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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Show of Solidarity for Ukraine; Cease-fire in Ukraine?; Remembering Joan Rivers

Aired September 05, 2014 - 04:00   ET

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

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, President Obama meeting with world leaders for the last day of the NATO summit, trying to stop ISIS terrorists and Russian aggression solve the crisis in Ukraine. Could a peace deal be reached today? Or will Russia face a new punishment? We have live coverage, breaking it all down ahead.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Homegrown terror. New information about a wanted U.S. man accused of joining ISIS. This, as Iraq asks for the world's help to stop these terrorists from taking over their country. The very latest ahead.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOAN RIVERS, COMEDIAN: When I was 21 my mother said only a doctor for you. When I was 22, she said, all right, a lawyer, CPA. 24, she said, well, grab a dentist. 26 she said anything.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Mourning a legend. Joan Rivers, one of a kind, dying at the age of 81. How it happened, as we look back on her iconic career.

Good morning, everyone. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm John Berman.

ROMANS: Nice to see you, John. I'm Christine Romans. It is Friday, September 5th. It is 4:00 a.m. in the east.

Up first a strong show of solidarity for Ukraine in the final hours of the NATO Summit. President Obama, British Prime Minister Cameron and the leaders of France, Germany and Italy pledging to protect the embattled Baltic nations from Russian aggression. And a new round of economic sanctions targeting Russian banks and businesses could be announced today.

Western leaders also talking tough about ISIS vowing to build an international coalition to confront that terror group head on.

White House correspondent Michelle Kosinski is traveling with the president. She joins us live from Cardiff, Wales.

Michelle, what are these new sanctions against Russia? When are they expected today?

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Christine. Yes, this is the European Union and the United States. So all these NATO countries together issuing these sanctions. It hasn't been officially announced yet. But they do tell a little bit. It's supposed to hit the, as you mentioned, the banking sector, energy, defense, possibly some other sectors. Won't hit the biggest of the biggest, though, for example, Russia's biggest gas company.

In the past, we've asked well, why not? Why not hit those largest companies that would affect the economy the most? Why not hit Putin himself? And the U.S. government has said well, we still want to hold on to some of the cards that we have in our deck. We don't want to issue everything at once.

But, you know, I know that we're looking at a NATO flyover here. That's happening in Wales, kind of a show of air power, the combined forces of these NATO countries together including Poland. They are represented. But also, what the European Union is saying this morning is that let's wait and see what happens between Russia and Ukraine today.

Starting yesterday, we were hearing this talk about a meeting that is supposed to take place this afternoon between Russia and Ukraine. And it is supposedly going to be proposals leading up to a peace plan, that if successful would then lead to a cease-fire. But plenty of officials, including from the U.S. are expecting -- expressing skepticism about this, saying, OK, let's see if this is real this time. Because so many other peace plans and cease-fire plans have failed prior.

So first, let's see what happens there. If that's not going to work out, we have these sanctions ready to go -- Christine.

ROMANS: Sanctions ready to go and again the Americans and E.U. officials have said all these sanctions are meant to be able to layer on and ratchet up, depending on what the response is from President Putin.

All right, thank you, Michelle.

BERMAN: Now while that's happening the president of Ukraine and the NATO secretary-general are both expressing cautious optimism about a possible cease-fire with pro-Russian rebels that could be announced later this morning. This as heavy fighting still does continue in eastern Ukraine. Pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian forces engaging in a bloody struggle for a key highway near Donetsk.

I want to bring in Reza Sayah right now live from Kiev.

Reza, you've kind of been our fact checker right now, giving us a sense of what's actually going on the ground and what the status is of this possible cease-fire deal that could be announced and formalized within hours.

Good morning, Reza.

REZA SAYAH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Good morning, John. I just lost you there for a second, but I believe I'm back. This is a critical day for Ukraine. Obviously this has been a bloody

conflict for the past four months. But there are indications that today we could have a breakthrough. We could have an end to the fighting. It all depends on what happens in about three hours in the city of Minsk, Belarus. That's where both sides of this conflict are set to meet and both sides say they are ready to sign a seven-point cease-fire agreement.

We should point out some Western capitals, some members of NATO have expressed skepticism. Some have criticized this process saying that this is a ploy by Moscow, a ploy by Russian President Vladimir Putin to buy more time for the pro-Russian rebels in southeastern Ukraine and avoid sanctions. However, the Ukrainian president himself, Petro Poroshenko, and rebel leaders say they support this process and they are optimistic.

