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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

More U.S. Airstrikes against ISIS; White House Fence Jumper in Court; U.S. Troops Arrive in Liberia

Aired September 22, 2014 - 05:30   ET

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

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: What we're now learning about the man and the new changes coming to keep the president and the White House safe.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: U.S. troops and millions of dollars worth of supplies arriving in West Africa set to help in the Ebola epidemic. But as communities face this fast-moving deadly virus, a new health crisis is developing. We are live on the ground in the front lines against this fight ahead.

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

ROMANS: I'm Christine Romans. 30 minutes past the hour. This morning American and European military advisors are in Iraq training Kurdish fighters to battle ISIS. U.S. and allied trainers are rushing to teach Kurdish guerillas how to defend cities and how to hold battle lines; and how to use the sophisticated weaponry that they're soon going to receive.

Recent Kurdish losses against ISIS 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 refugees on Friday and Saturday alone. At the same time, the U.S. military pushing back against ISIS from the air, one airstrike on Friday, two more on Sunday bring the total number across Iraq to about 186 airstrikes.

CNN's Anna Coren is standing by in Irbil with the latest.

And, Anna, you have seen this refugee crisis up close. Tell us about it.

ANNA COREN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Christine, that's right. We spent time with the refugees certainly here in northwestern Iraq. Very close to the Syrian border. They of course were the Yazidis who fled genocide from Sinjar last month. They now live in these camps, these dusty, desolate camps on these plains.

And you know, while they're in safety, this is going to be their home. Their permanent home. There is no timeline as to when they will be returning. And winter is fast approaching. I mean, yes, it is still excruciatingly hot here. But next month the rain starts. And these camps will be a sea of mud. So the race is on to try and winterize these camps. But UNHCR says they are running out of fund and they are desperately appealing for more assistance. But this is only -- you know, it's just one part of this humanitarian

crisis bring caused by ISIS. You mentioned what is unfolding right now on the border between Syria and Turkey. Those 70,000 people according to UNHCR. Those Syrian Kurds crossing the border. And Turkey's deputy prime minister believes the number is more like 130,000. We're talking about these people crossing, you know, in a matter of days. An extraordinary, you know, flood of people who are seeking safety.

They are facing massacres in their towns. ISIS has taken over more than 60 of these villages and towns and northern Syria very much focused around the major township of Kabani, about 50,000 people. There are now Turkish Kurds racing into try and help their brothers in arms. There are the Kurdish militias on the ground trying to fight ISIS. But, you know, at the moment, they are outgunned.

And now there is an appeal for the United States to launch the airstrikes that they have been talking about launching in Syria. The focus has been here in Iraq. But with this crisis now unfolding in Syria, certainly the Kurdistan president, President Barzani, he's described what's going on there as ethnic cleansing. And he is basically begging the United States you need to act now. You need to wipe out these ISIS militants who are committing a massacre.

ROMANS: All right. Anna Coren for us this morning in Irbil, thank you for that.

BERMAN: Former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta says he urged President Obama to arm the so-called moderate Syrian rebels sooner, but the president did not take that advice. Panetta says that 2012 in former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged the president's to buy 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 United States.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEON PANETTA, FORMER DEFENSE SECRETARY: I think they are a threat. I think they'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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Officials say that the United States will not be the only country launching airstrikes against ISIS in Syria if that happens. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Powers said on Sunday that she will leave it to allies to announce before for themselves that they will join in the anti-ISIS attacks in Syria. France, by the way, has already participated in airstrikes against ISIS in Iraq.

ROMANS: The Iraq war veteran who scaled the White House fence will be in federal court later today to hear the charges against him. Omar Gonzalez ran all the way across the White House lawn, got through the front door on Friday before Secret Service agents stopped him. President Obama expressing full confidence 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, they have officials scrambling for answers.

CNN's Erin McPike has more 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 put it on Fox News yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

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 being 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 while serving his country -- John and Christine. ROMANS: He is in court today. And a lot more questions about

security at the White House.

Thirty-six minutes past the hour. Time for an EARLY START on your money.

Stocks down around the globe this morning. European shares lower. Why? Well, leaders from G-20 warned about slowing growth in Europe. Asian shares hammered as well. We got U.S. stock futures pointing down right now.

But some perspective. Stocks still near records and have had a pretty decent year. The Dow was up more than 4 percent this year. The S&P 500 up about 9 percent. The Nasdaq climbing a stunning 10 percent so far this year.

