Return to Transcripts main page

Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Teen Killer Escapes Prison; U.S. Surveillance Flights Over Syria; Pistorius Guilty of Culpable Homicide; Ravens Respond, Rout Steelers 26-6

Aired September 12, 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: You've heard from a lot of different kinds of companies doing business with and in Russia. But these sanctions are hurting them and will cause more uncertainty. So far, it hasn't changed Vladimir Putin's strategy, but it has hurt the economy.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. EARLY START continues right now.

(MUSIC)

BERMAN: Breaking news this morning: notorious teenage killer breaks out of prison. A statewide manhunt to find T.J. Lane. How did someone serving a lifetime, three life terms for killing three classmates managed to get out in the first place? We have new developments ahead.

ROMANS: Breaking news this morning: Oscar Pistorius guilty of culpable homicide in the shooting death of his girlfriend. Will the Olympic hero now be sent to prison? We are live in South Africa with what comes next.

BERMAN: Happening now: hunting ISIS in Syria. U.S. surveillance planes tracking down the terrorists as we learn new information this morning about just how big that terror group has grown. Secretary of State John Kerry right now asking other countries to join in the fight as well. We are live with the latest this morning.

ROMANS: Good morning. Welcome to EARLY START, everyone. I'm Christine Romans.

BERMAN: I'm John Berman. Great to see you. It is Friday, September 12.

ROMANS: Say it one more time.

BERMAN: It is Friday. It is 5:00 a.m. in the East.

ROMANS: And a lot of news to end this week. We begin with breaking news, a teenage killer who escaped prison overnight back behind bars in Ohio.

Nineteen-year-old T.J. Lane captured hours after a daring prison break last night. He is serving three life terms for the 2012 murders of three students at Chardon High School. You may remember the smirk he wore during much of his time in court. Lane broke out of Allen Oakwood Correctional Center in Lima, Ohio, Thursday night. He broke out along with two other inmates.

I want to bring in Ted Rowlands live on the phone. He's on route to Lima, Ohio, this morning.

What a dramatic night, Ted.

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Absolutely, Christine and John. It turns out that T.J. Lane really didn't make it very far. He was about 100 yards away from the main perimeter outside of the prison when they found him. He was the subject as you can imagine of the statewide manhunt.

And in Chardon, people were very upset, as you can imagine. They closed schools there today because of it. They were able to get him with a helicopter which was equipped with infrared. They set up a perimeter.

The one thing officials had going for them is they knew that he had escaped in a relatively short order. So, they were able to set up a perimeter. He never made it out of the area.

But as John alluded to, how did a gentleman serving three life sentences, who was convicted of a school shooting, just two years ago, get out of custody?

A minimum security prison where he is being held. He is in protective custody. A lot of questions are going to be asked of this facility and of the warden. They did have a press conference late into the evening and that is what more important, we got to go back, look, at this, is an issue, to see what is going on.

ROMANS: A minimum security facility. I mean, this is -- I mean, I would not use the term gentleman actually to describe him. This is someone who smirked throughout his legal process, Ted. Smirked throughout his legal process almost thumbing his nose at the murders he had committed. I can see how the school would have been so upset that he would even have a chance to breathe one breath of freedom.

What can you tell us about the other inmates that he escaped with? Is another one of those still on the loose?

ROWLANDS: We are getting conflicting reports. Just literally within the last 10 minutes, we are hearing reports that the final inmate may have been brought back to the prison.

However, we have not been able to confirm that at this point. The last we had officially is that he is still at large and the subject of a manhunt that is going on all night, but we will sort that out. At this point, we don't have that confirmed.

ROMANS: All right. Ted Rowlands, who's working the story for us this morning, bright and early, at 5:00 a.m. what a dramatic night. Ted, thank you. BERMAN: Imagine what it is like to be a school in that area when you

heard the kid, a school shooter, convicted of murdering three people, broke out of prison overnight. That had to be a terrifying night in that part of the country.

All right. We have more breaking news this morning. Oscar Pistorius guilty of culpable homicide. A judge in Pretoria who already cleared the former Olympian of the most serious charge of premeditated murder. She said yesterday the prosecution failed to prove that beyond any reasonable doubt.

Today, though, announcing he was found guilty of culpable homicide and one of three gun charges against him. We're going to have the latest from Kelly Phelps coming up in a few minutes. The headline is guilty of culpable homicide.

