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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Election Roundup; Michele Knight Interview; Nazi Art Treasure Trove
Aired November 06, 2013 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: We also a marijuana tax being implemented in Colorado, 25 percent. So, marijuana certainly going into the mainstream.
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Marijuana on the ballots in a lot of places these days, but the Colorado thing was interesting. It got a lot of press attention. It was never really a serious, you know, undertaking on their part, because it never would have -- even if it had passed, it wouldn't have gone forward. But, what does it say about Colorado and whether or not it's becoming more and more blue, as we know it is? But is it bluer than we thought it was?
PRESTON: It certainly is. We saw President Obama win it back in 2008 which was a big victory for him and certainly was key to him going on and in winning the general election. You know, Colorado is an interesting state because certain parts of it are very liberal and many parts of it are very conservative, and it's very indicative of the divide right now in the country.
And when you see certain counties right now trying to secede or put measures on the ballot to allow them to secede, it just goes to show you how frustrated some people are. Certainly in Colorado, they were over gun rights and they were over the cost of energy. A very local issue. Those folks were upset by the cost of having to use renewable energy. They thought it was more expensive --
MARQUEZ: I'm surprised that this one didn't pass. I thought it would pass and then it would be another fight. But another one that's interesting one, in Washington State, voters are considering labeling foods with genetically modified ingredients. Is this one likely to pass? Could this be the beginning of the national trend?
PRESTON: Well, Miguel, we don't make a projection right now because Washington State is a mail-in (ph). State ballots are still going to be counted if they are postmarked on the 5th. But as of, you know, late last night, into early this morning, it was losing. This was tens of millions of dollars was spent by opponents and proponents of having to put these labels on food.
I will tell you, opponents didn't like the idea because they said it would drive up food prices. They put a lot of money into this. This is the same initiative that failed in California, in your home state, just last year, but expected to continue to move forward as the battle over food safety continues. MARQUEZ: They've been pushing this one. It's a really interesting issue. It surprises me that it has failed again. I would have expected that one might have gone forward. Mark Preston, thank you very much.
PRESTON: Thanks, Miguel.
ZORAIDA SAMBOLIN, CNN ANCHOR: When you think of the expense of that, right? The labeling on this medically (ph) modified foods --
MARQUEZ: Huge, huge interest on both sides of that. And very, very passionate debate on both sides that as well.
SAMBOLIN: All righty. Thirty-three minutes past the hour.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SAMBOLIN (voice-over): Chris Christie is going back to the governor's mansion after romping through election Tuesday. His landslide win in deeply blue New Jersey sends him to the front of the pack for Republican contenders in 2016. According to the exit polls, Christie nabbed some typically Democrat-leaning voters like women, African- American, Hispanics, as well and the young, which could put him in a prime spot with some Tea Party worry leaders and the GOP.
MARQUEZ (voice-over): Maybe.
SAMBOLIN: Maybe.
MARQUEZ: Interesting. Interesting. (INAUDIBLE).
Celebrations in Illinois this morning after an historic vote by lawmakers giving the green light for gay marriage. After a year of intense lobbying by both sides, the state is now the 15th in the nation to legalize same-sex marriage.
President Obama applauded the move in his home state saying "Our journey as a nation is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law for if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well."
Governor Pat Quinn says he'll sign the bill which will take effect June 1st.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SAMBOLIN (on-camera): All right. It is time for weather check. Karen Maginnis is joining us live from the CNN Weather Center. What are you tracking for us this morning?
KAREN MAGINNIS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I'm tracking the fact that in the northeast, you're going to see the rain start to move on in. Things are going to be a little more tricky as far as the travel is concern along that I-95 corridor. But this morning, temperatures in the 40s. Monday, you may remember, only in the 20s and 30s across the northeast, then we saw 30s yesterday.
Now, we've got 40s this morning, but here's the problem, very vigorous but fast-moving weather system ejects across the Great Plains and into the Midwest. We'll expect heavy rain now ahead of it, most of that across the Ohio River Valley and into the Eastern Great Lakes. Temperature wise, you're not even going to be average. For this afternoon, yes, New York City, temperatures right around 63 degrees.
