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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Team USA Takes on Germany; Syria and Iran Enter Iraqi Crisis; Search Refined for Flight 370

Aired June 26, 2014 - 05:30   ET

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

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Crisis in Iraq. ISIS militants and the Iraqi military going toe-to-toe over key territory. The U.S. wants to calm the chaos but Syria and Iran want their say. Is Iraq any closer to stemming the tide of terror? We are live in Baghdad with the latest development.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news overnight. A new search area revealed for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. The clues that have investigators looking south. That's ahead.

ROMANS: Happening today, in just hours, Team USA takes on Germany at the World Cup.

BERMAN: USA, USA, USA, USA.

ROMANS: We're giving you everything you need to know about this critical match right now.

Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.

BERMAN: And I'm John Berman. Thirty-one minutes past the hour right now.

All right. Up first this half hour, bring on the Germans. The U.S. men's national team getting ready for a big game later today with hopes of advancing to the knock-out stage of the World Cup. We can get there with a win or a draw or an honorable loss, let's call it. If that happens, the U.S. moves on.

ROMANS: It's not only a big game, it's bound to be an emotional game. The coach and a number of the players on the American squad have deep connections to Germany.

Lara Baldesarra has more for us this morning from Brazil.

LARA BALDESARRA, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: All right, John. All right, Christine. Today is the day we will see what happens with this Team USA if they will be progressing and staying alive in the World Cup. All they need is a draw and that seals it, they are through, no matter what.

Now it is the USA, it is Germany. A lot has been made of this whole American-German connection. Of course it starts right at the top with Jurgen Klinsmann. He is -- he is German. He was born in Germany, he played for Germany. He was a fantastic player for Germany. He in fact coached the German national team in the 2006 World Cup.

But Klinsmann is a guy who's always kind of been at odds with the whole German soccer culture. He never really quite fit in. It was very rigid, it was very strict. And for Klinsmann especially as a player, he was a pretty emotional guy. But that being said, it's kind of an odd paradigm for Klinsmann because he doesn't quite fit in with the American soccer culture either. He kind of -- he's trying to in fact Europeanize American soccer culture.

Now Klinsmann is just the start of this German connection. There are in fact five players on his squad who identify themselves as German Americans. Four of those guys were born in Germany. A lot of these guys are playing against other players on the German squad who they grew up with. But as we heard from Fabian Johnson in his press conference yesterday, he says it's no big deal, he's done it before in terms of him playing against players that he grew up. He does it in his club play because he plays over in Germany.

Now Kyle Beckerman was asked, hey, should we call these guys German Americans? Are they just Americans? And Beckerman said yes, call them German Americans, it's no big deal. They are. There's a lot of people out there. It's just how you identify people in the USA. There are German Americans, there are Norwegian Americans, Icelandic Americans, other nationalities that we're seeing on this USA team.

But at the end of the day, all of these guys, they are playing for the USA. They are wearing the red, white and blue, and they want this victory for the USA, and a victory, just like a draw, will definitely take the USA through to the next stage of the World Cup.

So, John and Christine, today is the day. We will find out exactly what happens.

ROMANS: All right.

BERMAN: I think so. Lara Baldesarra in Brazil.

Yes, those players chose us. It just shows how awesome Team USA is. They could have played for Germany maybe, but no, they chose the red, white and blue.

ROMANS: All right. Thirty-three minutes past the hour. Iraq's parliament now set to convene next week with its crisis growing and a ticking clock to form a new government. Now the U.S. is voicing frustration after a Syrian warplane bombed a militant stronghold inside Iraq. And Iran is moving in, flying drones over Iraq and providing intelligence to the embattled government.

Nima Elbagir has more live from Baghdad for us.

Bring us up to speed on the situation there -- Nima.

NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the British Royal secretary has now arrived in Baghdad, I can tell you, Christine. And so that will perhaps further bolster the U.S. side of this alliance. But the reality is, this was always going to be an uncomfortable alliance because the Iraqi government, the Iraqi prime minister is Shia, and he has some very, very close relationships with Iran.

He also has close relationships with Bashar al-Assad. So it's almost becoming a kind of the enemy of my enemy is my friend.

But is this changing the situation on the ground? We know the U.S. is flying manned and unmanned surveillance flights. We now know Iran is also, we're being told by U.S. officials, flying their own flights. They are also sending in some light ammunition to the southern parts of Iraq across that Iran/Iraq border. Syrian warplanes coming into the fray, hitting at ISIS targets, just over the Iraq/Syria border in cross border raids.