ROMANS: All right. ISIS has as many as three times more fighter than previously thought. That bombshell from the CIA, which credits stronger recruiting for the terrorist group's rapid growth from 10,000 fighters in Syria and Iraq to now as many as 31,000.

Meanwhile, Secretary of State John Kerry's swing through the Middle East is appearing to be succeeding. Ten Arab nations signed on to fight ISIS, vowing to, quote, "do their share". But Kerry insists the clash with ISIS is not a war.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KERRY, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: -- is engaging in a very significant counterterrorism operation. It will go on for some period of time. If somebody wants to think about it as being a war with ISIL, they can do so, but the fact is it's a major counterterrorism operation that will have many different moving parts.

(END VIDDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: CNN's Ivan Watson is monitoring Kerry's trip around the region.

Ivan, has he accomplished his mission or is there more for the secretary to do?

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I think he is still working on it. I mean, this is shuttle diplomacy from Baghdad to Saudi Arabia and now, he's headed to Turkey, looking for Middle Eastern support for this campaign, getting it to some degree. It had about ten Arab countries sign a joint communique vowing to work with the U.S. to battle against ISIS, to try to cut off funding and cut off the flow of recruits to Syria and Iraq, to joining ISIS ranks.

And now, Kerry is trying to convince turkey to join on board.

Now, you'd think that the Turks would be quick to join because Turkey has been NATO ally of the U.S. for some 50 years. But the Turks were at this meeting that John Kerry was at yesterday and they didn't sign the joint communique. Why didn't they do that? Well, the Turks are dealing with the major

hostage crisis. Up to 50 Turkish diplomats and security personal and their families all held hostage by ISIS since June when the Turkish consulate in the Iraqi city of Mosul was captured by ISIS militants. They are terrified that their diplomats and civilians could be beheaded just like the American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff.

And also, the Turks have been supporting rebels in Syria seeking to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the past. They have been asking for U.S. help with that. Help they have been disappointed hasn't come from the U.S. So, there is probably negotiating to do and the Turks, they share borders with Syria, with Iraq, with ISIS, they are clearly worried that terrorist attacks could hit on home turf, as well. So, it's going to be some hard work for John Kerry to try to convince a NATO ally Turkey to help the U.S. even though the U.S. has had two patriot missile batteries on Turkey's border with Syria, helping protect it from Syrian aggression over the course of the past several years -- Christine.

ROMANS: Wow. That is a complicated chess board in the Middle East. No question.

Ivan Watson, thank you.

BERMAN: Meanwhile, CNN has learned the first U.S. surveillance flights have already been passing over Syria. They are already tracking ISIS targets in case the airstrikes are ordered by the president. If that does happen, Turkey and Germany announced they will not be involved in the air strikes. The U.K. is a maybe.

Now, as for Syria, Syria's deputy foreign minister calls President Bashar al-Assad a natural ally for the United States.

ROMANS: Whoa!

BERMAN: Let's get more from White House correspondent Michelle Kosinski.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, John and Christine.

Well, we just heard the president's strategy. It's interesting now to hear from that the White House that they are currently reviewing targets inside Syria. They wouldn't characterize the number of these, the scope of the operation to be planned inside Syria, what exactly these targets are.

They say they are the result of expanded intelligence gathering in the region and they are under review among the White House, the Pentagon and national security advisors. This doesn't mean, though, necessarily that airstrikes are imminent.

What the White House is doing right now is trying to get Congress on board. That is showing some promise with support from, for example, Speaker of the House John Boehner.

But there are still some big questions, including from critics like Senator John McCain, who is asking, why didn't the president listen to some of his advisors in the past when they said he should be training and arming Syrian rebels back then? And he points to an interview the president did just a few weeks ago where he called it a fantasy that they would arm these rebels.

For its part, the White House says, OK, that interview was just referring to the situation back then. The president says that the rebels were just this ragtag band of pharmacists and doctors and the like. They say that was back then when they were talking about possibly arming them to fight Syrian President Assad. That the situation now, though, has changed, that after more than a year of U.S. assistance, these rebels are more organized and strong. The U.S. is also trying to gather international support with Secretary Kerry in the Middle East.

But it's interesting to hear from the U.K., I mean, the U.S.'s closest ally, the foreign minister said, let me be clear. There will be no British air strikes inside Syria. But then the prime minister suddenly backed it up and said, oh, no, no, well, nothing is off the table. All these options are being reviewed.