But you go in towards the end of the work week, temperatures only in the 50s. And for Chicago, temperatures below normal there. Also for Boston, what are we looking at rain wise? Well, between one and two inches up and down along that frontal system from the Great Lakes to the Gulf Coast, but in New York City, you could see on the order of about half an inch, maybe an inch of wet weather. Back to you, Zoraida, Miguel.
SAMBOLIN: We're looking for a personal forecast. Miguel is heading out at 6:00 p.m. to Los Angeles.
MARQUEZ: What I may get?
(LAUGHTER)
MAGINNIS: Today? You're leaving today?
MARQUEZ: I am.
MAGINNIS: I think so (ph).
SAMBOLIN: OK. Good.
MARQUEZ: All right. Thanks, Karen.
Michele Knight, one of the so-called Cleveland three is revealing for the first time the horrors inside Ariel Castro's home. She was held captive by Castro along with Amanda Berry and Gina De Jesus for more than a decade. CNNs Martin Savidge has more on the shocking details from Michele Knight's first TV interview.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The interview is so powerful it's uncomfortable. Michele Knight's words don't just tell us, they take us inside the torture rooms of a Cleveland home. Knight is the first victim to talk in detail in the aftermath of a multiple kidnapping case that has horrified and spell bound a nation, speaking to TV psychologist, Dr. Phil.
MICHELLE KNIGHT, KIDNAP VICTIM SURVIVOR: He already had a setup to where he could tie me to the, I think it's like a clothesline.
SAVIDGE: Knight was kidnapped by Ariel Castro in August of 2002 and wouldn't go free for 11 years.
KNIGHT: He tied me up to a pole with chains wrapped around it. The chains are so big, and he wraps it around my neck. He sits me down on the floor, and he says, this is where you're going to stay until I can trust you. Now, if I do it too tight and you don't make it, that means you wasn't meant to stay here. That means God wants to take you.
SAVIDGE: She was chained, starved and left naked in a frigid, dark basement for days, then came the sexual abuse. When she eventually became pregnant, Knight described how Castro beat her into a miscarriage.
KNIGHT: I was standing up and he punched me with a barbell. He took the round part and he went like this, and he made it go up so it hit the lower area of my stomach. I fell to the floor.
SAVIDGE: Knight says Castro would show leniency once giving her a puppy. The comfort that ended when the dog snapped at him and he killed it before her very eyes.
KNIGHT: He picked him up, grabbed his neck, all I heard was a yelp and he was gone.
SAVIDGE: The torture went on and on. One day, Knight says she realized she was no longer alone, meeting a girl who had gone missing whom she recognized from the news, Amanda Berry/
KNIGHT: Sometimes, she would cry. And I'd tell her everything would be OK. And that one day, we'll get home. We'd just have to, you know, wait it out.
SAVIDGE: It was just the beginning.
Martin Savidge, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MARQUEZ: Oh, dear, dear, dear.
Coming up, after nearly a decade behind bars, a Missouri man finds out his murder conviction has been overturned.
SAMBOLIN: And over 1,000 priceless works of the art looted by the Nazis turning up in a man's apartment in Germany.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SAMBOLIN: Welcome back to EARLY START. Forty-one minutes past the hour. It is a stunning find that has rocked the art word. One of thousands of priceless pieces looted by the Nazis have turned up in Germany. CNN's Jim Bittermann is following that story for us.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JIM BITTERMANN, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The treasure trove with a century was found in a nondescript apartment building in a quiet Munich neighborhood. In the fifth floor apartment of 80-year- old Cornelius Gurlitt, investigators found 1,400 priceless works of art. Large unknown paintings by Marc Chagall, Henri Matisse, Max Liebermann, Otto Dix, and many others, including Picasso and Lautrec.
