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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

ISIS Threat in Iraq, Syria; Thousand Russian Troops in Ukraine; NATO Emergency Meeting

Aired August 29, 2014 - 05:30   ET

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

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JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now: ISIS slaughtering hundreds of soldiers, just the latest in a string of brutal executions. This morning, the president says he has no strategy, yet, on how to take down the terror group in Syria as it moves through the region, now, here in the United States. We are live with the very latest.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Ukraine under attack. Russia sending tanks and troops into that country arming rebels fighting Ukraine's military. This, as world leaders hold an emergency meeting over the Ukrainian crisis. Is there anything they can do to stop Russian president, Vladimir Putin?

Live team coverage ahead.

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

BERMAN: I'm John Berman. Thirty minutes past the hour right now and as we sit here there is more evidence of the ISIS reign of terror. President Obama says he has no strategy for battling the militant in Syria, yet. He has dispatched Secretary of State John Kerry to build support in the region. The president says that is a critical element in removing the ISIS threat.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: As I've said, ruling out a cancer like ISIL will not be quick or easy. But I'm confident that we can and we will, working closely with allies and partners. And I do think it will be important for Congress to weigh in -- or that our consultations with Congress continue to develop so that the American people are part of the debate. But I don't want to put the cart before the horse. We don't have a strategy, yet.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: ISIS not waiting for the cart or the horse. The militants claim to have carried out a mass execution in Syria. They've released a video to prove it.

CNN's Anna Coren live in northern Iraq, in Irbil this morning.

Anna, this video is awful. ANNA COREN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it is. It's

absolutely sickening. It's always concerns about showing this type of video from ISIS because it's part of their propaganda, but we obviously feel that it is critical to just show our viewers, even though it is so disturbing, just to give people an idea of what the world is really dealing with.

The video that they posted on YouTube yesterday shows, according to ISIS, Syrian soldiers being marched through the desert. Stripped down to their underwear, hands behind their heads. The next image is a pile of bloody bodies. The camera then turns around and we see this gruesome seen of body after body after body of dead soldiers lying face in the dirt.

It really is sickening. And it just hits home that this terrorist organization has no moral code, no code of conduct, just shows no mercy, whatsoever, on people they consider to be the enemy. At the end of the day, these Syrian soldiers are prisoners of war. ISIS claims they captured them during their week long battle at al-Tabqa military base in Raqqa Province. It was the last stronghold for Bashar al-Assad's regime in that particular area.

It now means that ISIS is just moving freely obviously between Syria and then here to Iraq. Well, shortly after that video was posted, we then got another video showing Kurdish soldiers, 15 of them in a room, dressed in those orange jumpsuits. The same that was worn by American journalist James Foley who was brutally beheaded in that video that we saw last week.

One of the soldiers makes an appeal not to the president here in Kurdistan not to cooperate with the United States, not to allow America to intervene in the region, obviously referring to the U.S. airstrikes, which are still ongoing.

The video then ends with one of those captured soldiers kneeling in that jumpsuit in front of a mosque in Mosul, Iraq's second largest city seized by ISIS back in June. And then he is beheaded.

It's gruesome. It is sickening, but it really has come to define ISIS. This just brutal and barbaric behavior -- John.

BERMAN: It's awful but important to see, as you say, Anna, because it shows what people inside those countries in Iraq and Syria are up against. What the United States could be up against if it gets more deeply involved in that region.

Our Anna Coren live in Irbil, thank you so much.

ROMANS: This morning, we're learning more about the man who could be the second American killed fighting for ISIS this week. The family of Abu Rahman Muhammad says he was killed over the weekend during terrorist clashes in Syria. CNN is still waiting on government officials to confirm his identity.

Meantime, friends of this man, a Minnesota father of nine, they say his change to radicalism, his sudden move to the Middle East came out of nowhere. We have also been told about a one-time friend of Douglas McCain who died fighting for ISIS. His one-time best friend and Minnesota classmate Troy Kastigar, this man, was killed fighting for the al-Shabaab terror group in Somalia back in 2009.

CNN spoke with Kastigar's mother, who still, five years after her son's death is struggling with his loss.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSIE BOADA, MOTHER OF TROY KASTIGAR: I don't easily talk about it with people because I don't want to have to also defend him. My family is great, and my friends are great, but just in general, in the world. I mean, it is, it's the hardest, the hardest loss that there is. And I'm really grateful that I had him and that I knew Doug.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: ISIS is said to be recruiting people from the Twin Cities mainly because of the state's large Somali population.

