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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
U.S. Training Troops Against ISIS; New Wave of Refugees Fleeing Their Homes; Concerns Over White House Security; The Search for Hannah Graham; California on Fire; British Hostage's Wife Pleads with ISIS
Aired September 22, 2014 - 04:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: The war on ISIS intensifying. The U.S. now training troops in Iraq, launching new airstrikes as a new wave of Syrians flee their home, pushed out as ISIS comes barreling in. We are live on the ground with the very latest on this terror fight, ahead.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: The Secret Service stepping up security at the White House after a man with a knife walks through the front door. What we are learning now about that man and the new changes coming to keep the president and his family safe.
ROMANS: U.S. troops sent millions in supplies arriving now in West Africa, set to help in the Ebola epidemic. But as communities face the deadly virus, a new health crisis is developing.
Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.
BERMAN: I'm --great to see you.
I'm John Berman. I'm also great to see you, if you can say. Twenty- nine minutes after the hour right now.
This morning, American and European advisors are in Iraq training Kurdish fighters to battle ISIS. U.S. and ally trainers are rushing to teach Kurdish guerillas how to defend cities and hold battle lines; also how to use sophisticated weaponry. That weaponry they will soon be receiving.
Recent Kurdish losses against ISIS are sparking a humanitarian crisis in the region. Officials say many thousands of refugees are fleeing from Syria into Turkey ahead of advancing ISIS forces. More than 70,000 fled on Friday and Saturday alone. At the same time, the U.S. military continues to push back against ISIS from the air inside Iraq. One air strike on Friday and two more on Sunday bring the total number across Iraq to about 186.
CNN's Anna Coren is in Erbil in Northern Iraq with the latest on this refugee crisis, Anna, you have seen this up close.
ANNA COREN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right, John. We spent the weekend up at the refugee camp about three hours from where we are, very close to the Syrian border. Now this is a camp filled with Yazidis, remember what happened to them last month in Sinjar where they fled genocide. Many of those now in the safety of this UNHCR camp. But John, the conditions there are absolutely miserable. They are living under plastic tents in these dusty, desolate plains.
And whilst it is excruciatingly hot here, winter is not that far away. It's only a few months. And the rains start next month, which means that these camps will be a sea of mud in no time. So there really is an appeal by these agencies for more donations. They are running out of funds and they cannot meet the demand.
Now the crisis unfolding on the Syrian/Turkish border. You mentioned that UNHCR says some 70,000 crossed over the weekend. Well, local officials now say it is more like 100,000 and the deputy prime minister of Turkey saying 130,000. It's just soaring, the number that are fleeing ISIS who are just taking over these townships in northern Syria extremely close to the Turkish border.
Now initially the Turkish forces were not allowing the refugees in. They were firing warning shots at them. And, yesterday, there was even scuttles between the protesters and Kurdish fighters who wanted to get in, cross into Syria to help the brothers in arms. Around Kabani, one of the townships that are under siege. So water cannons, tear gas being fired. Great deal of tension on these burders.
But we have to remember, Turkey has already taken in up to 1 million refugees since the civil war began in Syria three and a half years ago. But they say they are here to help, they prepared and prepared for the worst. And, John, they expecting many, many more of these Syrian Kurds to flee in the coming days.
BERMAN: It will be interesting to see how Turkey reacts, and if it changes their posture towards ISIS, which has been something of an enigma over the last several weeks and months. Anna Coren in northern Iraq for us, thanks so much.
ROMANS: Former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta says he urged President Obama to arm moderate Syrian rebels sooner but his advice was ignored. Panetta says that in 2012, he and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pressed the president to provide training and equipment to Syrian fighters. And he says the president's reluctance to do so is partly to blame for the rise of ISIS. Panetta calls the Islamic militant group a genuine threat to the U.S.
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LEON PANETTA, FORMER DEFENSE SECRETARY: I think they are a threat. I think the're as dangerous, as fanatical as terrorists, as al Qaeda was. And they have a large number of foreign fighters with foreign passports that make them particularly dangerous to the safety of this country.
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ROMANS: U.S. officials said on Sunday that America will not be the only country launches air strikes against ISIS in Syria. U.N. ambassador Samantha Powers said on Sunday morning talk shows that she will leave it up to the allies to announce for themselves that they will join in the anti-ISIS attacks in Syria. Now, France has already participated in air strikes against ISIS targets in Iraq.
