Return to Transcripts main page

Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Order Restored in Ferguson; National Guard Pulling Out of Ferguson; Hagel: ISIS "Beyond Anything We Have Seen"

Aired August 22, 2014 - 04:00   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: a peaceful end to a night of protest in Ferguson, Missouri. Smaller crowds demonstrating against the deadly shooting of unarmed teenager, Michael Brown. The state's governor calling off the National Guard as we hear from Brown's parents, and learn new information about the past of a star witness in this case.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: A terror organization beyond anything this country has seen. The U.S. is issuing a new warning about ISIS days after the militants murdered a kidnapped U.S. journalist. What makes these terrorists so powerful? As the U.S. hunts for the British jihadist who killed James Foley.

Live team coverage from Iraq and London ahead.

Good morning. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm Victor Blackwell, in for John Berman.

ROMANS: Nice to see you today.

BLACKWELL: Good to be with you again.

ROMANS: I'm Christine Romans. It is Friday. It is August 22nd, 4:00 a.m. exactly in the east. We welcome all of our viewers here in the U.S. and, of course, all of you who are watching around the world.

We begin with calm and order taking hold on the streets of Ferguson. Governor Jay Nixon ordering National Guard troops to systemically withdraw from the embattled Missouri town. Demonstrators numbering in the dozens now instead of thousands. The mood: more measured, but the anger remains -- nearly two weeks after the shooting death of Michael Brown.

We are going get more from Stephanie Elam this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Victor and Christine, another peaceful night here in Ferguson. Protesters took to the streets, but they stayed calm. The police also stayed out of their way. In fact, we listened to Captain Ron Johnson talk about how the night went. Here is what he had to say.

CAPT. RON JOHNSON, MISSOURI HIGHWAY PATROL: We also experimented with pulling cars back from the street to allow more room for marching. That trend is continuing. We had to respond to few incidents tonight. There were no Molotov cocktails tonight, no fires, no shootings. We did not see a single handgun.

Again, tonight, we deployed no smoke devices, no tear gas and no mace. And again tonight, no police officer fired a single shot.

ELAM: Captain Johnson also said that there were seven arrests last night. Compare it to two nights ago when they had 47 arrests. And he said, of those seven, three were from Detroit, the other four did come from the St. Louis area. But, overall, they're saying, things continue to improve. And he credit that to not just the police changing their tactics, but also to the clergy and to the elders in the community, as well as the young people, for doing their part to keep nerves calm.

And you could definitely feel it on the streets. The energy was much different today. You could feel it was calmer, the police looked more relaxed.

We also spent some time at the memorial, at the location where Mike Brown died. And the energy there was pretty solemn. People were stopping by to leave candles, and to drop off flowers. And at one point, there was a prayer group that showed up. They came up singing a spiritual. They sang for a bit, they prayed for a bit, and then they kept on walking. We saw another group arrived, and they came with flowers.

And quietly, they just lay down flower after flower, down the street, along the way back to Florissant, West Florissant Avenue, which has been the hubbub of so much of this tension, just handing them out to people standing by. An effort to bring peace back to this community and for the people who were there, a moment and a place where they could focus on Mike Brown and remember him and the loss of life that did happen almost two weeks ago now -- Christine and Victor.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: Stephanie Elam there for us in Ferguson -- thank you, Stephanie.

Michael Brown's parents, his mother specifically, says her face-to- face meeting with Attorney General Eric Holder mattered. He promised her a fair and thorough investigation into the shooting death of her son. She says the attorney helped restore some of her trust for authorities. McSpadden also addressed her son's detractors who are quick to point the teenager robbed a convenience store before his deadly encounter with Officer Darren Wilson.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LESLEY MCSPADDEN, MICHAEL BROWN'S MOTHER: He was a teenager. He was growing up. He was only 18. He had a chance to make a mistake and correct it.

Just like the officer. He had a choice. He chose the wrong one. Was it necessary? No. My son is only 18. Only 18.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Brown's parents say their son was peaceful and humble. They are calling for the arrest of Officer Darren Wilson so they can have some type of peace.