Terrorists are apparently targeting young, disaffected people by using these recruitment videos. It is now believed at least 100 Americans have left the country to take up arms alongside militant extremists in Syria.

BERMAN: President Obama pointing the finger at Russia for its brazen action in Ukraine saying Moscow is responsible for fueling the civil war there. U.S. officials now say that Russia has sent in 1,000 soldiers so fight inside Ukraine alongside those pro-Russian separatists. The rebels have now agreed to a request from Vladimir Putin to open a corridor to allow surrounded Ukrainian troops to retreat from the battlefield.

President Putin, for his part, insists Russians in Ukraine are just volunteers, They're on vacation.

CNN's Matthew Chance live in Moscow with the latest.

Good morning, Matthew.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John. It's pretty implausible, isn't it? The latest line coming out of the Kremlin, the soldiers that have been engaged apparently in fighting inside eastern Ukraine and other parts of the country as well are not there officially from Russia. But instead, according to one pro-Russian rebel leader, they are on vacation. They are taking their leave and they're choosing to fight and in some instances die on behalf of the rebel cause. Essentially on their own time.

But that's the sort of thinly veiled kind of way that the Kremlin is casting this increasingly apparent intervention by Russian forces. Officially, Russians denying that there are any Russian units that are taking part in the fighting inside eastern Ukraine. Within the past few minutes, The Russian foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, has gone on national television here again denying that Russian service individuals are fighting inside the eastern Ukraine, calling it conjecture.

Despite the fact that NATO, the Western military alliance, has really satellite images purporting to show Russian military activity across the border from Russia into Ukraine of course the latest statement from the U.S. president as well, saying that Russia is increasing the engage in not just supporting the rebels materially but actually in the fighting as well. But again, in the face of that, complete Russian denial -- John.

BERMAN: You know, even if the troops are on vacation, doing this on their personal time, self-propelled heavy artillery doesn't vacation. And if those satellite images are in fact accurate, it would indicate there's a lot of heavy equipment that has moved in. What effect has this all had on the battlefield, Matthew?

CHANCE: There are always serious tacks about the Russian claims about the extent to which they were supporting the rebel movements inside eastern Ukraine. Obviously, you know, there are huge questions over this latest claim as well. It's having an impact, it seems, on the battlefield to get to your question. The -- the Ukrainian government had been making serious advances against the rebels over the course of the past several months. That may have been the reason why Russian forces allegedly moved in, because they needed to stem that military advance against the rebels.

To some extent, they have achieved that, halting the advance around the -- around certain areas and making actual military gains in the southeast of Ukraine, around the city of Mariupol, which is a coastal area of southeastern Ukraine. But also, a call by the Kremlin, again, indicating the extent to which it wields influence in eastern Ukraine. A call by the Kremlin for a humanitarian corridor to be opened by the rebels in Ukraine to allow the safe exit of Ukrainian government soldiers from the battle zone to return to their families.

And so, you know, a lot of activity taking place on the ground. The question is to what the West, what the United States and NATO can do about this is very much remaining open. There's a special emergency session of NATO military alliance taking place soon to try and look at possible steps forward.

BERMAN: All right, Matthew Chance in Moscow, thanks so much.

As Matthew just said, there is an emergency meeting among NATO right now. We have CNN's Karl Penhaul there monitoring that. We're going to check in with Karl in just a few minutes.

ROMANS: All right. Time for an EARLY START on your money this Friday morning.

European stocks higher right now. Asian shares mixed. U.S. stock futures also pointing higher right now. August is a great month for stocks, folks.

Malaysia Airlines is slashing jobs. 6,000 jobs, a 30 percent reduction of its work force. It's part of an overhaul after two major disasters this year. The government owns 70 percent of Malaysia Airlines. It plans to purchase the rest and take the company private. The airline was in trouble even before this year's tragedies. It reported a $97 million loss last quarter. It's been losing money for several years so it will need an entire overhaul.

Really, remaking the brand, even.

BERMAN: Comedian Joan Rivers in critical condition this morning, rushed to a New York hospital after she stopped breathing. We're going to tell you what her family said overnight just ahead.