Meanwhile, new pleas to ISIS to release British hostage Alan Henning. We are live in London with that in about 15 minutes.
BERMAN: The Iraq War veteran who jumped the White House fence will hear the charges against him in federal court today. Omar Gonzalez ran all the way across the White House lawn. He got through the front door on Friday before Secret Service agents stopped him. President Obama has expressed full confidence, nevertheless, in the Secret Service. But that security breach and another on Saturday involving a New Jersey man arrested after driving up to a security barrier, those breaches have officials scrambling now for answers.
CNN's Erin McPike has more now from the White House.
ERIN MCPIKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John and Christine, Secret Service beefed up the patrols and surveillance around the White House while they review Friday's breach and check their other protocols. Now, we could be seeing a congressional hearing on this at some point, because a number of Republicans have been appalled. Listen to how Peter King on Fox News yesterday.
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REP. PETER KING (R), NEW YORK: There could be a lot of conspiracies against the president, a lot of very complex assassination plots. This is the most basic, the most simple type of procedure and how anyone, especially in these days of ISIS and with concern about terrorist attacks, someone could actually get into the White House without stopped is inexcusable.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCPIKE: The Secret Service also said, after Friday's breach, that Gonzalez appeared to them to be mentally disturbed. But they have had in person contact with him before. Now, also, Gonzalez's former stepson, Jerry Murphy, told us that Gonzalez was suffering from PTSD from his time in the military, but the military would not confirm that to us. Murphy also said that the war, quote, "messed up his head" and that he was a great guy, but he lost his mind serving his country. John and Christine.
ROMANS: All right, Secretary of State John Kerry this week trying a new approach trying to stall nuclear talks with Iran, trying to get them back on track. Kerry met Sunday with Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Zarif with a possibility of more meetings later this week. Discussions on slowing on Iran's nuclear development in exchange for ending economic sanctions have been side tracked for months. A new U.S. proposals would focus less on lowering the number of Iranian centrifuges used to enrich uranium and focus more on removing piping between centrifuges.
BERMAN: A second contingent of U.S. troops has arrived in Ebola- ravaged Liberia. They will focus on training local health workers and setting up treatment facilities to help stop this deadly virus from spreading even more than it already has.
Also arriving in West Africa from the United States, $6 million of medical supplies donated by humanitarian groups -- 100 tons of badly- needed gloves, masks, antibiotics, and also pain medications.
A three-day lockdown in Sierra Leone ended. 6 million people were ordered to stay indoors through the weekend while officials searched house to house for Ebola victims. Now that controversial operation reportedly ended in the discovery of dozens of new patients; also nearly 100 bodies.
And in Liberia, the Ebola outbreak has crippled that country's healthcare system. Medical health is now so hard to come by that people are dying from treatable and preventable conditions, stuff like diarrhea, high blood pressure, and diabetes. The Ebola outbreak has claimed 2,600 lives so far.
ROMANS: 37 minutes past the hour. Time for n EARLY START on Your Money. Stocks down around the globe this morning. European shares lower after leaders from the G-20 nations warned about slowing growth in Europe. Asian shares hammered as well. U.S. stock futures pointing down right now. Stocks still near record highs. They've had a really good year. The Dow is up more than 4 percent this year. The S&P 500 up 9 percent. Look at that. And the NASDAQ has climbed a stunning 10 percent so far this year.
BERMAN: Who knew?
ROMANS: So what will keep the bull market running? Will it keep running? You need to see strong earnings from companies, healthy profits over the last few years have been mostly from cost cutting. Stocks could get another boost if companies show growing revenue. Another important factor, geopolitical stability. Turmoil in Iraq and Ukraine have not shaken the markets. They really haven't.
BERMAN: I mean, if this is stability, what does instability look like as far as the markets are concerned?
ROMANS: I know. I mean, the markets are telling you that there are other factors are at play here, and they don't think that what's happening in Iraq and what's happening in Ukraine are going to do -- now, if you look at Russian markets, it's telling you a different story altogether. The ruble is at a record low. Russian stocks have been in trouble. Money flowing out of Russia. But that has not affected the overall stock market.
Interesting, right?
BERMAN: Very.
ROMANS: OK, 38 minutes past the hour. Thousands searching for a nursing student who vanished without a trace. Who police want to talk to next. BERMANS: Plus, California on fire. More than 100 square miles
torched, homes destroyed, thousands evacuated. Were going to have the very latest next.
