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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Kerry Heading to Middle East; Twin Bombings North of Baghdad; Preliminary Report on MH-17 Disaster

Aired September 09, 2014 - 05:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: New information this morning on the president's plan to fight ISIS. Meeting with lawmakers today one day ahead of his national address. This as investigators grow closer to identifying the ISIS executioner who has already killed two Americans. We are live with the very latest.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Record rainfall flooding the southwest. We have dramatic new video coming in overnight as that rising water turns deadly. Indra Petersons tracking the storm for us this morning.

ROMANS: Home Depot hacked. Tens of millions of customers at risk. What you need to know about the huge breach of the security.

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

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

ROMANS: More now on that hack on Home Depot's payment system that could lead tens of millions of consumers scrambling to protect their private information.

Home Depot confirmed hackers remained in its computers unnoticed for about five months. Dating back to April.

BERMAN: Five months.

ROMANS: Five months. In that time they stole credit card data. But Home Depot says they have not stolen debit card PINs. The massive breach affects customers who shopped at its 2200 brick-and-mortar stores in the U.S. and Canada. No hack of Homedepot.com. No official confirmation yet on how many people we're talking about here. How many people have their information compromised. But the "New York Times" this morning is reporting it is more than 60 million.

BERMAN: Sixty million.

ROMANS: That is 20 million more that the hack at Target that simply rocked the retail world and caused a crisis among retailers about how they are not being secure enough with your data.

So what did you shop at Home Depot in the last five months? The company is offering free identity protection and credit monitoring services to anyone who paid with a card recently. Home Depot will roll out more secure chip and PIN technology to all U.S. stores by the end of the year. Security experts say many retailers are not prepared to defend against hackers and to protect your most sensitive personal information.

I will tell you, I have shopped at Home Depot in these last five months.

BERMAN: Me, too.

ROMANS: They say they're offering -- I have no -- no one has offered me any credit monitoring information yet.

BERMAN: No, I received no notification from Home Depot.

ROMANS: Yes. But we're watching very closely on the dark Web for that information that's available. We're watching very closely, the cyber security experts who are monitoring whether ATM accounts have been drained or whether there's been any kind of, you know, purchases that have been made or identity theft. And we'll keep you posted on this.

BERMAN: So many people affected.

President Obama meets with top lawmakers today to discuss the ISIS threat. This comes a day ahead of his address to the nation on the growing concern about ISIS. Specific details have not been released about his speech or his plan. He is expected to outline a broad notion of how to battle ISIS. It could have big implications in Congress where officials could have to vote on military intervention ahead of the midterm elections.

After weeks of a tense political standoff, Iraq has a new unity government in place. Iraq's parliament has sworn in both Sunni and Kurdish deputy prime ministers which has drawn praise from Secretary of State John Kerry.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KERRY, SECRETARY OF STATE: Just a few hours ago, overcoming the obstacle of ethnic and sectarian divides, the Iraqi parliament approved a new and inclusive government. One that has the potential to unite all of Iraq's diverse communities for a strong Iraq. A united Iraq. And to give those communities a chance to build the future that all Iraqis desire and deserve.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Secretary of State John Kerry is headed to the Middle East today to try to build support for the fight against ISIS. Stops are planned in Jordan and Saudi Arabia.

Elise Labott has more on the secretary's trip and what he hopes to accomplish.

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ELISE LABOTT, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: John and Christine, key to the fight against ISIS will be the nations in the region where the group poses the biggest threat. That's why Secretary Kerry leaves later today on this coalition building tour to shore up support from Gulf leaders.

Now key to this was the formation of an Iraqi government, which took place on Monday. Kerry wants to enlist Sunni Arab help for this new government as it fights ISIS. The Iraqis will need military support. We're talking about arms, training, intelligence, money to pay off Sunni tribes to shun ISIS. You'll also need to stop the flow of foreign fighters into Iraq and Syria, dry up their funding.

But another critical aspect will be driving a wedge between Sunni Arabs and ISIS and delegitimizing the group's ideology. Saudi Arabia and Jordan, where Kerry will be visiting, both have a role to play here in convincing other Sunni Arabs that ISIS is the enemy.

