All right. Why didn't he stop it and what does he have to say about it next?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: All right. He's been a crusader against underage drinking, but Maryland attorney general, Doug Gansler, is now under fire because of a photograph, that's him, showing him at a beach party where minors were drinking. These were -- his own son just graduated from high school and this was a beach party in June.

Gansler who's running for governor says he was there to talk to his son. He just graduated and celebrating beach week at this beach rental where he was staying. Gansler says he didn't witness any illegal behavior. I want you to look at that picture. He says he didn't witness any illegal behavior, but now admits he made a mistake by failing to investigate what was actually in those red plastic cups.

Just a note to parents, you know, my kids are still really young, but it's usually beer in the red plastic cups. Sometimes, it's rum.

BERMAN: He said what he says he had no moral authority to step in and do anything as he wasn't the parent of the other kids and it wasn't his job to do it. This is very controversial. A lot of people talking about this.

ROMANS: And he's running for governor. This is why this is such -- yes.

BERMAN: This will not be the last time you hear about that.

Time now for our "Morning Rhyme," these are the tweets of the day, some of the best ones. The first one on the news, folks, from Julie Benet (ph). "Once he won the Nobel Prize, now EU laments his spying eyes." Like we said on the news talking about President Obama and these allegations of spying on world leaders.

ROMANS: And there's this from Utah injury lawyers. "It may be early here out west, but John--

BERMAN: No, it says Josh. It says Josh.

(LAUGHTER)

ROMANS: "Josh and Christine make this Friday the best.

BERMAN: I picked this one. I wanted to say we appreciate you watching. Hello, I'm John Berman. I'm one of the anchors of EARLY START. Been here every day for a little bit over a year. It's John, not Josh, but again, no grudge here. I appreciate you watching. Thanks for paying such close attention. You can come up with your very own "Morning Rhyme." Tweet us. The hash tags are morning rhyme and EARLY START.

ROMANS: I'm not even a regular, and they got the --

(CROSSTALK)

ROMANS: I love that. I love it!

BERMAN: What are you going to do?

(LAUGHTER)

ROMANS: Let's take a look at what's coming up on "NEW DAY." We've got John Cuomo and Kelly Bolduan with us this morning.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thanks, Steve.

(LAUGHTER)

BOLDUAN: So, Steve, you have to blame auto correct. You can't give them too much grief. Josh and John, very similar.

ROMANS: Josh is a very unusual name.

BERMAN: I appreciate the effort --

(CROSSTALK)

BOLDUAN: Exactly.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They know who you are. You have a very unique voice and delivery style. (LAUGHTER)

CUOMO: The deep --

(CROSSTALK)

CUOMO: Yes. And you're clearly not Zoraida. So, they know, because you're just not good looking enough to be here.

BOLDUAN: I knew it was coming.

CUOMO: Anyway, happy Friday, my brother and sister over there. We have a lot of news today to talk about. Let's start what is paining us this morning. Classes getting under way again at Danvers High School in Massachusetts. There are new details of how math teacher, Colleen Ritzer, was killed.

We're going to hear from a student who is one of the last people to see Ritzer and her alleged killer together and we're going to also discuss what is going to be done and how to treat the suspected killer. He's being tried as an adult right now. Could change, may not. He's 14 years old. When is that right and when isn't it? We'll take you through it.

BOLDUAN: And we've also been closely watching developments out of Africa this morning. Two Americans were kidnapped by pirates from their ship off the Nigerian coast. Well, now, the search is on, and we're going to have the very latest on all of the efforts to try to get them back. A very scary situation that's developing right now.

BERMAN: Very scary, indeed, and not over yet. All right. Kate and Chris, thanks so much. We'll see you in a little bit. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: All right. Game on, folks. The World Series tied at a game apiece after the Cardinals rally to win game two. Andy Scholes is here to break it down in the "Bleacher Report."

ANDY SCHOLES, BLEACHER REPORT: Yes. you know what, guys, as the Cardinals made all of the mistakes in game one. Well, last night, in game two, it was the Red Sox with the costly blunder. The Cardinals, young stud, Michael Wacha, he was on the hill last night. He's undefeated this post-season and he's good again last night.

His only mistake came in the sixth inning to Big Papi. He crushed this one over the green monster. That was a two-run home run and put Boston up 2-1, but in the seventh inning, Red Sox committed two costly errors on the same play. The Cards would score two runs. They would take the lead. They go on to win the game 4-2. The series now shifts to St. Louis for game three tomorrow night.