The White House says it is encouraged by what it calls robust international support for the president's plan, including, it says, within the Middle East -- John and Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: Robust, but conditional, that support so far.

Meanwhile, the mother of James Foley, one of two American journalists beheaded by ISIS says she is embarrassed and appalled by the U.S. government. Diane Foley insists officials in Washington did not do enough to rescue her son in captivity. She tells Anderson Cooper that the efforts to free her son was seen as an annoyance by officials and she had a especially harsh words for the FBI.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Did you know that what was happening to him and where he was?

DIANE FOLEY, JAMES FOLEY'S MOM: Anderson, to be honest, that part was rather frightening. We tended to know everything before the FBI or anyone else. Everyone was kind and supportive, but the FBI used us for information.

COOPER: Really? They came to you for information?

FOLEY: Absolutely.

COOPER: About his location?

FOLEY: Absolutely, absolutely. Oh, yes. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Diane Foley said officials threatened her with prosecution if she tried to raise ransom money to free her son.

U.S. national security adviser Susan Rice defends the government's work in the Foley case. She tells CNN that she and government officials, quote, "worked hard to be supportive and try to provide what information we could," she says. Diane Foley has launched a foundation to save others from the trauma that she experienced. She says the James Foley Legacy Fund will help reporters in conflict zones and their families.

ROMANS: All right. ISIS striking fear in people around the globe. Of course, so far, this terror group not spooking markets about overall unrest in the Middle East. The ISIS threat has not caused a spike in oil prices. Crude oil trading at about $93 a barrel much cheaper than it was this time last year, down about $15 from the initial spike when tensions escalated in Iraq earlier this year.

BERMAN: There's an oil glut?

ROMANS: There's an oil glut, and there's not a real concern. The markets are telling you that they think ISIS will be contained. Oil prices are relatively low. American production increased. U.S. military success in Iraq so far.

And stocks, John, are not flinching. They're very close to records. Dow and S&P less than 1 percent away from record highs.

Experts say there is a feeling ISIS can be contained to a relatively small part of Iraq and Syria. So, that is at least the battle on Wall Street at least right now.

U.S. stock futures today pointing slightly lower, European stocks mostly lower at the end of the week as well.

ROMANS: All right. Some big news this morning: Oscar Pistorius found guilty of culpable homicide in the death of his model girlfriend. The big question is will he go to prison? We are live in South Africa with what happens next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: Happening now.

Oscar Pistorius hears his fate, guilty of culpable homicide. Prosecutors in South Africa this morning asking the judge to revoke Pistorius' bail.

Kelly Phelps live from Pretoria this morning.

Kelly, bring us up to speed. There's been a lot of developments over the past couple of hours.

KELLY PHELPS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, this has definitely been the most compelling and fastest day of the extremely long trial so far. We have heard her reach the final verdict on all of the number of charges put to Mr. Pistorius. He has now been convicted of culpable homicide and also of the negligent discharge of a firearm in a public place in a restaurant. Acquitted on the other two firearms charges and of the most serious, the murder charge. Right now, in court, the two legal teams are battling over whether the court should extend his bail conditions.

Arguably his situation has changed now that there is a potential sentence of prison hanging over him. Bail is all about securing the accused attendance at the courtroom so that justice can be done and process followed.

And the state is trying to argue to the court that now that he has been convicted, he poses more of a flight risk and they should therefore revoke his bail. The defense, of course, is strenuously arguing that he has complied with all of his bail conditions so far even when he was facing potential conviction for much more serious offense, that of premeditated murder, and there is no reason why the court should not extend his bail pending the sentencing hearing.

ROMANS: A dramatic morning, indeed. Thank you for walking us through it, Kelly.

BERMAN: And still so much more to come.

ROMANS: Yes.

BERMAN: All right. I want you to take a look right now at very, very serious flooding in Memphis, Tennessee. Look at that.

Rescuers freeing this man from his sinking car with seconds to spare. An entire neighborhood north of the downtown area there had to be evacuated. Four-point-four inches of rain reported at airport there. More than doubling the previous record set in 1965. A flash flood watch remains in effect through tonight.

