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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Scotland Rejects Independence; Senate Okays Funding for Anti- ISIS Fighters; Two More U.S. Airstrikes against ISIS; ISIS Releases New Propaganda Video; U.S. Tourists Stranded in Cabo San Lucas

Aired September 19, 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: Breaking news. Scotland rejects independence. Overwhelmingly voting to remain a part of the United Kingdom. We are live with the reaction coming in.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Congress now on board with President Obama plan's to train Syrian rebels in the fight against ISIS. Support for the plan coming with new air strikes and Iraq and ISIS releasing new propaganda video of a British journalist held hostage.

Live team coverage of all these developments ahead.

ROMANS: Thousands of American tourists stranded in Cabo. The U.S. military now air lifting victims of hurricane Odile out as another monster storm approaches.

BERMAN: That's a mess.

ROMANS: What a mess.

Good morning. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.

BERMAN: I'm John Berman. Great to see you this morning. It is Friday, September 19th. 4:00 a.m. in the East.

And we do have major breaking news out of Scotland this morning. The United Kingdom will remain united. Voters in Scotland rejecting the hotly contested vote for independence by a fairly big margin. 55 percent to 45 percent.

CNN's Nic Robertson joins us now live from Scotland in Glasgow.

Good morning, Nic.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John. Those results are becoming clear really in the last couple of hours. A massive turnout, the biggest ever in Scotland. Almost 85 percent of the population here turning out.

Behind me the end, if you will, of the yes party, the yes campaign that wanted independence. They came to the city square in Glasgow to celebrate for that in the small hours of the morning. And then it evaporated. As the results came out, it was one district after another around Scotland that was coming out for the no campaign.

We've also heard this morning from British Prime Minister David Cameron saying that he is delighted with the result.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID CAMERON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: The people of Scotland have spoken and it is a clear result. They have kept our country of four nations together. And like millions of other people, I am delighted.

As I said during the campaign, it would have broken my heart to see our United Kingdom come to an end. And I know that that sentiment was shared by people not just across our country, but also around the world because of what we've achieved together in the past and what we can do together in the future.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: So we've heard from David Cameron over the last few days saying that Scotland will get increased powers if they voted no. He's made moves already to begin that process, to give those greater powers over taxation, over welfare, over and health. All those issues. That to be set up and begun very soon. But he also said that he would expect similar changes for England, for Wales and Northern Ireland.

So big constitutional issues on the move here for the whole of the United Kingdom. We've heard as well from the leader of the Scottish National Party, the leader of the movement for independence, a concession speech where he said he would continue to push for all those increased and improved powers that have been promised from London -- John.

BERMAN: They didn't win the vote, but they won major concessions and it is clear, Nic, as you say, this is a turning point for the entire United Kingdom. I imagine David Cameron as he says he's delighted because he gets to keep his job. Probably wouldn't have if this referendum had gone another way.

Nic Robertson, great to have you for us in Scotland this morning. Still part of the United Kingdom.

Thank you.

ROMANS: And stocks there are up and the pound is up as well so there's market reaction for sure.

OK. The White House savoring a victory this morning in the Congress. Boy, that's pretty rare these day. The Senate Thursday passed a measure to fund arms and training for so-called moderate Syrian rebels by a vote of 78-22. That was one day after the House approved the funding which the White House has been lobbying hard for.

We've got CNN's Dana Bash with more on this vote from Capitol Hill.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: John and Christine, if it sounds very quiet where I am, there's good reason for it. Congress is gone. They have left town and they're not coming back until after Election Day, that even though there are obviously are some big issues facing this country and maybe more importantly internationally.

There was a lot of talk about wanting to have a broad new debate about authorizing force for the president, the commander-in-chief, to deal with ISIS. But that didn't happen and it's not going to happen until at least after Election Day. They punted.

The only thing that they did before leaving town was vote on the very narrow authorization to arm and train the Syrian rebels. And the vote before leaving in the Senate was really overwhelming. More than 70, almost 80 senators voted for it. And it was bipartisan, but there was bipartisan opposition as well.