Some were centuries old like this Canaletto from the 18th century. Many works for what the Nazis branded degenerate art and confiscated from mainly Jewish owners. Others may have been sold by at a fraction of their worth by families fleeing the Nazi regime. Art historians say Gurlitt's father at one point worked for the Nazis collecting the confiscated art.
And his son is said to have taken over the collection after the father died in a car crash in 1950s. A prosecutor said it was a stunning discovery.
REINHARD NEMETZ, PUBLIC PROSECUTOR (through translator): The accused was searched by tax and customs officials. Here, a 121 framed and 1,285 unframed pictures were confiscated. Some of them by Max Liebermann and others. Because of the immense idealistic value of the paintings, we have found clues that this find could be so-called degenerate art or lifted (ph) art.
BITTERMANN: Authorities assisted by art historians have been working for more than a year trying to find the origins of the art. They say Gurlitt was being investigated because he was found carrying a large amount of cash back from Switzerland after selling this Max Beckmann paining to a Swiss art dealer.
MARKUS KRISCHNER, FOCUS MAGAZINE: The case is highly complicated and all the questions of ownership are not answered.
BITTERMANN: After an investigative report by a German news magazine, prosecutors finally went public with the story. Reporters say it was impossible to talk with Gurlitt and little is known about it.
KRISCHNER: I think he's a curious man, totally isolated.
BITTERMANN: Totally reclusive?
KRISCHNER: Totally reclusive, living with his pictures, and perhaps, these pictures, I think, they dominated his whole life.
BITTERMANN (on-camera): Cornelius Gurlitt's name is still on the buzzer here at the apartment building where he lived and kept his fabulous art collection, but he was virtually unknown to his neighbors. They said he hasn't been seen around here for months. And, he was unknown to authorities. He was unknown to the tax rolls, not even to Social Security tax.
(voice-over) No charges have been filed against Gurlitt. He's not under arrest and prosecutors said it's not clear which laws if any have been violated. But the discovery in the fifth floor apartment were almost certainly raised once again a nasty (ph) legal fight over who rightfully owns the works of art the Nazi stole.
Jim Bittermann, CNN, Munich.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MARQUEZ: Unbelievable story, Jim Bittermann.
SAMBOLIN: 1400. Incredible.
MARQUEZ: Just behind this door in his apartment. The amount of security that goes into art is unreal. Unreal. The history. Secrets of the past.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARQUEZ (voice-over): Three federal prison inmates taking the stand in the trial of the Utah doctor charged with killing his wife so he could continue an extramarital affair. All three of them served timed with Dr. Martin MacNeill. One of them testifying the doctor told them nobody could prove his wife was murdered. Prosecutors plan to call two more inmates to the stand today. The trial could go to the jury as soon as tomorrow.
SAMBOLIN (voice-over): An appeals court has overturned the murder conviction of Ryan Ferguson. The 29-year-old Missouri man has already served nearly ten years of a 40-year prison term for the 2001 death of the "Columbia Daily Tribune" sports editor, Kent Hite Holt (ph). Ferguson has always denied committing that crime. An alleged accomplice and an eyewitness both recanting their testimony now. The state must now decide whether to retry Ferguson.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MARQUEZ (on-camera): And it's that time in the morning that we absolutely adore.
(LAUGHTER)
MARQUEZ: Let's take a look at what's happening over at "New Day." Chris Cuomo and Kate Bolduan join us now. What's going on there, guys?
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, guys.
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: How are you? First things first. The elections last night. I know what you're saying. It's still early -- no, it isn't. Here's why. New Jersey was a huge win for Chris Christie. I know he was expected to win, but we show you which categories he want and how and what he had to say in the speech last night. You'll see how it projects forward.
Virginia, there was a grudge match that was won by the narrowest of margins. A Democrat won. He had close ties to the Clintons, but what could that mean going forward. We got John King, we got Candy Crowley, we got Jake Tapper all here to break it down for you.