If it goes into effect this morning, among the conditions are an end to all military operations in southeastern Ukraine. The pulling out of all troops, the establishment of a humanitarian corridor in the region so whoever wants to get out can leave the area and humanitarian aid can get in and the positioning of international monitors to make sure these conditions are met.

Mr. Poroshenko yesterday said as soon as it is signed at 2:00 p.m., he's going to call off the Ukrainian forces. And that rebel leaders say if they observe the Ukrainian forces have heeded this cease-fire, they will also put an end to the fighting -- John.

So all eyes on 2:00 p.m. local time. That's in about three hours. We'll see if, indeed, this agreement is signed and then wait to see the impact on the battlefield, if, indeed, it ends the fighting -- John.

BERMAN: Yes. A lot of ifs. A lot of conditions, Reza. But perhaps the biggest reason for home that we've had in some time in this conflict.

Reza Sayah in Kiev, thanks so much.

ROMANS: New information this morning about a U.S. citizen from Massachusetts who is now being linked to ISIS. 32-year-old Ahmad Abousamra is already wanted by the FBI and now intelligence officials believed he has joined ISIS using the computer skills he honed in Boston to help the extremist group's social media campaigns.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARIE HARF, STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESWOMAN: Obviously, we take very seriously the threat of American citizens who join terrorist organizations. We take additional care when thinking about options for taking them off the battlefield, but that your citizenship cannot serve as a shield if you take up arms against the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Meanwhile, the British Prime Minister David Cameron is opening a legal path to possible military strikes against ISIS in Syria. He's declaring the Assad regime illegitimate meaning the West would not need the Syrian leader's permission to enter Syrian air space on intelligence law.

Now Iraq's president is appealing for help from the international community to fight ISIS. He tells CNN's Christiane Amanpour ISIS can be wiped out if he gets cooperation from the United States and neighboring Middle East nations. According to Iraqi Defense officials, a U.S. airstrike in Mosul killed at least two high-ranking members of ISIS. There are also reports the terror group's leader was also killed, the Pentagon, though, denying that.

BERMAN: A doctor from Massachusetts is the third American to be diagnosed with the deadly Ebola virus. He is being flown home from Liberia to get treatment in a special bio-containment unit in a Nebraska hospital. Dr. Richard Sacra contracted this disease while treating maternity patients in Monrovia. He will arrive in Omaha today, not a moment too soon for his wife.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DEBBIE SACRA, WIFE OF DR. RICHARD SACRA: I just had a call from the doctor who put Rick on a plane to come to the United States. And he said that Rick is clearly sick, but that he was in very good spirits and he was -- and he walked on to the plane.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: That's got to be a good sign.

Some researchers are warning it is only a matter of time before isolated cases of Ebola are discovered in developed nations. They are warning the U.S. and other nations to be on alert. More than 1900 people have been killed by this virus in four West African nations. This outbreak taking more lives than all other recorded Ebola outbreaks combined.

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

European stocks mostly lower right now. The Asian stock market ended the day mostly down. U.S. stock futures slightly lower right now. The Dow and the S&P 500 both hit into their highs yesterday. Stocks, though, erased those gains and closed lower.

This morning, though, all eyes are on jobs. The August jobs report due out at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time. CNN Money predicts the economy added 226,000 jobs. That would be 17,000 more, John, than in July. The unemployment rate likely 6.1 percent. It would be a slight drop from July's 6.2 percent. If those forecasts hold, August will be the seventh straight month with more than 200,000 jobs added, adding to the longest winning streak for job creation since 1997.

BERMAN: That's a big number for August. August is sometimes a problematic month. If we have 226, wow. All right. For answers to your pressing job questions, there is one

person you want to turn to. Christine Romans. She's hosting a Facebook a chat with Labor Secretary Tom Perez today. Head to CNN Money's Facebook at 11:00 Eastern to join in. Ask tough, tough questions to Christine Romans.

ROMANS: Yes. You can jump on there right now and start asking questions. I'm going to start looking through the questions later this morning.

BERMAN: Ask tough questions, she'll give you tough answers.

Meanwhile, this morning, tributes keep pouring in for Joan Rivers who died Thursday at the age of 81. She was showbiz through and through. Those who knew her are saluting her immense comedic talent and really fearless approach. Joan Rivers really was already a legend when she became sort of fashion famous turning Hollywood red carpets into danger zones for celebrities.