You heard very strong sentiment on the Senate floor from opponents, both Republican and Democrat, saying that they just think that this is the wrong idea. That there's no guarantee of who these arms are going to, that this money and time that the U.S. will spend training these rebels will be successful given the bad example of what happened in Iraq.

And so you have that coupled with those who say we have to do this. We have no choice because ISIS is such a threat not just in the Middle East, but potentially here in the homeland. So that debate did go on but again in a very narrow way. And maybe even more disappointing but maybe not surprising is that when it comes to the Senate, it was tucked into a must-pass spending bill.

So the bill to fund the government, to keep it running, to make sure there is not another shutdown, that included that authorization. And it was done on purpose and in coordination I'm told with the Democratic Senate majority leader, the Republican House speaker, to make sure that the president got the authority he needed, some legislative kabuki theater.

May not be surprising, but disappointing to some members of Congress who wanted to have a vote so they can show their constituents where they stand on that measure -- John and Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: Our thanks to Dana for that.

Not a lot of political bravery here in terms of clean votes.

President Obama did thank Congress for approving the funding request. He expressed confidence that the plan will work saying the threat posed by ISIS, quote, "doesn't frighten us."

Secretary of State John Kerry carried the same message to Capitol Hill, telling the House Foreign Affairs Committee that air strikes against ISIS have been working.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JOHN KERRY, SECRETARY OF STATE: I don't think these guys are 10 feet tall and the intelligence tells us that as we begun to hit them, we have been able to prove that to some degree.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: In France, President Francois Hollande officially committed French jets to air strikes against ISIS targets. Starting soon. That is in addition to the reconnaissance flight already being run by France.

And in Iraq the U.S. military launched two more air attacks on Thursday. One near Mosul, the other southeast of Baghdad.

CNN's Anna Coren live with us in northern Iraq.

Good morning, Anna.

ANNA COREN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is absolutely right. ISIS fighters are not 10-foot tall and bulletproof. And many of them are local tribes people, part of the Sunni communities in these towns and cities here in Iraq who have joined ISIS. But I think the thing is that they do fight to the death. That's what we are seeing certainly out on the battlefield. There are many suicide bombers.

They would fill up trucks with explosives. Drive them into the Peshmerga frontlines. They lay IED landmines. This is what the Peshmerga are encountering.

But in saying that, John, you know, there is momentum. It is growing. The Peshmerga are managing to reclaim these towns and villages in these critical areas.

Now the plan is to cut off the flow from Syria. So that is why they are going after places around Mosul, places such as Azuma where a battle is still, you know, being fought rather intensely. We've been trying to get up there for some time now to try and show what is taking place, but there are developments happening around these areas.

As I say, the plan is to really cut off the artery, the flow from Syria or fighters and arms and weapons that would obviously then cripple the fighters here in northern Iraq. But the focus is very much on those towns and U.S. air strikes are making a huge difference as you mentioned. 176 now today according to U.S. Central Command.

And then we have France agreeing to also conduct air strikes here in Iraq. They are not prepared to go into Syria. They're going to stay in Iraq. That is going to be their focus. You also have the Australians committing eight F-18 fighter jets to this war.

So, John, definitely momentum growing as military advisers come into the country here in northern Iraq to train, assist, advise the forces. Not just the Kurdish, but also the Iraqi Security Forces to try to put together an effective fighting force that can take the fight to ISIS on the ground -- John.

BERMAN: The size of that coalition and the complexity will grow as they try to retake the major cities like Mosul, as Anna has been telling us over the last few days.

Anna Coren for us, live in the northern part of Iraq, thanks so much.

ROMANS: So the ISIS media machine is parading out another hostage to deliver its message. It's a new slickly produced video. It features British photojournalist John Cantlie because he's delivering ISIS propaganda clearly under duress. We're not playing the video on our air.

CNN's Karl Penhaul is standing by live in London with more on the video and the ISIS media machine.

Good morning.

KARL PENHAUL, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Christine. As you say, John Cantlie, a very experienced British photojournalist, he was kidnapped back in November 2012. He was traveling with James Foley, the American journalist, as we know who has already been executed, and they were kidnapped at the same time.