BOLDUAN: And we are finding out more this morning about that 20-year- old who opened fire in a New Jersey mall before turning the gun on himself. His brother and his best friend are speaking out about what may have been on Richard Shoop's (ph) mind on the days just before this all happened. We're going to bring that to you on "New Day" coming up. MARQUEZ: Sound goods. Thank you very much, guys. Have a good show.
A trip to Hooters cost a middle school football coach in Oregon his job. Some parents, apparently, complained about the coach's plan to hold the team banquet at Hooters. Is that a sensible idea?
SAMBOLIN: No.
MARQUEZ: And he lost his part-time gig. But he's taking the boys there regardless, all right? Hooters is now saying it will pick up the bill and make a $1,000 donation to the school's booster club. So, it's a happy ending.
SAMBOLIN: Parents, how do you feel about that? Chime in. reach us on Twitter and let us know.
So, time now for the "Morning Rhyme. It is our tweet of the day and it's coming from Mary Elizabeth Ramsey (ph).
MARQUEZ: Twice in a row she wins.
SAMBOLIN: Yes. She writes, "It's great to see Miguel in the seat again as Berman deserves a break now and then."
MARQUEZ: He does not deserve a break, but well done.
SAMBOLIN: Well done. Well done.
(LAUGHTER)
MARQUEZ: Much better. We're loving it.
(CROSSTALK)
MARQUEZ: He has to work harder, I think.
SAMBOLIN: All right. Do we have another one? No.
(LAUGHTER)
SAMBOLIN: No, we don't.
MARQUEZ: No. But you can. You can come up with your own and tweet us with the hash tag morning rhyme and EARLY START.
Coming up, 24 hours and counting until Twitter's big debut as a publicly traded company if you're looking to get a piece of the action. Christine Romans will join us to tell you why it just might cost you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SAMBOLIN: Oh, I think we should have that conversation. Welcome back to EARLY START. It is "Money Time." Christine Romans is here. And the world is all a Twitter or is it? CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: I know about this Twitter initial public offering, and I was just telling the story in the break about how yesterday a gentleman came out to me and said, oh, I watch you all the time -- I said the Twitter IPO. And he said what's Twitter? And I said, well, Twitter is a social media.
(LAUGHTER)
(CROSSTALK)
ROMANS: And I said it's going public. He said going public with what? Thinking it was going public with some kind of news. You know -- maybe I take it for granted. Twitter is going public. Twitter is a social media site that, you know, a few hundred million people use. It's going public. It's going to offer shares to the public, and you can buy them on a stock exchange and you can become an investor in this company.
That's what Twitter going public means. Now, will it be pop and drop for the stock? We will know soon enough, the biggest tech debut of the year. That's what it is. It's here. Twitter selling the shares to the public. It's going to raise money from you basically and from investors. And here's how it will happen. The initial stock price is set tonight. Don't be surprise if it moves above the initial target price at $25 a share.
Demand has reportedly been very, very strong for this Twitter shares. Twitter will offer 70 million shares to the public, and they'll be divvied by the company's investment banks who are handling the orders. The shares will then be allocated to big investors like pension funds and insiders of the company and last and maybe in this case least to you.
Individual investors, a small group of individual investors. Now, this is a good time for Twitter to go public, because the S&P 500 is near an all-time high. Two of the social media stocks, Facebook and LinkedIn have already more than doubled this year. And it's funny to think that Twitter has yet to turn a profit. It's losing money by the minute, Twitter is. It's not making --
MARQUEZ: And a lot of money.
ROMANS: And a lot of money. But there's this business model, this idea that people think that down the road this can be a very a solid investment. Who gets rich? Founders and very early investors will get rich from this public offering. The co-founders, Ed Williams, likely to get 1.4 billion, with a "B," another co-founder, Jack Dorsey, $586 million. Biz stone.