How much of a difference is it making? Well, it seems to be forcing ISIS to at least change some of their tactics. Whereas before, this was very much a ground force sweeping down towards the capital. Now we're seeing a shift to more regular and some -- and pretty horrifying irregular warfare tactics, suicide bombings are increasing. One to the north of Baghdad in Kirkuk, very heavy death toll there, and another to the south, in Mahmoudiyah, another heavy death toll.

The reality seems to be that they are -- they are evolving to meet whatever challenge is being thrown at them at the moment. And the hope is, that this alliance can find a way to work together to at least stem that tide as the casualties continue to grow here -- Christine.

ROMANS: All right, Nima. Thanks for that report. Thanks.

BERMAN: About 35 minutes after the hour.

Bowe Bergdahl will be interviewed in two weeks about the night he was captured by the Taliban in Afghanistan. Investigators want to know whether the Army sergeant deserted his post in 2009 as many have alleged.

Bergdahl now getting outpatient care in Texas as part of his reintegration. Anything he says there could be used against him in this investigation.

ROMANS: House Speaker John Boehner taking the White House to court. He is moving ahead with a lawsuit against President Obama accusing him of abusing his executive powers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R), HOUSE SPEAKER: Congress has its job to do and so does the president. And, you know, when there's conflicts like this between the legislative branch and the administrative branch, it's, in my view, our responsibility to stand up for this institution in which we serve.

It is not about impeachment. This is about his faithfully executing the laws of the country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: A president using executive powers, of course that's nothing new. But Obama expanded his after facing resistance from a divided Congress.

BERMAN: Thousands of her e-mails are missing but some of the ones that are not suggest that a former IRS official targeting a Republican senator audited. Lois Lerner got a note meant for Iowa's senator, Charles Grassley, where someone offered to pay for his wife to attend an event. Lerner proposed an audit but a colleague pushed back and the audit never happened. The IRS says audits cannot be initiated by personal requests.

ROMANS: Two more top officials are leaving the scandal-plagued VA. Robert Jesse, the acting secretary for health, will depart next week. He's only served in the new role overseeing the VA health system for about a month. He's been in a management role since 2010.

The department's general counsel Will Gunn also resigned.

BERMAN: Police officers will now be required to get a search warrant to search a suspect's cell phone so says the Supreme Court in a rare, unanimous decision. It really has a huge impact on privacy laws. The ruling could have even wider reach. It extends to tablets, laptops, other devices. The entire electronic world here really creates separate spaces.

Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the opinion saying cell phones hold private details for so many Americans.

ROMANS: GM has ordered dealers in the U.S. and Canada to stop selling 2013 and 2014 Chevy Cruzes. There is the potential airbag defect. A spokesman says the order involves some 33,000 Cruze sedans. No recall has been issued yet. The airbags come from the troubled company Takata whose airbags have led seven automakers to recall more than 10 million cars. It has been already a record year for recalls. It's only June.

And time for an EARLY START on your money. European shares mixed. Asian shares ended their day higher. Futures mixed this morning after a good day for stocks yesterday. The Dow up about 50 points reversing some of losses earlier in the week.

All right, brand new on "CNN MONEY" this morning, parents still think a college degree is very important but fewer are planning to pay for it. According to brand new survey, 77 percent of parents say they plan to help foot the bill for their child's education. That's down from 81 percent last year. Many parents who answered no they said they wish they could help their kids pay for cool, but they don't have any money.

BERMAN: Yikes.

ROMANS: About three quarters of the family said they're concerned about having enough to help pay. You know what's so interesting about that survey, too? When you think

about a college education, basically you have to save the equivalent of a brand new car for four years. You think about of that. And there are people who -- they can imagine trying to save money to buy a car once, but to save money to buy a car four times for a kid and maybe you have more than one kid, it's just overwhelming when you're trying to face that.

BERMAN: And you always tell me save for your own retirement first?

ROMANS: Your own retirement. The cardinal rule of personal financing, you have to pay for yourself, John, before you can pay for your kids. And that's what these families are doing in the survey and that's why they can't afford to pay for their kids.

BERMAN: All right. Happening right now, millions in the path of severe storms, tornadoes, hail, floods, bringing catastrophe to communities across the U.S.