ROMANS: Plus Tony Stewart's return to racing weeks after he hit and killed a competitor walking on the track. We have that story, after the break.

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ROMANS: Comedian Joan Rivers in critical but stable condition this morning in a New York City hospital. The 81-year-old was rushed there yesterday, Thursday, after she suddenly stopped breathing during outpatient surgical procedure on her throat. And she went into cardiac arrest. Her daughter Melissa in a statement says her mother is resting comfortably and Melissa thanks everyone for their overwhelming love and support.

BERMAN: NASCAR driver Tony Stewart makes his return to the track this weekend at the Atlanta Motor Speedway. The three-time champ has not raced since his car struck and killed driver Kevin Ward, Jr. during a dirt track race in upstate New York earlier this month. Police found no evidence of criminal wrongdoing on Stewart's part but they do say their investigation is ongoing.

Want to show you some pictures right.

ROMANS: Crazy.

BERMAN: Heavy rain in Texas triggering flash floods and leaving this motorist stranded in the water. Look at that. The water up to the doors. He drove in, couldn't get out. Firefighters in Lubbock used a ladder truck to rescue the driver thankfully before it was too late.

ROMANS: Wow. Indra Petersons has a look at your forecast for this long Labor Day weekend.

Hi there, Indra.

INDRA PETERSONS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning. A lot of people are wondering, where is it going to rain? Right? Labor Day weekend, everyone wants to know. But keep in mind, around the Gulf, we were just showing you Texas, more rain is expected. And a lot of it, two to five inches of rain, really anywhere from Brownsville, Corpus Christi, all the way back even in through New Orleans. Again this is about a two, three-day total here.

But maybe by Sunday, Monday, if you're lucky, we're going to see that chance of showers diminish. You just have one day out there that's going to feel a little bit better. Otherwise, we still have, yes, we have Cristobal out there but remember it is making its way off to the northeast quickly. But that doesn't mean we're not still seeing those effects on the Atlantic. Keep in mind, nothing like we saw yesterday.

We had 12-foot swells. Today, much better, down about three to five- foot swells up there. Rip currents still high as well. But also some moderate rip currents. But even that is diminishing ahead of the weekend, which is good news with the beach goers kind of heading outdoors.

Keep in mind, kind of look at the entire nation expecting as we head through the weekend, severe weather threat with the heaviest rain is going to be up through the plains and maybe into Ohio Valley and also of course we talked around right around the Gulf, around Corpus Christi. But there you go, day by day, if you want to look at it, New York City, a little bit cool from the beginning.

It will start to warm up as you go through the weekend. The warmer temperatures down to the south. As you get in through tomorrow, shower chances increase around the south so look for more of those scattered showers and kind of making their way into the Ohio Valley. Then for the northeast, Sunday into Monday, is when you're going to be looking at the chances for more rain. So everyone has got like a little bit of a mixed bag. It's which day is best.

BERMAN: Right. The northeast, get your fun in, soon.

PETERSONS: Now, today.

(LAUGHTER)

ROMANS: Thanks, Indra.

All right. Let's take a look at what's coming up on "NEW DAY." Alisyn Camerota joins us.

Happy Friday.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR, NEW DAY: Happy Friday. Great to see you, guys. Looking forward to being with you.

So President Obama's Labor Day weekend is off to a shaky start. His administration is trying to clarify what he meant about having no strategy yet to fight ISIS. We'll parse that statement with our pundits.

And how can the West slow Russian aggression in Ukraine? NATO pictures appear to confirm that Russian troops crossed the border Thursday in what the Ukrainians call an invasion. We'll have more on the global response. All that plus all breaking news when John, Christine and I see everyone in about 14 minutes.

BERMAN: It's going to be a party. We're all going to be there.

ROMANS: A news party. A news party.

All right, thanks, Alisyn. We're also following these issues, the Russian invasion inside

Ukraine. More on that. World leaders holding an emergency meeting. What can be done to stop Russian president, Vladimir Putin? We are live right after the break.

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ROMANS: NATO ministers meeting in an emergency session today prompted by new evidence of Russia's military advance in Ukraine. The U.S. and NATO blaming Moscow for the escalation in hostilities between Ukraine's government and these pro-Russian separatists. CNN's Karl Penhaul live in London for us.

And Karl, the foreign minister of Russia, Sergei Lavrov, is speaking right now addressing some of these -- some of these charges that Russia is helping -- is invading Ukraine. What is he saying?