Now Saudi Arabia has been very effective in beating back al Qaeda in the country over the last several years and analysts say it has unique religious legitimacy to combat ISIS now.

Secretary Kerry will also be seeking help for the growing humanitarian crisis caused by ISIS. There's also the issue of Turkey which neighbors of both Iraq and Syria, Secretary of Defense Hagel will be traveling there this week to firm up their role in the coalition -- John, Christine.

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ROMANS: All right. Elise Labott, thank you for that.

Meantime, raging violence outside Baghdad ahead of the official formation of Iraq's new government. A Sunni town north of Baghdad came under deadly attack from ISIS Monday. The area about 45 miles from Baghdad has been surrounded by terrorists for months when suicide bombers struck at the facility's perimeter -- allowing another to infiltrate into a market at the center of the town.

CNN's Jomana Karadsheh is in Baghdad this morning with the latest.

And Jomana, the people in this town say they need help, they need airstrikes, they need help to hold off ISIS.

JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christine, this Sunni town was under the control of ISIS' predecessor al Qaeda in Iraq back in 2006. And they say they went through these bitter days as they described them. And they say they will not allow this to happen again. They will fight until the end, until the last breath they say, and they will not allow ISIS in. But as you mentioned, they are not getting any support. More than 80 days now. And they have been defending their own town.

Men, women and young boys, also taking part in the fight. They want more support from the Iraqi government. They say they are not getting it. And they are making a plea to President Obama, to the United States, they say, to help them like they helped other towns that have been under siege.

This sort of attack, again, Christine, highlights the fact that ISIS in this country has not been weakened. It is still strong, it is capable of carrying out attacks. Now Iraq here really hopes that with the formation of this new government that came together last night that this could be a step closer for Iraq uniting and fighting ISIS in a united front.

But, of course, we've seen this government. It is the same faces that we have seen in the past. Sunni, Kurdish and Shia politicians, who have been in power for the past 10 years. Just reshuffled around into different positions.

Now two key posts at a critical time for Iraq. A vulnerable Iraq right now. There's no minister of Interior, there's no minister of Defense. They haven't agreed on candidates and the prime minister is saying give him a week and he will have those candidates ready for a vote.

This is an inclusive government, but Iraq has always had inclusive since 2003. The real challenge right now is that these politicians who have real deep and serious political division amongst them, that they try and work together in the coming weeks and months to try and fix the problems in this country and a big challenge is going to be getting the trust of the Sunni community here who were key in the fight against ISIS, prove to them that this is not just about change of government, that this is going to about change of policy and attitudes toward the Sunnis who want to be part of the government which should make them feel they have a stake in it, too.

ROMANS: So many challenges, so many challenges. Thank you so much, Jomana Karadsheh, in Baghdad.

BERMAN: U.S. officials say they may have identified the masked man seen on video beheading James Foley. The identification not 100 percent, but an official tells CNN they have a pretty good idea of just who it might be.

Authorities are also breaking down the video of Steven Sotloff's execution to determine if it was carried out by the same man as many people do believe.

CNN spoke exclusively with a spokesperson for Sotloff's family. He says Sotloff was sold to ISIS by so-called moderate Syrian rebels. And the White House, he says, has not been supportive of the Sotloff family.

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ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: He was sold at the border?

BARAK BARFI, SOTLOFF FAMILY FRIEND: Yes, we believe that the so- called moderate rebels that the -- that people want our administration to support, one of them sold him probably for something between $25,000 and $50,000 to ISIS and that was the reason that he was captured. The relationship between the administration and the Sotloff family was very strained.

COOPER: Strained?

BARFI: Yes. We do not believe that they gave us the cooperation we need. And the Sotloffs -- once Steve appeared on that video, the Sotloff family made one simple request of the administration and they were rebuffed on that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: They will not tell us what that request was.

A number of senators have introduced a bill authorizing up to $10 million for information leading to the conviction of anyone involved in the murders of James Foley and Steven Sotloff.

ROMANS: New questions being raised this morning about a Boston area mosque with connections to Islamic radicals, including the ISIS social media expert. At least 10 suspected of convicted terrorists worship at the Cambridge mosque. Among them, the accused Boston marathon bombers and Ahmad Abousamra. He was raised in Boston, disappeared in 2006 and has now reemerged as the propaganda mastermind for ISIS.