Indra Petersons is tracking what you need to know for today, that is right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: Toward the south, the violent storms just keep coming. These pictures showed heavy rain left behind in College Station, Texas. Tough day to be (INAUDIBLE). Roads got soaked with cars doing their best not to stall in the deep, deep water there. The trucks -- look at that -- are at a standstill along those flooded roadways.

ROMANS: Crews cleaning up for more of the same in northern Minnesota. Middle Rivers saw flash flooding from four inches of rain in just a couple of hours. 7,000 sandbags used to divert water from homes.

BERMAN: A funnel cloud formed in the skies over Wyoming. Take a look at that. That's from Cheyenne. The cloud never did touch down, but as you can imagine, did prompt a tornado warning.

ROMANS: And months of clean up lie ahead for some residents in central Indiana. They are still assessing the problem from an EF-1 tornado that damaged homes and left trees all over those roads.

Indra Petersons has a loom of your forecast. What in the world is going on with all these twisters? That picture of the one in Cheyenne, beautiful but dangerous. It did not touch ground.

INDRA PETERSONS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I know. Definitely dangerous. And unfortunately we are still talking about spring like water even though we're in summer. That's the downside of this. But we are switching gears a little bit in towards the northeast. But we're still talking about showers, even in these morning hours. We're watching the low kind of make its way offshore. That's the good news.

We're still talking about rain the farther north you are from places like Boston. You could be talking about some of those showers about noon today. But eventually as the low goes offshore, high pressure builds in. You know what that means. That means sunshine especially as it gets closer towards the weekend. Just keep in mind, if you're farther down the south like the Carolinas, you could still be seeing some showers as the cold front kind of makes its way through.

Heaviest rain again through the morning hours, kind of making its way off towards the northeast and then offshore. Definitely looking a lot better by the afternoon especially in through tomorrow. Temperature wise, regardless, regardless, but we're still talking about all this hot and muggy air. It's just that time of year. It's going to be hot. We're talking about temperatures in the 80s and even some 90s will be out there.

The next system we're going to be watching. This is going to be kind of in the plains and eventually into the Midwest as we go towards the weekend so the threat for severe weather is still out there even as we go through about the next week or so.

But you may have heard of a little game, I don't know, called the World Cup, right? What is the forecast? USA playing today and we're talking about close to -- humidity about 79 percent at game time. But that's not the only story. It has the potential for some rain out there. So feeling like 82 degrees with some rain. We are going to see what the impact is on the game.

With that, I'll leave that prediction to you, Mr. Berman. What's the rain do the game?

BERMAN: You know, sloppy. Who's the help more? The Germans are big. They're just big, big dudes. So we --

(CROSSTALK)

PETERSONS: I don't know.

BERMAN: It's a physical game. I would think it benefits them. But we have more heart because we're us.

PETERSONS: Obviously.

BERMAN: Obviously.

PETERSONS: And Christine, we're wearing red for the game supporting the team.

ROMANS: Yes. Exactly. Thanks, Indra.

All right, breaking news over night, a new search launching for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. Investigators are now revealing new clues. And those clues are leading them south.

We are live to explain, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: Breaking overnight, a new search zone announced for Malaysia Flight 370. And it is expansive. More than 23,000 square miles in total. It's farther south in the Indian Ocean. Officials are already mapping the sea floor hoping to start searching underwater in August.

Saima Mohsin live in Bangkok with more for us.

And this is something, I mean, just remarkable. How much of the ocean they have already searched, now shifting further south. Why?

SAIMA MOHSIN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Christine, what they are hopeful is that they finally pinpointed where exactly the plane is. And when I say pinpointed, as you say, they have got a huge area to look at. And we're talking around 60,000 square kilometers as they put it. Ocean that is 3,000 to 4,000 meters deep in places. Right now they're actually trying to map that ocean where man has never been before, Christine. So we believe there are canyons and mountains in the southern Indian Ocean.

And what they're saying is that they really are now dedicated. They're in it for the long haul to find Flight MH-370. Let's listen to what they have to say today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WARREN TRUSS, AUSTRALIAN DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER: The search will still be painstaking. Of course, we could be fortunate and find it in the first hour or the first day, but it could take another 12 months. We owe it to the passengers and the crew and everyone who is associated with MH-370 to bring this mystery to a conclusion.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MOHSIN: That is striking, isn't it, that it could take up to a year to find the plane? And that is because, as we have just been discussing, there is a huge amount of ocean to search through. So when we say a refined search zone, there is still a huge area.

