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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Outrage Over Police Shooting; U.S. Airstrikes Pound ISIS Targets in Iraq; Cease-Fire in Gaza; Ebola Crisis Widens; Hillary: Obama Foreign Policy A "Failure"; Deadly Sprint Car Crash

Aired August 11, 2014 - 05:00   ET

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

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now: chaos in Iraq. U.S. airstrikes helping to take down terrorists as the country's government falls apart. The embattled prime desperately clinging to power, attacking the president and the U.S. They are picking sides in this intense political debate. We are live in Iraq for the latest on the ground.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Silence this morning in Gaza. A welcome sound. New cease-fire between Hamas and Israel going into effect just hours ago. Negotiations, again, for a longer, more lasting peace, happening again this morning in Egypt. After several failed attempts does this temporary truce really have any staying power? We have live team coverage from the ground in Gaza and the peace talks in Cairo, ahead.

ROMANS: Breaking news this morning. Violence in the streets of a quiet Missouri town overnight, looting, vandalism, gunfire reported from an angry crowd. A crowd furious over the police shooting of an unarmed black teenager. Dramatic new video of that, ahead.

Good morning. Welcome to EARLY START this Monday morning. I'm Christine Romans.

BERMAN: I'm John Berman. It's Monday, August 11th. It's 5:00 a.m. in the East.

So much going on. Let's get right to it.

ROMANS: Let's start here in the U.S. with a peaceful candlelight vigil. That's how it started in a sleepy St. Louis suburb. But it didn't take long for this to become a terrifying confrontation with police. People hurling bottles at officers and attacking police cars.

The reason? The shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown. He died at the hands of officers. There are differing accounts of just what happened. Witnesses say Brown was unarmed and did not instigate the shooting.

But police say there was a physical confrontation with an officer and a struggle over the officer's weapon. The police chief says Brown was shot about 35 feet away from the police car, but declined to give anymore details, saying he didn't want to prejudice the case. Brown's mother could not contain her anger.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LESLEY MCSPADDEN, VICTIM'S MOTHER: You took my son away from me. You know how hard it was for me to get him to stay in school and graduate? You know how many black men graduate? Not many. Because you bring them down to this type of level where they feel like they don't got nothing to live for anyway. They're going to try to take me out anyway.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: The lawyer who handled the Trayvon Martin case, Benjamin Crump, he is now representing the Brown family.

BERMAN: This morning, U.S. airstrikes pounding ISIS targets in Iraq. They appear to be working to some extent. President Obama promising that they could go on for months, these attacks. U.S. planes and drones taking up several militant targets near Irbil on Sunday.

Kurdish forces now have made some significant gains, recapturing two towns from extremists away from Irbil. Iraq's government however in Baghdad really in shambled. Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki desperately trying to hold on to power. The U.S. essentially broken ties with him, supporting Iraq's president, instead.

We have Anna Coren live from Irbil this morning in Iraq, northern Iraq.

Anna, let's start with the military situation on the ground, not far from where you are.

ANNA COREN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, look, the military situation on the ground as far as Kurdish forces are concerned, are really taking the fight to the ISIS militants. They managed to reclaim two towns that ISIS took over several days ago. So, a real win for those Kurdish forces.

But this wouldn't have been possible without those U.S. airstrikes we have seen over the weekend. Yesterday, over a space of five hours, those U.S. fighter jets and predator drones hit five targets and, you know, a real boost in moral and confidence for the Peshmerga forces on the ground. Also at Mount Sinjar, the U.S. airstrikes have allowed to get in, up to the mountain, at least create a safe passage for some 20,000 Yazidis, these religious minority that was facing slaughter with the ISIS advance. They have managed to get off the mountain, seek safety. But we must stress, there are still tens of thousands who are trapped on top of that mountain that is surrounded in certain parts by ISIS militants.

So, the Pentagon, John, saying that it could take weeks for ground forces because this is going to be a much longer operation to get these people off the ground. So, that is why the focus is on those humanitarian aid drops. The Americans have made three aid drops, the British one. The French foreign minister is here to oversee France's involvement to try to help this humanitarian crisis. But a dire situation for those people trapped. No food, no water, no shelter. I must stress, the heat here is excruciating. We're getting reports that there are hundreds of Yazidis who perished in the past few days -- John.