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JULIETTE KAYYEM, FORMER DHS ASST. SECRETARY: At some stage, we have to accept reality, which is a number of people who have taken up arms against Americans, either here in Boston or abroad with ISIS, have an affiliation with that mosque.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: A spokesperson for the Islamic Society of Boston which runs the mosque says, quote, "If we ever observed any criminal or violent behavior, we would immediately intervene and notify the authorities."

Happening now, deadly flash floods crippling the southwest communities. Hundreds needing rescue from these rising dangerous waters. Dramatic new video and what you need to know for your day today, next.

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ROMANS: Some extreme rainfall causing problems in the southwest. Flooding in Arizona leaving one woman dead when her car was swept away. Some moments of sheer terror for a man plucked from his car just before -- look at that. Firefighters say the driver thought he could make it across the rushing water.

This story always begins like that.

BERMAN: Yes, I know.

ROMANS: Thought he could make it. But the force of the floods ended up pushing him off the road into the brush and trees.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We had a rope in place. They stabilized us and we walked over to him. We had to smash his window to get -- to pass him equipment because he couldn't get his windows down anymore. We're able to pull him out through the window. We couldn't get the doors open. And we secured a life vest on him and a helmet, and walked him to the shore.

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ROMANS: Arizona's governor, Jan Brewers, declared an emergency. Flooding forced schools and roads to close.

BERMAN: Record setting rain in Nevada left roadways looking like this. Ugly with water just gushing down. The water left cars and trucks stranded on the road for miles. Two hundred kids were trapped in an elementary school in the southeastern part of that state. They were evacuated safety.

ROMANS: Children also had to be rescued from the daycare center in Portsmouth, Virginia. Rescue workers had to get 35 children and several employees across the flooded parking lot by boat. An apartment complex across the street was also evacuated. Many residents lost all their belongings to waist deep water.

BERMAN: I hope those kids just thought it was like a fun boat ride.

ROMANS: I know. She looks a little upset.

BERMAN: Yes. That's too bad.

All right. In California, more than 40 water-related rescues reported in the Palm Springs area. One school evacuated there after the slow- moving storm flooded the roadways and knocked out power. An official from the California Highway Patrol called this one of the worst storms that he had ever seen in that region and the threat far from over in a big chunk of the country.

Indra Petersons with us this morning.

Good morning, Indra.

ROMANS: Whoa. Hi, Indra.

INDRA PETERSONS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning. Yes, we have three kind of major storms that we're watching today. Three areas we're going to be focusing on. One in the southwest. Look at these totals. We're talking about seven inches of rain around the Phoenix area yesterday.

Breaking records at Sky Harbor for the most amount of rain ever in any day in the calendar year. Unbelievable amount of rain they have. And of course we still have that moisture leftover from Norbert. Still enhancing the amount of rainfall they could see even today as that flooding threat remains.

Into the southeast, notice we're still talking about that system. But now stretching all the way into the northeast but some scattered showers can still be seen here, but of course right around the Carolinas, that's where we see the concentration for the heaviest amount of rain. Several inches will still be seen there today.

Switching gears quickly, though, because this is going to be the biggest story. Two to five inches of rain into the Midwest. The bigger story will be the severe weather component of it. Even a threat for isolated tornadoes. We're talking about quad cities, Omaha, Kansas City, even out towards Minneapolis, spreading tomorrow to 42 million people.

We're talking -- look at these hubs. Detroit, Cleveland, Chicago, even out towards St. Louis. The concern is, of course, you have this clash of warm and cold air, which also means -- translate that, right -- cold air making its way and you're going to feel that dive down. Especially in the upper Midwest and eventually into the northeast by the weekend.

ROMANS: Look at that.

PETERSONS: We have lots going on across the country.

BERMAN: It sounds busy.

PETERSONS: Yes. (INAUDIBLE) real quickly.

BERMAN: All right. Thanks, Indra.

So let's take a look at what's coming up on "NEW DAY." Kate Bolduan joins us now.

Good morning, Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR, NEW DAY: Hey, guys. Good morning. We're going to be following the breaking news overnight. You guys were discussing it this morning.