So is it a time for a pull back? A lot of experts say no but you're going to need to keep this bull market running on something. Right? You're going to need strong earnings from companies and you're going to need stability in the geopolitical realm. So we'll see if they can hold on. It's been -- it's been a good year.

BERMAN: Yes. Stability in the geopolitical realm.

ROMANS: Yes.

BERMAN: That may be hard to come by.

Thirty-seven minutes after the hour. Thousands searching for a nursing student who vanished without a trace. We're going to tell you who police want to speak with next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: Well over 1,000 volunteers scouring Charlottesville, Virginia, this weekend. They're looking for any sign of Hannah Graham. The 18-year-old University of Virginia student who went missing over a week ago. She was last seen leaving a party alone during the early morning 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. And it's believed he is the man seen on security videos following her before she disappeared.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TIMOTHY LONGO, CHARLOTTESVILLE, VIRGINIA POLICE CHIEF: 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 has got to know where she is. And we want to know who that person or persons are. I have made no mistake about it. We want to talk to Jesse Matthew.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Police have already searched his car and 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 Frein has been on the run since a deadly ambush 10 days ago. Police say they found an AK-47 ammunition and other items that they believe that Frein hid in the woods. Well, Frein is considered armed and dangerous. Police believe he's only a threat to law enforcement.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE BIVENS, DEPUTY COMMISSIONER OF OPERATIONS: We have every reason to believe that 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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: You can imagine -- ROMANS: Yes.

BERMAN: People in that area very, very nervous. Police believe the 31-year-old survivalist planned the attack on the cops for months.

ROMANS: All right. This King Fire, it is a monster in Northern California. It's now spread to Tahoe National Forest. Fire officials say it's barely 10 percent contained this morning. 128 square miles had been scorched over the last nine days. Nearly three dozen homes and buildings already destroyed. You've got 21,000 homes and structures threatened by this fire.

BERMAN: Yes. We want to know what's going to happen out there. Indra Petersons has a look at the forecast.

I see that chart behind you. I doesn't look good in the next few days.

INDRA PETERSONS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It doesn't look great. I mean, we know the biggest concern is the drought conditions. So there's so much dry fuel in the region. But the one thing that we could use in the region are cooler temperatures and of course some rain. We need those humidity values really going up. But it's not really until about the end of the week that we are going to start to see that change.

You can actually see the humidity. Not too bad. Remember, it's just that dry fuel. We're still seeing the overnight recovery, we're still seeing 30 percent and 40 percent as we go through the afternoon. We're not dropping down to those teens and single digits that you typically see with wildfires like this. But again with the horrific drought season, you're still just battling all that fuel that is out there.

Into the northeast that you saw the system make its way through yesterday. That is making its way offshore today. High pressure is building in but all that cool air behind that cold front, you're looking at that contrast there. What does that mean to you? Wind. That's all you need to know. Definitely windy in the northeast today. Keep that in mind if you're flying. We could see some potential delays especially around the New York City area today as the system kind of makes its way in.

Otherwise, on the upside of it these temperatures are going to be on the climb up. We had some cool air move in, but it is going to be rebounding over the next several days. The mid-70s, not bad considering fall, officially the full first day is actually tomorrow. But into the southeast, yes, there's still some showers out there. We are going to watch a little system kind of cruise up the coast. But generally speaking pretty dry and quiet across the country. We are loving that. Not a bad way to start the fall.

ROMANS: All right. Thanks, Indra.

BERMAN: Thanks so much, Indra.

ROMANS: Let's take a look at what's coming up on "NEW DAY." Chris Cuomo joins us now.

Hi, Chris.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR, NEW DAY: Christine Romans, John Berman, it's good to see both of you. As usual.

We are going to talk about two security scares at the White House. There are a lot of question here. Here's why. We know people jump the fence but we have this new video here. It shows the moment that a man jumped over, 42-year-old. He's an Iraq war veteran. There's a story there we're going to tell you about as well.

Now here's the big concern. Yes, people jump the fence. But this guy made it all the way to the house and through a door. How does that happen when it's supposed to be so secure? We're going to talk about the measures that were in place. What may have failed. We have a former Secret Service agent here who's going to give some insight on what may need to change.

And then the big story obviously, ISIS. Front and center at the U.N. General Assembly this week. What does that going to mean? What does President Obama have to do? How much of this is going to be posturing? How much of it can actually be progress in terms of getting this coalition which has to be put in quotes because we're not just hearing about people stepping up yet? So how will he convince countries to go after ISIS?