Now what the pair were working on was, in fact, a report about a previous kidnapping that Cantlie was involved in, in 2012, for a period of seven days and then managed to escape. So in fact when he was taken in 2012, November, that was the second time around for him, although now in the hands of ISIS fighters, he has been there, of course, much longer.

Now this new video that ISIS has put out is very different from the previous hostage videos. It shows Cantlie sitting at a desk almost broadcast news style and saying that over the coming days and weeks he is going to be putting out a series of reports in what he says the truth about ISIS. And he says, yes, you may think I'm saying this because I'm a prisoner. He says, of course I am a prisoner.

But he also says that he is doing this because he feels that he's been abandoned by the British government at a time when he says that other governments have negotiated their nationals out of captivity.

Of course, one would assume that this has been done under duress, but John Cantlie seems a little more relaxed than the other hostages when he is delivering this message. The message seems a little bit more spontaneous. But you've really now got to question why is ISIS showing the hostage or this hostage in this fashion.

Is it a way to change tact to try and grab our attention? Is it perhaps some kind of strategy that John Cantlie may have come up with and persuaded his captors to allow him to do this in effect to buy more time for his life or is there some other motivation behind this -- Christine.

ROMANS: You try to put yourself in his shoes and try to figure out how you try to stay alive in this circumstance. Clearly he's a little more relaxed than the other -- the other staged videos we have seen because there isn't a guy with a knife. You know, to very -- he's not in the desert with a guy with a knife standing over him. But clearly, clearly, the ISIS media machine trying to appeal to talk to us but also talking to people maybe who are recruits, potential recruits for ISIS as well.

Karl Penhaul -- thank you for that, Karl.

BERMAN: Some other news 12 minutes after the hour. The death toll exploding in West Africa from Ebola. More than 2600 people have been killed by the virus. The United Nations has declared the outbreak a threat to international peace and security. Officials there are moving quickly to set up a mission in West Africa to coordinate relief -- new relief efforts.

In Sierra Leone, a three-day lockdown has been ordered for six million people. Everyone confined to their homes through the weekend while house-to-house searches are conducted to find victims who may be hiding.

In southeastern Guinea, there was a deadly mob attack on a team of Ebola educators. All they were doing was trying to reach locals and teach them how to avoid getting infected. Eight people, including three journalists, were killed there.

You can see the level of panic here. The situation becomes so dire, there is now a black market in West Africa for the blood of Ebola survivors. Now that is believed to have anti-bodies to fight the virus. Health officials are very concerned about black market blood spreading HIV and other disease.

You can only imagine the problems that that causes.

ROMANS: Wow. All right. 13 minutes past the hour. Time for an EARLY START on your money this morning.

European stocks sharply higher on news Scotland will stay with the U.K. The pound also gaining against the dollar and the euro. Asian shares are up as well and U.S. stock futures are pointing higher this morning.

The Dow and the S&P 500 both hit record highs yesterday. And with news out of the U.K. and Alibaba's stock market debut this morning, big IPO, it may very well be another record day on Wall Street.

Also new this morning, an update on this huge Home Depot hack. Home Depot confirms hackers got data for 56 million credit and debit cards. That's much bigger than last year's Target hack. 40 million card holders were affected there. Malware was placed on Home Depot's cash registers from April until just earlier this month. Undetected for months. The company says it has eliminated the malware and not surprisingly it has now increased its security measures.

BERMAN: Good. Well, after 56 million people, it's good that they finally got rid of it.

ROMANS: Wow. Retailers have to do so much more. They are just -- they really have to do more.

BERMAN: Fourteen minutes after the hour. A scare in the air. A JetBlue flight forced to make an emergency landing. An engine blown out. Smoke filling the cabin. Passengers sharing the dramatic stories ahead.

ROMANS: Plus the Arizona Cardinals distancing themselves from sideline player Jonathan Dwyer. What we're learning this morning about the abuse allegations against him next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: New details this morning about the abuse allegations against Arizona Cardinals running back Jonathan Dwyer. Police now revealing he allegedly broke his wife's nose when he head butted her in the face after she bit his lip to stop unwanted sexual advances. This all happened during a July domestic dispute according to police. Dwyer was arrested Wednesday, but is now out on bond.