CNN's Miguel Marquez has more on her death.

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, Christine, a few hours after the announcement was made of Miss Rivers' death, we got the first glimpse of Melissa Rivers, her daughter who has been by her side since this tragedy began to unfold. She was returning to her mother's upper east side apartment dressed in sunglasses, a dark coat. She ran from a car into the apartment. A few moments later, her son, Cooper, Miss Rivers' only grandchild, emerged from that car as well, only 13 years old, to deal with all of this. He then went into the apartment.

The funeral now been set for Sunday here in Manhattan.

What brought us to this very, very sad end, though, was eight days ago when Miss Rivers, after completing a show at the Laurie Beechman Theatre, she was done by 9:30 or 10:00 p.m. She went to dinner. Early the next morning, she was at Yorkville Endoscopy, where she had what should have been an outpatient procedure. She went into cardiac arrest, stopped breathing, and then was brought here to Mount Sinai.

I can tell you, guys, that there are now two investigations related to Yorkville Endoscopy. Both the New York State Health Department has announced that it is investigating and also the accrediting agency for those sort of facilities is investigating. The medical examiner here in New York also says that an autopsy will be done and the cause and manner of Miss Rivers' death will be known -- John, Christine.

BERMAN: Our thanks to Miguel for that.

You know, there still are questions about what happened there.

Meantime, 10 minutes from now, we're going to take a look back at the extraordinary life and career of Joan Rivers.

Eleven minutes after the hour, Ferguson police respond as the Justice Department investigates their department following the deadly shooting of unarmed black teenager, Michael Brown. What is Brown's family and what -- saying and what Ferguson's top police officer now has to say, that is ahead.

ROMANS: Plus an Arctic chill on the way. Millions facing a big drop in temperatures. What you can expect and where after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: The Ferguson, Missouri, Police Department responding to a federal investigation announced Thursday by the Justice Department. This probe is in response to last month's fatal shooting of an unarmed black teenager that set weeks of protests. The Justice Department looking into allegations of unlawful policing tactics in Ferguson. Chief Thomas Jackson says the allegations are without merit.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you think there's a problem with the department when it comes to civil rights?

CHIEF THOMAS JACKSON, FERGUSON, MISSOURI, POLICE: No, I don't. I think that we've worked really hard to make sure that we treat everybody fairly. I think there's a segment of the community that is a little bit distrustful right now in light of some of the events of recent weeks.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Meantime, a judge is deciding whether to release Michael Brown's juvenile criminal record after requests from the media.

BERMAN: So he was once a rising star in the Republican Party with serious national aspirations. Now former Virginia governor Bob McDonnell and his wife Maureen may face possible decades in prison after being convicted on multiple corruption charges. These charges stem from granting political favors to wealthy -- a wealthy businessman in exchange for more than $165,000 in loans, and gifts, and watches, riding Ferraris.

The sentencing is set for January. Defense lawyers said the McConnell plan to appeal the verdict. This was a staggering verdict.

ROMANS: All right. New developments in the Kansas Senate race. Democrat Chad Taylor's request to be taken off the ballot rejected by the Kansas Secretary of State who says the candidate does not meet the requirements to withdraw from the race. Now Taylor had been running against three-time Republican incumbent Pat Roberts. He's now expected to go to court to be formally removed from the ballot.

BERMAN: The reason that's important is because there's an independent also. If a Democrat gets his name off the ballot, this independent could beat the Republican incumbent. It has national implications. It could tip the balance in the Senate.

ROMANS: Wow. Interesting.

All right, a 10-minute hailstorm pummeling farmers in central Minnesota. Apple trees and zucchinis, soy beans, pumpkin crops decimated by hail the size of tennis balls. Hours later, another storm packing 70-mile-an-hour wind dropped three inches of rain in the very same place.

BERMAN: I want to get an early look at your forecast for today with Chad Myers.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Christine, John, good morning. Pretty pleasant weather across the country today. More scatter storms popping up in the Deep South, same storms as we have every day down here. It's humid, it's muggy. The sun comes out, storms come up. Same story. Same thing for today. If you are flying across the south, expect maybe a delay or two in Atlanta. We've had them the past couple of days.

But look at the weather from Minneapolis to Denver, back up to Billings. 60s for highs, 40s for morning lows. And yes, there's some color in the northern Rockies, already. Time for lake viewing. Now for tomorrow, scattered storms across the northeast. That will certainly slow down airports from New York, down to Boston, and also Philadelphia and all the way down to Washington, D.C. Scattered storms across parts of Florida as well. Temperatures, though, very nice for the next couple of days. Enjoy the cool weather for the upper Midwest.