BERMAN: And, of course, while they're struggling up there in the north, not far from you, there's a political struggle in Baghdad with the prime minister, Nouri al Maliki, trying to cling to power despite opposition in this own country and clear opposition here in the U.S. A tough situation.

Anna Coren, watching it for us from Irbil, thanks so much.

ROMANS: Another tough situation. Gaza, the latest cease-fire -- in Gaza, appears to be holding. The Israelis and Palestinians agreeing to stop fighting, again, for 72 hours with Israel negotiators showing up for another round of peace talks in the last hour. I want to get the latest on the negotiations in Cairo.

And for that, we bring in Reza Sayah.

Good morning, Reza. What can you tell us about any progress at all they might be making or at least what they hope to achieve today?

REZA SAYAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I think a lot of people are hoping the results are going to be different from the failed talks last week. We'll see if that's going to be the case. But the history of this conflict shows that these two sides have repeatedly failed to get a resolution.

Let's tell you where we are at this hour. Israeli media is reporting the delegation arrived in Cairo. We are waiting to get confirmation from the Egyptian government. We have yet to get the confirmation. We know the Palestinian delegation, they are already here. They have been here for roughly a week now. They have never left, even after those negotiations last week for the cease-fire fell apart.

Obviously, the good news is the fighting in Gaza stopped. The bloodshed stopped. The indirect negotiations are going to get under way in the coming hours. The glaring problem is the major obstacles, the major barriers to the conflict still remain.

On one side you have Hamas and their core demands. They essentially say they have lost too much for their not to be any concessions from the Israeli sides. They want a lifting of the economic blockade, and opening of the border crossing, they want an international airport, a seaport.

And then you have the Israeli who essentially say no. It's not the time to talk about that. It's time to talk about security. We're not going to give any kind of concessions unless Hamas disarms, and unless Gaza is demilitarized.

That's where the impasse is, and we are going to see in the coming two and a half days if anything is going to be different. The cease-fire went into effect midnight on Sunday. The two sides have roughly two and a half days to come sort of a resolution, something they've repeatedly failed to do over eight years now -- Christine.

ROMANS: Two and a half days and endless supply of bitterness on both sides. Reza Sayah, thank you.

BERMAN: And right up until the moment of the cease-fire went into effect, Hamas was launching rockets into Israel. The Israelis responding with air strikes in Gaza. More than 1,900 Palestinians have already been killed with 70 percent of those fatalities. That's according to the United States.

Our John Vause is in Gaza this morning.

And, John, from where you are, quiet today. The cease-fire holding?

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it is, john. Just over 12 hours into it now. It's midday here in Gaza and it's just a regular Monday. It's not.

Many parts of Gaza have been devastated. They were fighting up until the last minute as you say. But it has been all quiet now.

And this is now a good opportunity for humanitarian aid workers to come in, to repair crews to head out and fix the electricity. It's only 10 percent supply. Try to fix the water and sanitation systems, because we have been saying it over and over again, but they don't have a chance to fix that. There's not running water in parts of Gaza, the sanitation, everyone continues to flow into the street, out into the ocean. They will try to get to fix that.

They will try to bring in humanitarian aid. They're trying to do that on Sunday, but the Israeli defense forces had to close the main cargo crossing from Israel into Gaza. They say they did that because of the continual rocket fire from militants. It was simply too dangerous for a convoy of trucks to pass from Israel into Gaza.

And, of course, there are the long term issues that maybe they can get some kind of deal there in Cairo, they can start looking at rebuilding Gaza, looking at the massive reconstruction, which is needed here.

But, you know, when it comes to that, it has to say that the issues that they are looking at right now, a seaport, airport in Gaza, demilitarization of Hamas and of all the Gaza Strip, as in Israeli demand, their final status issues under the Oslo peace accords, they negotiated for years to try and find agreement on that and they never did. The question has to be, how are they going to find resolution on that in a couple days?

BERMAN: It's a great point, John. These are not marginal issues. They are the existential issues that have been part of the discussions now for decades in some cases. Let's hope they can make some progress or at least they're willing to maintain the calm while they continue these talks.

John Vause in Gaza for this morning -- thanks so much.

ROMANS: All right. Now to the latest of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. The World Health Organization meeting to determine whether experimental drugs should be used to try to halt the spread of this virus. Now, if they do move forward with this idea, it could take months to manufacture enough to make even an impact.