ROMANS: It turns out the key witness in the Michael Brown murder case was busted in 2011 for theft and making a false report to police. There's a warrant for his arrest right now in Jefferson City, Missouri. Twenty-two Dorian Johnson who was with Brown the day he was killed claims the unarmed teen was shot running away from police with his hands up. In the summer of 2011, police claim Johnson lied about his identity, age and address when he was being questioned about stealing a woman's backpack.

Here's what Johnson's attorney is saying. Quote, "Dorian Johnson's past transgressions to not change these facts nor do they justify Officer Wilson's grotesque and deadly violation of Michael Brown's and Dorian Johnson's civil rights."

Stay with CNN all morning for continuing coverage of the latest developments in Ferguson, Missouri.

(MUSIC)

BLACKWELL: A chilling warning from the Pentagon about the terror group ISIS. Senior defense officials describe the organization as apocalyptic and an imminent threat. Listen to Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel at the Pentagon briefing on Thursday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHUCK HAGEL, DEFENSE SECRETARY: ISIL is a sophisticated and well- funded as any group we have seen. They are beyond just a terrorist group. They marry ideology, a sophistication of strategic and tactical military prowess. They are tremendously well-funded. Oh, this is beyond anything we have seen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: U.S. airstrikes on ISIS targets continue in Iraq. But Secretary Hagel warns defeating the terrorist group won't be possible unless its presence in Syria is addressed. At least those were the words from the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dempsey.

They are not to say whether that means military strikes there.

Jomana Karadsheh is monitoring the latest developments live from Baghdad.

Jomana, just a few months ago, back in January, President Obama famously said that, you know, if you put a jayvee team in Lakers uniform, it doesn't make them Kobe Bryant, speaking of ISIS. And now, they're saying it's beyond anything they've ever seen. They have been criticized for not probably addressing the threat of ISIS. And now, they say that threat is imminent.

JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is what we have seen. Over the past few months, the advances we have seen here in Iraq by ISIS really seemed like this group was unstoppable, taking more and more territory.

Now, these U.S. airstrikes, we have seen them as a game changer, especially in northern Iraq, around that Mosul dam area where they have been concentrated, really allowing Kurdish Peshmerga forces, and the Iraqi security forces to regain control of the Mosul dam, really a significant set back there, stopping the advances by ISIS, retaking territory. But ISIS still controls big parts of this country, major cities like Iraq's second largest city Mosul, and to the west, the city of Fallujah is still under complete control of ISIS.

As we said before and as we have heard from Secretary Hagel and General Martin Dempsey, it's going to take more than these U.S. air strikes to stop the advances of ISIS, to really weaken the group and to really defeat it is going to take more.

Here in Baghdad, political concessions need to take place, to bring onboard the Sunni Arabs who have been key in the past in fighting extremist groups like al Qaeda in Iraq. Over the past few years, the policies of Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki seen as sectarian have alienated and marginalized the Sunnis. It's pretty much driving them into the arms of ISIS, and also Syria.

So, non-existent borders really for ISIS being able to cross back and forth between Syria and Iraq. Their presence in Syria must be addressed, because airstrikes could really mean driving them back into Syria where they can regroup and come back and strike again -- Victor.

BLACKWELL: Senator John McCain saying last night that that this is not a group that needs to be stopped, but group that needs to be defeated. We'll talk more about that coming up later this morning.

Jomana Karadsheh for us this morning -- thank you so much.

The family of murdered U.S. journalist James Foley described as moved and grateful for a phone call they received Thursday afternoon from Pope Francis. The Vatican says the pontiff ordered his condolences for the brutal beheading of their son by ISIS extremists. Meanwhile, former French hostages in Syria are coming forward to talk about the months in captivity they spent with Foley, describing him as an extraordinary man who never cracked under incredibly difficult conditions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NICOLAS HENIN, FORMER ISIS CAPTIVE: He was a great friend. It sounds strange for me to say that he managed to make the seven months of captivity for me easier. That somehow it did, because it was -- it was just great to have him with me.