KARL PENHAUL, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Christine. Russia is really denying categorically that it is having or mounting any incursion into eastern Ukraine with its combat troops as NATO is suggesting. In fact a few moments ago, foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said that the satellite pictures that NATO ambassadors right now are poring over have been pulled possibly from a computer game.

Now we do have to say that those satellite images that have been shown to us by NATO so far are commercial satellite pictures, not from a military satellite. It does raise the question why they're showing these commercial satellite pictures and not from their own intelligence. But maybe we'll get some answers to that in a short while. We understand that emergency meeting with the NATO ambassador has gone long.

We were expecting some kind of statement a few moments ago. That has not come through yet. That's delayed for at least another 45 minutes. We'll see what they have to say. But right now, the evidence that we are told that the NATO ambassadors are poring over are the pictures showing apparently some 1,000 Russian combat troops inside of eastern Ukraine pulling with them heavy weaponry including heavy artillery pieces.

Add to that as well claims by separatist leaders that possibly up to 4,000 Russian troops on vacation have volunteered to fight inside of Ukraine. And that builds up this worrying picture that Ukrainian government is saying that a full-scale Russian invasion is under way. Western leaders have steered clear of that, saying it's more like an incursion. But it does raise the question, what can NATO do to stop this? Of course Ukraine not a member state. And so military involvement really is not on the cards -- Christine.

ROMANS: All right. Karl Penhaul for us this morning in London with the latest on that. Thank you.

The death toll from the Ebola outbreak in West Africa has now passed 1500. And health experts say many cases are still not being reported. The World Health Organization warns this virus could strike more than 20,000 people before it's brought under control. The WHO unveiled what it calls a road map for stopping the spread of Ebola within nine months.

Meantime researchers who've taken -- been taking samples of the virus since the outbreak began report that it's mutating rapidly as it spreads. The National Institutes of Health will start -- human tests of an experimental Ebola vaccine next month. But CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta cautions that even if the vaccine works, it won't stop Ebola from killing.

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DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Have you seen these places in West Africa? It's difficult simply to get from point A to point B. So this is not going to be the final answer. The final answer is still stopping the outbreak, going to the burial sites, counseling families, making sure that patients aren't spreading the virus more than they already have.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: The vaccine will be tested on 20 volunteers in Maryland. Other tests are being set up in the UK, Gambia and Mali.

A Labor Day weekend, perfect for a road trip. We'll explain why when we get an EARLY START on your money, next.

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ROMANS: All right. Welcome back. Let's get an EARLY START on your money this morning. Taking a look at stocks, futures higher. Dow up 28 points. Nasdaq futures up as well. Yesterday, the S&P 500 ended a three-day winning streak and closed below 2000. But it looks like it could be a good morning and a good end to the month for stocks. The best August for stocks since 2000. The Dow and the S&P 500 up more than 3 percent for the month. And the Nasdaq is up more than 4 percent.

Could be the least expensive holiday weekend in years at the gas pump. According to Gas Buddy, gas prices will be the lowest since Labor Day of 2010. Gas prices have started falling in July. They are expected to move lower into the fall. Crude oil prices have fallen despite the turmoil in the Middle East and Russia.

All right, "NEW DAY" starts right now.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Damage control. The White House under fire after President Obama suggests he has no strategy for dealing with ISIS in Syria. Republican critics pounce the administration, fighting back this morning.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking overnight, Vladimir Putin giving orders to forces in Ukraine, but not asking pro-Russian troops to slow their incursion. We have the latest from the ground and the photographs that prove his troops are on the move.

BERMAN: New information on the audio tape allegedly of the moment Michael Brown was shot. The new evidence that verifies the audio was made at the time of the shooting. We have the very latest on the investigation.

Your NEW DAY starts right now.

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

BERMAN: Good morning, everyone. Great to see you. Welcome to NEW DAY. It is Friday, August 29th. It's 6:00 in the East. I'm John Berman.

CAMEROTA: And I'm Alisyn Camerota. Chris and Kate are off. Happy Friday to you.

BERMAN: Yes, it is Friday. A lot going on. The White House really now in desperate damage control after the really surprising remark from President Obama. He was giving a press conference at the White House and he told reporters flat out we don't have a strategy yet for fighting the surge of ISIS in Syria.