In Guinea, they've now closed the borders with Liberia and Sierra Leone, in an attempt to stop infecting people from crossing into the country. And the numbers here are simply staggering. In Guinea alone, 367 people died. The total death toll for West African nations now approaching 1,000, with more than 1,700 confirmed or suspected cases.

BERMAN: Looks like Hillary Clinton trying to put some distance between herself and President Obama when it comes to foreign policy. The former secretary of state calling parts of the president's foreign policy a failure. This in a really much viewed and discussed interview in "The Atlantic" magazine.

Mrs. Clinton criticizing the president for not intervening in the earlier stages of the Syrian civil war. She wrote about this in her book, but she really expanded on it in this interview. She said the failure led to the rise of al Qaeda-backed groups like ISIS. The militant organization is now causing so many problems in Syria and Iraq.

ROMANS: All right. Let's talk about money. It's time for an EARLY START on your money this Monday morning. Asian stocks making a big comeback this morning after more than a week of losses. Japan's main index ended the day up 2.5 percent. That's really a good move for a Monday. European stocks are higher right now as well.

You know, at least the perception is the geopolitical risks that have been weighing on the market eased a bit over the weekend, and that's sending stocks higher around the world.

And U.S. futures also pointing higher this morning. You know, it's been a bumpy ride lately but stocks seem to be on track instead of heading for that correction so many people had been worried about. Some people actually had been calling for it.

Meantime, a war of words, and we mean it. The battle between Amazon and Hachette book publisher is still raging, and now, they want you to take the fight and contact the offending CEO. Each of them wants you to contact the other CEO.

At issue: Amazon argues it should pay less for e-books because they are cheaper to make. But Hachette says Amazon isn't properly valuing those books. Some of those books are listed as an unavailable on Amazon's site right now.

This has been an interesting fight to watch develop, you know? Amazon really pulling its weight here and some of those publishers are really -- I mean, the publishing, they are really upset about it.

BERMAN: And you can join in and write a strongly worded letter, if you feel --

ROMANS: In all of your spare time. That's right.

BERMAN: In all of your spare time.

Twelve minutes after the hour.

Happening now: an investigation has been launched after NASCAR champion Tony Stewart hit and killed another driver who was walking on the racetrack. We'll tell you what police are now saying about this investigation and deadly crash, just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: No charges have been filed, but police say they do plan to question NASCAR star, Tony Stewart, again, about this awful accident during a sprint car race in Upstate New York this weekend.

Authorities are examining the video that shows Stewart's car striking Kevin Ward Jr. as he walked on the track. Apparently, Ward was out there to confront Stewart after their cars collided. The 20-year-old Ward later died.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHERIFF PHILIP POVERO, ONTARIO COUNTY, NEW YORK: This is, right now, being investigated as an on-track crash. I don't want to infer that there are criminal charges pending. I would only say that the investigation, when completed, we will sit down with the district attorney and review it. But I want to make it very clear, there are no criminal charges pending at this time. This is an ongoing investigation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: After this happened Saturday, Stewart had planned to race in Sunday's NASCAR event. But he changed his mind. He released a statement saying, quote, "There are not words to describe the sadness I feel about the accident. My thoughts and prayers are with Kevin's family, friends and everyone affected by this tragedy."

ROMANS: All right. Police in New Orleans are investigating the shooting that killed two people and injured five others. This happened in the Lower Ninth Ward. Police say two children and another victim are in critical condition after someone opened fire Sunday on a crowded porch. The neighborhood struggled with crime since being ravaged by hurricane Katrina. So far, there's simply no information on a possible motive for the shooting.

BERMAN: Crews battling a dozen fires burning in Washington state. Officials say firefighters are beginning to gain control of about half the fires. But the weather -- well, it could be working against them, hot, dry and windy conditions are in the forecast. More than 1,000 homes and structures in central and eastern Washington still said to be in danger this morning.

ROMANS: Thousands still without electricity in Hawaii as it recovers from tropical storm Iselle. The big island took the worse of the damage. Residents there have been told to expect extended power outages and no running water. Rescuers on the island of Kauai found the body of a woman thought to have died while hiking Friday. A weakened Hurricane Julio has been downgraded to a category 1, and expected to bypass those islands.

All right. Let's get an early look at your forecast with meteorologist Indra Petersons.

Good morning.

INDRA PETERSONS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning. Happy Monday, everybody.

Kind of a rough weekend in the Southeast. There were some heavy rain, especially out towards places like Louisville, Kentucky, we're talking about five to six inches of rain. Notice when you look at the water vapor satellite, very easy to see where all the moisture was over the weekend. And even easier to see where the new focus is going to be.