All right. Trending on "Bleacher Report" today is the awful, awful season the Tampa Bay Bucs are having. Fire Schiano Billboards have shown up around Tampa, and fans, they're already poking fun with of the team with signs and bags over their heads at the game. Last night, guess what, guys? Bucs lost the game, this time, to the Panthers, 33-13 was the final. They're now the league worse 0 and 7 this season.

All right. Brett Favre says he's not coming out of retirement to play in the NFL again and concussion-related symptoms are one of the reasons why. An ESPN radio interview yesterday, Favre says while he has a good memory, he doesn't remember his daughter playing soccer one summer at all. He just doesn't remember it. Now, he said that's pretty scary for him. Favre added that he's thought about going to see a doctor about all of it but doesn't know what could be done at this point.

All right. Lebron James began his quest for a third straight title on Tuesday when the NBA season kicks off. One of the world's most famous athletes recently went to china and he invited CNNs Rachel Nichols along for the trip.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RACHEL NICHOLS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: If I told the 10-year-old Lebron James that you'd end up going to China more often than a place closer to Ohio like Nebraska or Kansas, ? What would have your thought?

LEBRON JAMES, NBA PLAYER: He probably told you I'm not leaving (ph) Akron, Ohio. For people to love me and passion about seeing me is very surreal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: And you can see the rest of that interview on the debut of "Unguarded" with Rachel Nichols. That's tonight at 10:30 eastern on CNN.

ROMANS: I can't wait for that.

BERMAN: No.

ROMANS: She is such a good interviewer and I'm real excited about that.

BERMAN: Big show. Don't miss it tonight. Great to have you up here in person, Andy Scholes. We really appreciate it.

ROMANS: We're going to be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: Good morning. Welcome back. You've got about three minutes to the top of the hour if you're trying to race out here this morning. All right. I want to check out Lady Gaga's latest fashion statement. We don't know what this is. This is more like a fashion question. And the question is, why is she wearing a giant chicken nugget on her head? Or is that a slice of cheese.

I don't know. She wore the big feathery mask in Berlin while promoting her new album that definitely makes her stick out. The new album is released -- scheduled to be released November 11th. I don't know what that is. Tweet me what you think it is.

(LAUGHTER)

ROMANS: That's it for EARLY START. Time for "NEW DAY." Take it away, Chris and Kate.

BOLDUAN: It looks a little bit like a potato chip. I don't know. Am I wrong?

ROMANS: It looks like free advertising to me because I just said it and she got more publicity.

BOLDUAN: There you go.

(LAUGHTER)

BOLDUAN: Thanks, Christine.

ROMANS: You're welcome.

BOLDUAN: See you a little later.

CUOMO: All right, everybody. Top of the hour. Time for top news.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JAY CARNEY, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: We have made clear that the United States gathers foreign intelligence of the type gathered by all nations.

CUOMO: Breaking overnight. Major fallout from the U.S. reportedly spying on European leaders. Germany and France calling for a meeting with the U.S. to change their intelligence gathering.

BOLDUAN: New details in the mystery of the murdered Massachusetts teacher. We talk to one of the last people to see her and the alleged killer together. Were there any signs of what was to come?

CUOMO: The price of playing. Legendary quarterback, Brett Favre, admitting the hard hits may have damaged his brain. He says at the age of 44, he's suffering from memory loss.

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." Happy Friday, October 25, six o'clock in the east. Coming up this morning, you smell that? It's the smell of a Capitol Hill grilling for the private contractors involved in the Obamacare website. There was a lot of finger pointing, fair share grand standing. We're going to show you what happened and tell you about the calls to delay the law. Republican senator, Marco Rubio, one of those making the call, joining us live exclusively this morning.

BOLDUAN: A lot to hear from him ahead.

Plus, truly high drama in a Utah courtroom. We've been following the case of the doctor accused of murdering his wife. Well, now, His daughter has spoken out against him in court. Her emotional and raw testimony coming up. Could it put him away?

CUOMO: But we begin this morning with an international game changer. Germany and France demanding a no-spy agreement with the U.S. A White House official offering the administration's take in a "USA Today" op- ed saying President Obama is calling for a review of surveillance practices after reports world leaders, our allies, personally spied on.

Joe Johns is in Washington following developments. Good morning, Joe. The no-spy rule. Whoever thought we'd hear about this?

JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fascinating, Chris. This is fallout from the latest revelations from admitted National Security Agency leaker, Edward Snowden. The outrage is predictable, even though we know various countries spy on each other pretty regularly.