The Cardinals have now placed him on the reserve non-football injury list in effect this season. Cardinals coach Bruce Arians says he was stunned by these allegations.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRUCE ARIANS, CARDINALS COACH: It was like the worst nightmare a coach can have right now. For me, personally, I was totally shocked because I've known John a long time. And it was totally out of character from what I've known. And so I was extremely shocked by the incident and -- but we have to move forward.

You never forget the victims. The victims come first. But yes, you build relationships. And me as a coach, I've always taken the approach that these are my children. And I treat them as my children. And this is very hard. If this was my son, I would have a very hard time dealing with it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: The national women's advocacy Ultraviolet flew a "Goodell Must Go" banner over the Georgia Dome Thursday before the Bucks- Falcons game. That banner flew over several NFL venues last week.

BERMAN: Police in Florida investigating a grisly murder-suicide. They say a grandfather, 51-year-old Don Spirit, fatally shot his daughter and six of his grandchildren, then took his own life when deputies arrived in his home in the town of Bell, in Florida. The children ranging age from 3 months to 10 years old. Officials say Spirit had an extensive criminal record dating back two decades.

ROMANS: The manhunt for a Pennsylvania State Troopers killer intensifies with each day. That suspect Eric Frein is still at large. The 31-year-old is now on the FBI's most wanted list and a $100,000 reward is being offered. Officials say this man is a survivalist. He is an expert marksman with a hatred for law enforcement. On Thursday thousands of troopers from across the country attended

funeral services for the slain Pennsylvania Trooper Corporal Brian (sic) Dickson.

BERMAN: A real scare for passengers on JetBlue flight forced to make an emergency landing just minutes after it took off from the airport in Long Beach, California. Cell phone video right here captured the mid-air chaos. Passengers say they heard a loud boom and suddenly there were smoke everywhere.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JONATHAN HUBBARD, PASSENGER: Blew out. We're out over the ocean.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Wait, wait. What do you mean the engine blew out?

HUBBARD: Our right engine blew out.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: You actually heard it?

HUBBARD: Yes, a pop blew out. Smoke engulfed the cabin where you couldn't see the person next to you.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: That bad?

HUBBARD: It was that bad.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Wow. Four people did suffer injuries. JetBlue will only say the plane had an issue with one of its engines. It is still not known exactly what happened to that engine.

ROMANS: Terrifying.

The throat doctor who was attending Joan Rivers when she went into cardiac arrest is speaking out. In a statement delivered to CNN, Dr. Gwen Korovin denies reports she performed an unauthorized procedure on the 81-year-old comedian. She also denied taking a selfie with the unconscious Rivers during the procedure. A source told CNN Korovin took the photo saying Rivers would think it was funny. Investigations into Rivers' death are still under way.

All right. American tourists stranded. Terrifying. Air lifted out of hurricane ravaged Cabo as another monster storm approaches. The latest on this next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: Welcome back. The King Fire east of Sacramento burning out of control this morning, moving north toward Tahoe National Forest. More than 4,000 firefighters have now dumped an unprecedented half a million gallons of fire retardant on this blaze. It has already consumed 73,000 acres and it's still growing, still threatening 12,000 homes. The man suspected of starting the King Fire has a court appearance

this afternoon. 37-year-old Wayne Allen Huntsman has an extensive criminal history that includes a conviction for assault with a deadly weapon. Police say he willfully started the fire, but they're not saying why.

BERMAN: Four days after Hurricane Odile hit, thousands of stranded American tourists are still trying to evacuate Cabo San Lucas. There are reports of extensive damage, also looting in the Mexican resort city with thousands now left homeless.

A northern California couple is still missing and forecasters, they're keeping a close eye on Tropical Storm Polo, which is steaming toward Mexico's southern coast.

Sounds like a tough situation there.

ROMANS: Absolutely.

BERMAN: All right. Breaking news this morning. Scotland saying no to independence. A huge, huge turnout. The United Kingdom remains united, but there will be big changes coming with big implications for the entire world.

We're live right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)