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ROMANS: All right. Well over 1,000 volunteers scouring Charlottesville, Virginia, this weekend, looking for any sign of this woman -- Hannah Graham, the 18-year-old University of Virginia student who went missing just over a week ago. She was last seen leaving a party alone during the early hours of September 13th. Now police in Charlottesville are looking frantically for 32-year-old Jesse Matthew. He is a nursing assistant at the University of Virginia hospital. It is believed he is the man seen on security videos following Hannah before she disappeared.
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CHIEF TIMOTHY LONGO, CHARLOTTESVILLE, VIRGINIA POLICE: I believe Jesse Matthew was the last person she was seen with before she vanished off the face of the earth -- because it has been a week and we can't find her. But somebody knows where she is. Somebody's got to know where she is. And we want to know who that person or persons are.
I've made no mistake about it. We want to talk to Jesse Matthew.
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ROMANS: Police have already searched Matthew's car, his apartment. They are awaiting the results of forensic tests this morning.
BERMAN: Authorities in Pennsylvania say they are closing in on the man suspected of killing a state trooper. Eric Matthew Frein has been on the run since a deadly ambush ten days ago. Police found an AK-47, ammunition, and other items they believe Frein had hid in the rural Pennsylvania woods. Although Frein is considered armed and dangerous, police are saying that they believe he is only a threat to law enforcement.
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GEORGE BIVENS, DEPUTY COMMISSIONER OF OPERATIONS: We have every reason to believe Frein is focused on law enforcement and specifically the state police. There is no indication he is a danger to the school children or someone else in the public. I believe he's had every opportunity to harm others if he had chosen to do so. His fight is with law enforcement.
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BERMAN: A lot of people are very, very worried. Police believe the 31-year-old survivalist planned this attack for months.
ROMANS: Three soldiers from the Afghanistan National Army have gone missing in Massachusetts. They were on a visit to Joint Base Cape Cod for a military exercise. Reports say the trio last seen at the Cape Cod Mall in hyenas. Now, all three were cleared to visit the U.S. by the State Department. The National Guard in Massachusetts says there is no indication of any threat to the public. But these three Afghan soldiers are missing.
BERMAN: The Pentagon taking a second look at a program that supplies military gear to local police around the nation. The so-called militarized police forces came under scrutiny after the intense response to protests in Missouri that followed the Michael Brown shooting. One major concern is that departments are allowed to receive help even if they have been censured for civil rights violations.
ROMANS: We know more about the basis for Ray Rice's planned appeal. Rice, indefinitely suspended by the NFL for assaulting his then- fiancee. ESPN says Rice will claim the elevator video that shows him punching her was edited, and that his additional punishment, following an initial two-game ban, was based on altered evidence. Meantime, Rice's former team, the Baltimore Ravens, overwhelmed this weekend by fans looking to exchange their Ray Rice jerseys. More than 7,000 people showed up at M&T Bank stadium. A spokesman for the Ravens says the cost of the jersey exchange ran into six figures.
BERMAN: A moving salute in Campbellsville, Kentucky, honoring a firefighter badly burned during an ice bucket challenge. 41-year-old Captain Tony Grider died a month after he was injured the event. Grider was on an extension ladder that came too close to a power line after spraying water on the Campbellsville University marching band for their ALS ice bucket challenge. That's so sad.
ROMANS: This morning, police in Delaware investigating the cause of a bus crash that killed two people and injured dozens more. Police say the bus was heading on south on Highway 1 in Wilmington on Sunday when it crashed and overturned. The woman killed was found trapped under the bus. 48 people treated for injuries at area hospitals.
BERMAN: Tens of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets here in New York City urging action on global warming. The so-called People's Climate March brought out celebrities like Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, who stood in solidarity with marchers in cities around the globe, urging world leaders to tackle the growing threat of carbon pollution. The rally comes just as 120 world leaders convene in New York for a United Nations Summit.
ROMANS: The monstrous King Fire in northern California has now spread to the Tahoe National Forest. Fire officials say it is barely 10 percent contained this morning. 128 square miles have been scorched over the last nine days. Nearly three dozen homes and buildings already destroyed. Right now, 21,000 homes and structures threatened by these racing flames.