(END VIDEO CLIP) ROMANS: Meanwhile, Scotland Yard, British intelligence officials, the FBI, all trying to identify the black-hooded executioner who killed James Foley. His distinctly British accent on a video of the beheading may have left clues behind, more clues than he intended.

Atika Shubert live from London with the latest on this investigation.

Zeroing in on exactly where that person might have grown up, exactly what kind of accent, how tall, mannerisms, looking over former intelligence intercepts to see if some of these words have been used before, the cadence of the voice. They're going over everything.

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Looking at the video, seeing actually also how the video was put together, see if there's any clues in that. And, of course, that very distinctive voice in that video. It's clearly a British accent.

And according to linguists we have spoken to, they say this is somebody who grew up here in Britain at a very young age, is probably fairly well-off and well-educated, just by the use of his words. And they say that particular accent is quite common in the south of London, particularly the London area.

So, what investigators here are hoping is somebody in the community may recognize the voice or it may match their database of video and audio recordings. And remember, of course, that they have been tracking hundreds of jihadis that have gone to Syria and Iraq, and so that we're looking to see if there's connection to anyone they already have tabs on.

ROMANS: It's really remarkable. It must be frightening for authorities, because if this person is a British citizen with a British passport, that means is door is open to a lot of people, including the United States where you just can get on a plane and go somewhere.

SHUBERT: Well, this has always been a huge concern for the British government and they have been trying to keep track of all the people going there, because they fear they might back to carry out attacks. And so, they've been warning. Anybody who goes there risks arrest and will be treated as a criminal for fighting with the terrorist organization. They have arrested a number of people who have come back at Heathrow Airport as soon as they arrive.

But it is hard to keep track of them all. An estimated 400 to 500 have traveled there. But other terror analysts I've spoken to say the number could actually be much higher.

ROMANS: All right. Atika Shubert, thank you so much, Atika.

A government watchdog says that the swap of Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl for five Taliban prisoners back in May, that swap was illegal. The Government Accountability Office says the Pentagon broke the law by failing to give Congress the required 30 days notice before using funds appropriated for transferring detainees held at Guantanamo Bay. Now, the GAO also fund defense officials spent more money on that operation than what was authorized.

BLACKWELL: A California patient being tested for Ebola does not have the virus, a good news this morning. The unidentified patient who began showing symptoms earlier this month after visiting West Africa had been kept in isolation in a Sacramento hospital. Meanwhile, two Americans who contracted the disease, Dr. Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol, they have now been released from Atlanta's Emory University Hospital. Brantly tells reporters his recovery was nothing short of miraculous.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. KENT BRANTLY: I prayed god would help me be faithful, even in my illness. And I prayed that in my life or in my death, that he would be glorified. I serve a faithful God who answers prayers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Well, Brantly called on everyone to pray for the victims of Ebola in West Africa. The death toll has now risen to 1,350 with nearly 2,500 suspected or confirmed cases.

ROMANS: All right. Thirteen minutes past the hour. Time for an EARLY START on your money.

Stocks reaching new highs. Stocks got off to a rough month, but you know what? That much talked about correction of 10 percent or more never came, the bull market back on tracked and climbing. The S&P 500 hit a record yesterday, the 28th record high close this year. The Dow closed above 17,000 for the first time since end of July. U.S. stock futures right now pointing higher. It could mean another record day.

One factor in how stocks performed, the Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen -- Yellen speaking at the symposium in Jackson Hole this morning. Earlier this week, the Fed minutes showed surprise at improvements in the labor market. We'll be listening for any hint of rising interest rates earlier than expected.

And I'll tell you, a bunch of global bank -- global central bankers in Jackson Hole was like the Emmy awards for the business world. We are watching closely to see if there are important clues in that meeting.

BLACKWELL: All right. Israel making critical gains in its war against Hamas, taking out military leaders as it pounds Gaza with escalating airstrikes. What does this mean for peace talks ahead? Of course, we are live with the answer after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: Israel stepping up airstrikes on Hamas targets in Gaza. Three top Hamas military commanders have now been killed, and now, the Israelis are calling up an additional 10,000 reservists. It's a sign of possible escalation and hostilities, as Hamas vows revenge.