Now just to define to you and our viewers exactly where that is, remember that southern arc going into the Indian Ocean that they identified using the satellite data and various elements of expertise? Well, what they believe is and what they originally believed, by the way, is it's further south, about 800 to 1200 kilometers down that southern arc from where they were looking over the last few months.

So let's not forget that they were looking in those places because they believed they had detected pings from the flight data recorder. That was a distraction. They are now going back to where they believe the flight may have entered the water and they're going to search that area thoroughly.

That won't start in earnest until at least August because they're trying to identify the right equipment to do that. But they believe that they may well have found the rough area or at least where the flight is. But a lot of frustration of course amongst passengers. The families still waiting for any trace or sign of where the flight and their loved ones may have ended up.

And one other point I want to make to you today that came out of the press conference, not related to the investigation, but to the calculations they would then try to work out where to search, Christine, is that they believe the flights may well have been on auto pilot and eventually ran out of fuel in the last few hours of its journey. So really interesting stuff coming out. Now it's up to the investigators to see if they also come up with the same facts from that -- Christine.

ROMANS: And the deputy prime minister of Australia is absolutely right. It's a mystery that everyone wants to have solved. It will just some more take time.

Saima, thank you so much for that.

Breaking overnight, dozens of people, many of them teens, taken to a Boston area hospital from an Avicii concert. Local reports said about 80 people were affected. Most with a combination of drugs, alcohol and dehydration. Witnesses say some of them were belligerent.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There was one kid. It took four cops to get him down. He was on something, I have no idea. But he was just trying to fight back. And it took four of them to take him down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: No word on the conditions of those hospitalized.

BERMAN: New questions for a Georgia man charged with murder after leaving his 22-month-old son inside a broiling SUV all day when he went to work. According to the newly released arrest warrant, Justin Harris actually went back to his car on his lunch break. Doctors are treating the case as a homicide. The father says it was all just a tragic mistake. He has pleaded not guilty.

ROMANS: Just such a sad story.

All right, coming up, why action from New York's attorney general is hurting Barclay's stock today. An early check of your money, that's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: All right. Three minutes to the top of the hour. Let's get an EARLY START on your money this morning. European shares mixed. Asian shares ended higher. Soccer futures are mixed this morning suggesting an eventual today at U.S. stock. I mean, really, who wants to tweak a portfolio between noon and 2:00 today? Let's be honest.

The Dow still having just below 17000.

Watching Barclay's shares, they are down 5 percent in London. The New York Attorney General's Office announced its suing the British bank for a lack of transparency in something that's called these dark pools, these alternative trading platforms. It's meant as a place where you can get a fairer shake against the, you know, high privacy traders, but the New York attorney general claims Barclay's told its customers it would help them on that front but instead the bank allowed them to quietly -- to quietly operate relatively unchecked.

The suit seeking monetary damages for investors and it raises a lot of concerns about just how rigged the stock market is for some of the big players.

GoPro stocks starts trading this morning. The stock priced at $24 a share last night. That's the high end of its expected range. Look, its action oriented cameras very popular with people like John Berman. This is his video.

BERMAN: Because I'm action oriented.

ROMANS: This is him going right down -- it's about 45 percent of the U.S. camcorder market last year. Growth, though, appears to be slowing. And one big threat tech giants like Google are more and more moving into the wearable gadget space. And that's what GoPro wants to be. Not just a camera but, you know, a wearable, you know, sharing kind of device.

BERMAN: We should do a whole broadcast with GoPro's on our foreheads. If you ask for it, Romans will do here on EARLY START.

(LAUGHTER)

"NEW DAY" starts right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We got to give everything we got and more.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: We believe that we can win. In just hours, the U.S. takes on Germany in the World Cup. We hear from the team as they prepare for battle. Can they pull it off? Of course they can. We have everything you need to know about the game, straight ahead.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking overnight, investigators announcing they believe Malaysian Flight 370 was on autopilot when it crashed. This as they move the search once again. So what do the new details mean? We break it down.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Found. A bizarre scene playing out on live TV. A dad's son missing for weeks when our Nancy Grace reveals him on the air that his son has been found, in his basement. His reaction on live TV is raising so many questions. We have the latest.

CUOMO: Your NEW DAY starts right now.

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo, Kate Bolduan, and Michaela Pereira.

CUOMO: Good morning. Welcome to NEW DAY.