Also, a co-founder, we put a question mark on here. He was absent from the list of the company's largest shareholders. So, we'll leave a question mark there about whether he's going to cash out here or has already cash out. The current Twitter CEO, Dick Costolo, gets $192 million. Looks like nothing compare --
(LAUGHTER) ROMANS: -- early Twitter backer, Peter Fenton likely to get $789 million. And Union Square Ventures, one of Twitter's earliest investors, will get $696 million. Now, there's probably some celebrities, a lot of them who are going to make a lot of money. So, some of the celebrities, they have been able to burnish their own reputations, right, by using Twitter very aggressively. And also some of them were celebrity-tech investors who were actually backers of the company early on.
The airline and space mogul, Richard Branson, he was one of the early investors. He's joined by the highest-paid actor in TV, Ashton Kutcher, who besides his acting jobs, he is a very --
MARQUEZ: He's an active Twitter.
ROMANS: He is an active Twitter and a very active venture capitalist. He finds companies early and invest in them. We also know that super investor, Prince Alwaleed of Saudi Arabia, maybe he's not a celebrity to you, but (INAUDIBLE) business world. He's part of the group who enjoying Twitter's success.
Now, one person lamenting what could have been today, Al Gore, maybe. The former vice president apparently tried to buy Twitter back in the day, but the Twitter guys wouldn't sell it to him. Interesting right?
MARQUEZ: Very, very interesting.
SAMBOLIN: It's a lot of money.
MARQUEZ: Is there a concern that we're looking at a tech bubble?
ROMANS: It has been a great year for some of these tech IPOs. Now, remember last year -- it's been a great year for tech IPOs.
MARQUEZ: Investments are enormous in some of these companies.
ROMANS: They really are. They really are. But when you think about how some of these companies are changing the world, right? If they can figure out how to get advertising revenue from all the eyeballs who are addicted to Twitter and other social media sites, they can make money. And that once you go public, the company's job is to make money for its investors. So, that's what these companies have to do, they have to still be popular. They still have to be, you know, social media --
MARQUEZ: They change so quickly. They're almost a victim of their own success because others come along.
ROMANS: And young people. Young people always want the new thing.
(CROSSTALK)
MARQUEZ: Christine Romans, thank you very much.
ROMANS: You're welcome.
MARQUEZ: Have a lovely day.
(LAUGHTER)
MARQUEZ: Coming up, Toronto's mayor coming clean, finally admitting he did smoke crack in a drunken stupor, of course. So, does that mean Rob Ford is bowing out?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SAMBOLIN: All right, Miguel, so, yes, he smoked crack.
MARQUEZ: Story of the day.
SAMBOLIN: No, he will not resign.
MARQUEZ: Story of the day.
SAMBOLIN: That in a nutshell describes Toronto mayor Rob Ford's bizarre day yesterday. He finally fessed up to smoking crack after months of denials. Ford said he was really, really drunk at the time and that he's sorry.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR ROB FORD, TORONTO: I embarrassed everyone in the city. And I will be forever sorry.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAMBOLIN: Seems contrite. Ford says he plans to run for re-election next fall.
MARQUEZ: Amazing. Probably win. That's it for EARLY START. Thanks for joining us.
SAMBOLIN: "New Day" starts right now.
MARQUEZ: Right now.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE, (R) NEW JERSEY: You can agree with me, you can disagree with me, but I will never stop leading the state I love.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
CUOMO: Big news. Big election results across the country. The big winner, Chris Christie, who gives his speech with the message to the entire country. You'll hear from him in an exclusive interview.
BOLDUAN: This as the Tea Party lose two key races. Are the moderates on the rise? We break down the dramatic electoral shifts and what they could mean.
MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Stunning admission. The mayor of Toronto, North America's fourth largest city, bluntly admits he smoked crack and then this bizarre press conference where he vows to stay on. The question is, can he?
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 Wednesday, November 6th, six o'clock in the east. Kate is bubbling with anticipation of election results. We have them, tea leaves to be read, returns to be understood. Political outcome of making what is into what will be.
Chris Christie won big in New Jersey in a really no Republican's ever won the way he did last night, 20-point spread, but it's how he fared with women, Latinos, Blacks and the young that must be analyzed, and we will do that.