Home Depot confirming a massive data breach over the last five months and it could be -- it could be worse than that hack attack on Target that we talked so much about. We're going to hear from experts how did this one happen, what they know at this moment. What is Home Depot not saying. And also what you need to know if you shopped at Home Depot recently or not even so recently in the past five months.

And of course, we are discussing that very graphic video of NFL player Ray Rice knocking out his then fiancee, now his wife, in an elevator. He's been suspended by the NFL. But outrage is growing now about the league's clearly initially weak response to this whole thing. And now many questions on -- many are questioning how much the NFL really knew and when.

We have a former player that's going to be joining us. Duce McAlister and Wally Williams, they're going to be weighing in. A lot to discuss this morning. It's really difficult to see that video and it should anger everyone who sees it.

BERMAN: And if any NFL official did see it before yesterday, this is the tip of the iceberg. This will be a major -- it's already a big scandal but it will be huge.

ROMANS: I want to know who saw that video.

BERMAN: Big question.

ROMANS: Who saw that video.

BERMAN: All right. Kate, thanks so much.

ROMANS: Thanks, Kate.

BERMAN: New this morning, investigators revealing what caused Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 to crash. That report in the hands of Richard Quest. He breaks it all down for us right after the break.

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BERMAN: New details this morning on what led to the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17. The Dutch Safety Board releasing a preliminary report after combing through data, satellite images and more.

So what do we know now and just as importantly what answers remain elusive?

CNN's Richard Quest has the report in his hands. He's been looking through it. He joins us now from Atlanta.

Good morning, Richard.

RICHARD QUEST, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John. The startling thing about this report is it says everything and yet it never actually uses the word missile once. It tells us that it was -- the plane was brought down by high energy impact. It was brought down by external causes. It talks -- says there was no technical malfunction and that the plane broke up in midair.

Put this all together and, of course, what it is saying, is that a missile brought down the aircraft MH-17, but never actually uses the word because it's the job of this report to discuss what happened and how to prevent it happening in the future. Not to apportion blame -- John.

BERMAN: And the black box was not tampered with in any warning to the pilots, Richard, before the blast?

QUEST: We know the black boxes weren't tampered with because their unique digital signature was valid. The integrity was maintained to that aircraft. No warning at all. Particularly haunting the way in which, John, we just know at 1320 GMT, transmissions stopped. And it was a Russian air traffic controller who commenting afterwards to another air traffic controller said, the digital -- the radar signature, it just disappeared.

BERMAN: Haunting as you say. Richard Quest for us in Atlanta. Thanks so much.

Fifty-three minutes after the hour right now. A fourth American infected with Ebola and on the way home to the United States. What we know about this latest American case next.

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BERMAN: The fourth American infected with the Ebola is now on his or her way back to the United States for treatment. The patient contracted the disease in Sierra Leone will be cared for in the isolation unit in Emory University Hospital in Atlanta. Now patient, I said, his or her, he or she, has not been identified arrived this morning.

President Obama, meantime, is pledging more U.S. aid to stop the worsening outbreak in West Africa. Thousands of new cases expected there over the next three weeks. Officials from the World Health Organization say conventional treatments to control the spread of Ebola are not working. More than 2100 people in four West African nations have now been killed. More than half of them in Liberia. So the situation growing worse.

All right. Thanks for watching. "NEW DAY" starts right now.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking overnight. It could be the biggest hack ever. The information for as many as 60 million Home Depot customers reportedly stolen. If you shopped there in the last five months, you are at risk.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Closing in. The U.S. believes they may know who the killer in the James Foley video is. This as the family of Steven Sotloff says the White House did not do enough to save their loved ones. We have the latest.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Under fire. Ray Rice suspended indefinitely from the NFL after this video of him punching his wife is made public. But new questions this morning, what did the league know before that video was released?

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. It's Tuesday, September 9th, 6:00 in the East.

And we begin with a major hack attack, possibly the biggest ever. If you've shopped at any Home Depot in the U.S. or Canada, put the coffee down, please listen up, this is not false panic. Your information may be compromised.

Tell them the number. BOLDUAN: More than 60 million credit card numbers may have been

stolen since April. That's according to "The New York Times." Compare that to the largest-known attack to date at Target, which we talked about it so much last year. That affected some 40 million cardholders. That really puts it back into perspective.