Meanwhile, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas insisting there is no alternative to Egypt's plan for a long-term truce. He's heading to Cairo for a new round of peace talks this weekend.

I want to bring in Karl Penhaul live from Jerusalem.

The peace there was always so fragile, and now, you got both sides, basically vowing escalation.

KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, this fight is certainly continuing, Christine, no doubt about that. Over the last 24 hours or so, Hamas and other militant factions have fired more than 100 rockets out of Gaza towards Israel. Israel has responded with dozens of airstrikes on targets inside of Gaza. So, the fight there, very much on.

Important to notice, you have done the attack on the house where there are at least three senior Hamas commanders, two of them in military terms could be seen as Hamas generals. Now, that, of course, for Israel is very symbolic that they have been able to take out those two commanders. In operational terms, though, perhaps less symbolic. Military analysts tell us that these commanders who are based in the south of Gaza were less important than commanders who are heading Hamas brigades in the north and central parts of the Gaza Strip.

And also, guerrilla group that fights like Hamas would also have other ranking members who would step into the breach would assume those roles that those commanders have taken on. So, perhaps in the long term, not that important.

Now, other things that are important, of course, what has been the impact of the Hamas rocket strikes? One of them has been that the Israeli Football Association has decided that it is now suspending the start of the football season because Hamas said it will target large gatherings. So, that, of course, is a disruption to every day life in Israel.

Of course, the Ben Gurion International Airport also on high alert, because Hamas has said that it will target the airport. It was a national embarrassment back in July when FAA suspended U.S. airlines flying into Ben Gurion because of rockets flying into the area. Yesterday, two rockets landed a short distance from the airport. Not enough, though, of course, to close down the airport -- Christine.

ROMANS: All right. Karl Penhaul for us this morning in Gaza, thanks -- in Jerusalem, rather. Thanks.

BLACKWELL: The remains of 20 victims from Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 finally arriving home this morning. Malaysian officials received the flag draped coffins at the ceremony in Kuala Lumpur's airport today. It's been declared actually a national day of mourning in Malaysia. There were 43 Malaysian passengers aboard Flight 17 when it was shot down over eastern Ukraine in July.

ROMANS: All right. Texas Governor Rick Perry set to be indicted today, but his recent arrest seems to be the furthest thing from his mind. We'll explain, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BLACKWELL: A friend of Boston marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev pleads guilty to obstruction of justice and conspiracy. Dias Kadyrbayev was accused of removing a backup and computer from Tsarnaev's dorm room with the intent, prosecutors say, of impending the bombing investigation. Well, as part of the plea deal, the 20- year-old Kazakh national will be deported after serving up to seven years in prison.

ROMANS: Texas Governor Rick Perry isn't letting a felony get in the way of presidential aspirations. Perry is scheduled to appear in court today following his indictment for alleged abuse of power. But he won't be there. Instead, he'll be testing the waters for 2016 with a series of campaign style visits to critical nominating states beginning in New Hampshire. Perry was fingerprinted and had his mug shot taken earlier this week.

BLACKWELL: A major victory for supporters of same sex marriage in Florida. A federal judge orders the state to allow same-sex couples to marry and to recognize marriages performed elsewhere. But he stayed most of the effect of this ruling, pending appeals. So, same- sex marriages will not take place right away. The judge rules the ban violated the due process and equal protection provisions in the U.S. Constitution.

ROMANS: The two American flags stolen from the top of the Brooklyn Bridge will be returned to the New York police department today. Two German artists claimed they stole the flags and swapped them for bleached flags last month. It's still unclear at this point if the pair will face charges. The artists insist the incident was nothing more than an art project. There are plenty of people in law enforcement who say, well, that was a big distraction, a waste of taxpayer dollars to try to figure out what happens there.

BLACKWELL: Yes. Was the art project worth it?

ROMANS: I don't know.

All right. A calm night on the streets of Ferguson, Missouri. The state's governor calling off the National Guard after nights of violent protests taper off. What's changed over the past few days? And we also have new information we're learning about the star witness in the Michael Brown shooting case. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)