Today is going to be right towards Ohio Valley and eventually some very heavy rain is going to be making its way into the Northeast. So, yes, we had high pressure. It was beautiful in towards the Northeast over the weekend. But that is quickly going to change as the system will make its way through.

So, notice the beautiful weather. You are going to have it for a day or so. By Tuesday and Wednesday, it's going to feel completely different out there. Not just rain, but really some heavy rain will be out there. Very easy to see what's going on, we are talking about the moisture really in the southeast today.

But notice really the moisture starting to already filling in towards the Ohio Valley, in places like Midwest, like Chicago today. Tomorrow morning, commute time not pretty out towards D.C., and really anywhere in through Pennsylvania. And then that system really gets all of its energy kind of combined there, and look at the heavy that's going to be making its way into the Northeast.

I just want to tell you, you're talking about an inch or so when you talk today. When you talk about Wednesday or Thursday, we are talking upwards of five inches of rain in towards the Northeast.

ROMANS: There goes the camping trip.

BERMAN: Yes, that's us.

ROMANS: There goes the camping trip.

PETERSONS: Little soggy out there.

ROMANS: All right. Thanks, Indra.

BERMAN: All right. Coming up, man oh man, there were some phenomenal golf last night. And by that night, I mean like night. This went late. Rory McIlroy and lefty Phil Mickelson dueling down to the wire for the PGA championship, one of the best ever. Andy Scholes will join us to talk about it in the "Bleacher Report", next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: What a finish at the PGA championship. In the end, it was the young man, Rory McIlroy outlasting Phil to win his fourth career major, second in a row.

ROMANS: Look out, Tiger Woods.

Andy Scholes has more in this morning's "Bleacher Report".

And this guy is so hopped up on this golf stuff.

ANDY SCHOLES, BLEACHER REPORT: He's on fire just like Rory McIlroy, guys.

You know, we haven't seen someone dominate the game of golf like this since Tiger was in his early 20s. Rory McIlroy, just another incredible performance yesterday, on his way to winning the second straight major, like you said John. This was the third straight win in a tournament overall.

You know, the tournament going late into the night because of a rain delay. But it didn't bother Rory. He was on his game and he needed to be, because Phil was on his tail the entire day. Right there on 17, Rory knocked down the birdie. That gave a two-shot lead over Phil heading to 18. Phil, he has one more shot, but he missed a 70-foot chip. He couldn't believe it. That let Rory two-putt for the victory.

By winning this, Rory McIlroy, he becomes only the fourth player in the past century to win four majors at 25 or younger.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RORY MCILROY, PRO-GOLFER: I'm going to go to Augusta next year and not having one miss. I wanted to go to Augusta with four major championships, and I want to go to August next year trying to win five and trying to win the career grand slam, and trying to win the third leg of whatever slam you want to call it. I mean, I prefer to call it a Rory slam than anything else.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: A.J. Allmendinger took the checkered flag this week at Watkins Glen for his first ever sprint cup win. But the race was overshadowed by the event that took place with Tony Stewart on a small dirt track on Saturday night. Stewart did not race at Watkins Glen after he struck and killed sprint car driver Kevin Ward Jr. during a dirt track race in Upstate New York. After Sunday's NASCAR event, many of the drivers were asked to give their thoughts on the tragedy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) A.J. ALLMENDINGR, CHEEZ-IT 355 WINNER: All of our thoughts and prayers, and it may not seem like it, or, you know, I wish there was more to do. But, you know, it goes to the Ward family and what happened, and also goes to Tony, because it's not like he's sitting there and forgetting about him. It's a tough scenario. So, you just try to come together. That's all you can do.

KURT BUSCH, DRIVER: Our thoughts and prayers are with the Ward family. It's a tragedy. Our thoughts and prayers are with everybody involved. It's a tough situation for the motor sports world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: It's such a tragedy guys. You know, Stewart made a decision late he wasn't going to race yesterday. No word, yet, if he's going to race next week in Michigan either.

BERMAN: I can't imagine being on the track for any of this after that.

All right. Andy Scholes, thanks so much. Appreciate it.

ROMANS: All right. Breaking news this morning: a prayer service erupts in violence. Protesters taking over the streets of a Missouri, vandalism, looting, reports of gunfire. Dramatic new video, ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)