BERMAN: NASA scientists have probably been up all night celebrating, not just because rocket scientists like to party. No. After the 442 million mile journey that took nearly a year, NASA's Maven spacecraft has finally arrived at Mars. The robotic explorer is the first dedicated to studying the upper atmosphere of Mars. It's there. It will take six weeks to adjust its systems and then it's going to start taking a very close look. There's also like some kind of comet that's going to speed by Mars coincidentally soon; it's going to get a good look at that as well.
ROMANS: Very cool stuff. All right, 48 minutes past the hour. Friends and family of the man held hostage by ISIS, this morning, they are pleading for his safety. We are live right after the break.
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ROMANS: The wife and friends of the man ISIS is threatening to execute next are pleading with the terrorist group to let him go instead. Alan Henning was kidnapped by masked gunmen in Syria as he helped deliver aid to victims of that country's civil war. On Saturday, his wife Barbara released a message through Britain's Foreign Office begging ISIS to release him or at least respond to her messages.
CNN's Karl Penhaul is live in London. Karl, you spoke with others who were in Henning's aid convoy, who knew him well. What did they tell you about him?
KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Christine, I spent part of the weekend up in northern England. That is where Alan Henning lived and worked as a taxi driver. And there around the town, sometimes on lamp posts, on trees, or on street signs, people tied yellow ribbons, a sign that they're that Alan Henning, against the odds, will come back home.
And talking to some of the people that had been on that Christmas aid convoy with him from northern England to Syria, I asked them how we should think of Alan? And they said, well, think of him as that big smile and that beautiful, beautiful golden heart. Let's remember that Alan Henning did not have to be there. He was an aid volunteer. But he spent a lot of his time dedicated to raising aid for Syria. He sacrificed family time. He sacrificed his Christmas. He often just washed cars for charity at weekend to try and raise funds to send to Syria.
I talked to one of the doctors that was on that aid convoy and this is the plea that she had for ISIS.
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DR. SHAMEELA ISLAM- ZULFIQAR, AID WORKER: Please do not make him pay for the actions of western foreign policy. This is not his crime, and killing him will not change this. It will only undermine you and your cause. Please let him go and release him back to us and to his family and friends and his children who are waiting for him.
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PENHAUL: Now I have seen videos of Alan Henning as that convoy made its way from Britain through Turkey into Syria. All the time he seemed to be having a joke with his Muslim volunteers on that convoy, trying to keep their spirits up after what was a very long drive. But, of course, as well over the weekend, we've heard another plea from Alan's wife Barbara.
We do know that Steven Sotloff, the U.S. journalist that was killed, his mother made a plea to ISIS just before he was beheaded. The question is right now is ISIS going to listen to anybody? Christine.
ROMANS: That is the big question. Just terrified. Thank you so much, Karl Penhaul, for that.
BERMAN: Gas prices, they've been plunging. The question is how long will it last and how low will they go? Christine Romans will have all of the answers and more with an EARLY START on Your Money next.
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ROMANS: Welcome back. Let's get an EARLY START on your Monday money. Stocks down around the globe this morning. European shares lower. Asian shares hammered as well as China's finance minister said his government won't boost economic stimulus despite growth concerns there. U.S. stock futures pointing lower right now, taking their cue from overseas. But important to note, stocks still very close to record highs and have had a pretty great year. The Dow is up more than 4 percent. The S&P 500 up about 9 percent. The NASDAQ has climbed a stunning 10 percent so far this year.
All right, this could be the cheapest fall for gas prices since the year 2010. The current average for a gallon of regular has fallen to $3.33 a gallon. That's the lowest since February. And experts at GasBuddy say prices will keep falling this fall to $3.15 to 3.25. That's the range they're targeting. Falling gas prices fueled by relatively crude oil prices. Look at this, oil has fallen more than $15 a barrel from June when turmoil in Iraq sent prices initially climbing. Lower demand after the summer vacation season is also a factor.
Mortgaging are becoming cheaper and easier to get if you're rich. The average rate on a conventional 30-year fixed rate mortgage is 4.36 percent. Compare that to 4.24 percent on jumbo loans. Yes, mortgages that are bigger than $417,000. Getting that lower rate on a jumbo loan is getting easier. Some lenders are now reducing the required down payment to as little as 10 percent instead of 20 percent. And banks have lowered credit standards for jumbo borrowers. They used to need a 700 credit score. Now lenders are accepting scores as low as 650 for rich people.
BERMAN: What could possibly go wrong?
ROMANS: What could possibly go wrong.
BERMAN: EARLY START continues right now.