ROMANS: Look at him trying to get out of the car, unbelievable. Record rainfall rocking Mississippi. There is a state of emergency declared in Desoto County, three hours north of Jackson. Seven inches of rain falling in four days triggering rescue after rescue.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm thankful they got us out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have people running around, knocking on doors and getting dogs out. Couches were floating in the bottom apartments. I mean, it was bad.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Indra Petersons has a look at your forecast this morning. Hey, Indra.

INDRA PETERSONS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning. We talk about Memphis. It is typically about three inches of rain for

the month of September. Yesterday, seeing about 4.45 inches of rain. Look at the heavy that push to that region. It's the concern again today is where will this heavy rain be.

We are looking at the system kind of pushing through and a second system behind it. So, that's kind of the story we'll talk about each day separately so you kind of know where the heavy rain will be.

Today, down in the Southeast, especially around the Carolinas, same frontal system. So, that's the concern, that they could see some rain and flooding into this region. Meanwhile, the Northeast is looking good. Midwest starts to see some showers kind of picking up.

But here is the Saturday. Look at this in the Northeast to the Southeast, the systems are close to each other now, looking for more widespread showers across the region, and then, by Sunday, nice in the Northeast, but Sunday, it looks like you're still holding on into the Southeast with more of those showers, never what you want to see on that actual weekend.

Not to mention, look at the temperature threat. We're still talking with that cool air filling into the East. So, yes, huge temperature drop. Look at places like D.C. dropping from 91 to 79 today. Keep in mind, this is going to continue that cooling trend as we head in through Saturday.

BERMAN: So, a lot of changes. Yes, it looks like everyone is going to get some rain this weekend up the Northeast. Thanks, Indra.

ROMANS: Thanks.

BERMAN: The Baltimore Ravens back on the field without Ray Rice, but somehow the team's former running back remains the focus of events on Thursday night. Andy Scholes with the "Bleacher Report", next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: The Baltimore Ravens took on the Pittsburgh Steelers last night, but I got to say, for a whole lot of people, this was not about football.

ROMANS: That's right. Andy Scholes was at the game and has more in this morning's "Bleacher Report".

Hey, Andy.

ANDY SCHOLES, BLEACHER REPORT: Hey, good morning, guys.

The M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, it was sold out and rocking for last night's robbery game. After what has been a really tough week for the Ravens, they showed up in a big way. If there are any questions, they certainly answered them. The Ravens defense played fast and furious. They forced three turnovers in the game, held the Steelers without a touchdown. Baltimore wins this one easily, 26-6.

After the game, the Ravens voiced their support for their ex-teammate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DENNIS PITTA, RAVENS TIGHT END: This is important to this city. He always has been. He has been unbelievable in the community here. And people have grown to love him and support him. As do we.

TERRELL SUGGS, RAVENS LINEBACKER: We all stuck together, man. You know, just prayers and tweets and supporting us as a team. We knew we had a game to win against our division rival. We all came together and we got it done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Now possibly the biggest surprise at the game was the support still shown for Ray Rice by the Ravens fans, in particular, women Ravens fans. I saw a number of women still wearing Ray Rice jersey, and shockingly, they say they still support Ray Rice.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARRIE BREEN, RAY RICE SUPPORTER: I believe that everybody deserves a second chance. This is a situation that is between his wife and himself. They are going to counseling. She married him for a reason. And she is standing by her man.

CHRISSY JOHNSON, RAY RICE SUPPORTER: I don't support what he did, but I support him as a person. We all make mistakes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: All right. So, just a warning for viewers, this video is kind of hard to watch. So, look away if you need to.

Marlins MVP candidate Giancarlo Stanton got drilled right in the face with a fastball. He would have to leave the game by ambulance. The reports are Stanton has multiple facial fractures and dental damage.

Mike Fiers, the pitcher who hit Stanton, he tweeted after the game that he was deeply sorry for hitting him and he hopes he has a speedy recovery. As do we. That is brutal to watch.

BERMAN: Terrifying. I'm a Red Sox fan. So, I always think back to Tony Conigliaro in the 1960s getting hit like that. It's terrifying thing. Stanton one of the most young exciting players in the game. So, especially concerning.

Andy, thanks so much. Fascinating stuff from the game last night in Baltimore, too, I have to say.

ROMANS: Yes, I second that.

Breaking news this morning. An escaped high school shooter on the loose for hours. Breaking out of prison. How did a school shooter in prison with three life sentences get loose? We are tracking the very latest after the break. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)