Guys, back to you.

BERMAN: It feels like football, it does.

ROMANS: Turnaround time. Turnaround. Once it's Halloween turnaround, twice in Thanksgiving turnaround, three times, and it's Christmas. It just goes like that. Turnaround time.

Eighteen minutes past the hour. The world mourning a legend. Joan Rivers dead at the age of 81. Dubbed the queen of mean, always making her audiences laugh, even during the toughest of times. A look back at her iconic career ahead.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RIVERS: If you can laugh at it, you can deal with it. That's how I live my whole life. If I -- I am Jewish. If I were in Auschwitz, I would have been doing jokes just to make it OK for us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: This morning, so many people in Hollywood, around the world, really, remembering Joan Rivers for her ability to make so many people laugh.

ROMANS: She was a pioneer, a quick witted, sharp tongued comedian who wasn't afraid to poke fun of herself or anyone else.

BERMAN: Yes. Anyone. ROMANS: For that matter. We look more on her life and her

unforgettable career from entertainment correspondent Nischelle Turner.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RIVERS: Can we talk?

NISCHELLE TURNER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Joan Rivers could always talk.

RIVERS: Do you know what it's like to go in the morning, to take off a facial mask and realize you're not wearing one? You don't know.

TURNER: With sometimes outrageous jokes, nothing was ever off limits.

RIVERS: I hate old people. I -- if you are (EXPLETIVE DELETED) old, get up and get out of here right now. Right now.

TURNER: Born in 1933, Rivers says even as she was growing up in the New York suburbs, she wanted to be an actress.

RIVERS: I never had a choice. I always say it's like a nun's calling.

TURNER: She joined the iconic Second City Comedy Theater in 1961. As her comedy career was taking off she married producer Edgar Rosenberg in 1964, who would manage her career and become the focus of so many of his wife's jokes. The pair had one daughter together, Melissa. In 1965, Rivers saw her career get a huge boost when she appeared on "The Tonight Show" with Johnny Carson for the first time.

RIVERS: He gave all of us our starts. My life changed. I went on the show the first time, seven years of struggling, coming out of Second City. And on the air, he said, "You're going to be a star." And the next day my life is different.

TURNER: It was the start of a 21-year professional relationship with Carson and the show. She made regular appearances, eventually becoming the show's substitute host in 1983. But Rivers' decision to launch her own show on the brand-new FOX Network in the fall of 1986 ended her relationship with Carson and "The Tonight Show."

RIVERS: The minute I became competition, it became out to kill me, out to kill me. And that's what came down. Forever. Never spoke to me again.

TURNER: The show was canceled in 1987, just a few months later, Rivers' husband, Edgar, committed suicide in a Philadelphia hotel room.

RIVERS: I was in the hospital and some idiot called the house, and they said, where is your mother? Somebody from Philadelphia. And Melissa said, she's not here, and they said please tell her your father killed himself. How is that for a phone call?

TURNER: Rivers regrouped by doing what she always did, putting her life out in the open.

RIVERS: If you laugh at it, you can deal with it. That's how I've lived my whole life.

TURNER: Her career surged again when her withering take on red carpet fashion full of biting remarks and celebrity putdowns exposed her to a whole new group of fans.

RIVERS: I think I'm working the best I've ever worked now. Because I -- it's all been done to me. What are they going to do? Are they going to fire me? I've been fired. I'm going to -- audiences are not going to like me, a lot of audiences haven't liked me. I've been bankrupt. My husband has committed -- I mean, it's OK. And I'm still here. So it's OK.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: What a life. What an impact. You know, shattered a lot of ceiling. She had made a lot of people laugh.

ROMANS: She really did. Paved the way for a lot of young women comedians. I mean, she -- a lot of women in that field say that she was the one who opened up all the doors for them.

BERMAN: You know, it was interesting. She came up in the '60s with Woody Allen. A lot of other comics at the time but she says even though she came up with there, she was never part of the group. She never went out for sandwiches after performances at the night clubs just because, you know, she was a woman. She wasn't invited. But look at her now.

ROMANS: All right. 26 minutes past the hour, happening right now, President Obama meeting with world leaders trying to stop Russia from invading Ukraine and to stop the growing threat of ISIS terrorists. We are live after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)