Big question. No good answer yet. At least none that we've heard, friends.

BERMAN: See you in a few minutes, Chris. Looking forward to it.

ROMANS: Thanks, Chris.

A new help arriving in Western Africa to fight the Ebola epidemic. U.S. troops and supplies are now in place. We're going to take you live to Liberia next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: A second contingent of U.S. troops has arrived in Ebola- ravaged Liberia. Their mission, to focus on training local health workers and setting up treatment facilities to help stop the deadly virus from spreading.

Also arriving in West Africa from the United States, $6 million worth of medical supplies donated by humanitarian groups. One hundred tons of badly needed gloves, masks, antibiotics and pain medications. In Liberia, medical help is so scarce people are dying now from treatable everyday conditions. The outbreak has now claimed more than 2600 lives and the World Health Organization is set to release its latest support on this deadly virus.

Senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen, she's live this morning for us from Monrovia, Liberia.

Elizabeth, this is being called an unprecedented health crisis. You're there on the ground for us. What are you seeing?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Christine, one diplomat here calls it a nightmare. And when you're here, you really can see what she means. Even just managing the dead has become a huge challenge.

I went out with a dead body management team. There are several teams like this throughout Monrovia, working 12 hours a day just to retrieve dead bodies, which is so important because those bodies can transmit Ebola.

Now the big challenge to ending this outbreak is isolating people. It's a very basic principle. Isolate sick people. They can't do that with everyone right now simply because they don't have enough beds in Ebola treatment units. They're missing -- they need 700 beds in Monrovia alone. Hospitals are closed.

They have locked the doors. I mean, few are open, but many of them have closed and locked their doors. They are afraid of their staff getting Ebola because so many of them already have -- Christine.

ROMANS: So, Elizabeth, last week the president, President Obama, he promised help. How is that help going to change things? Will that change things?

COHEN: You know, the Liberians I've talked to are very grateful and very excited to get this help, but they're also realistic. What they're most excited about is those beds that I was talking about. That the U.S. has pledged to build 17 Ebola treatment units. Each of them will have 100 beds. That's significant. But you can't build hospitals overnight.

Also the U.S. isn't staffing these hospitals. They are not bringing in doctors and nurses to staff them. Now they say that they will be training Liberians, you know, thousands of them, but you can't train doctors and nurses overnight. Does that mean that lay people will be taking care of Ebola patients?

There's a lot of unanswered questions. Liberians know that these questions won't be answered anytime very soon.

ROMANS: You know, it seems as though -- well, health officials have said, authorities in the West have said that West Africans have been in denial about Ebola. And at times, we've seen these reports. They have been hostile and violent sometimes to people trying to help. Any signs that that is changing?

COHEN: You know, I think it continues, but there are some signs that it might be changing in some areas. For example, I went to a church in Liberia, in Kakata, not far from Monrovia. And the priest there said look, I'm getting them to -- people to wash their hands. Coming in and coming out of church in this chlorine wash.

Another interesting thing is that back in August, he told his parishioners we're not going to take communion from a common cup, from a common chalice anymore. It's just not safe. And he said he got pushback about that. People said this is our tradition, this is what we do, and he said no, we're not going to do it anymore. And now he said people are much more accepting. They understand why they need to do it.

He is the first to say that Liberians have been in denial. He said he prays for them to get out of denial and then he feels like his prayers are starting to work.

ROMANS: It's interesting and that's actually amazing leadership. Something that's definitely needed in the region.

Thank you so much. And we look forward to your reports from Monrovia, Elizabeth.

Fifty-three minutes past the hour. Mortgages are getting cheaper for some people. You will never guess who when we get an EARLY START on your money next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: Welcome back. Let's get an EARLY START on your money.

Stocks are down around the globe this morning. European shares are lower. Asian shares hammered as well. China's finance minister said his government will not boost economic stimulus just by some growth concerns there. U.S. stock futures pointing lower right now. Stocks still near record highs, though. They've had a pretty decent year.

Look at this. Dow is up more than 4 percent this year. The S&P 500 is up about 9 percent. The Nasdaq has climbed 10 percent so far this year.

This could be the cheapest fall for gas prices since the year 2010. The average -- current average for a gallon of regular has fallen to $3.33 a gallon. The lowest since February. Experts at Gas Buddy expect prices to keep falling to about $3.15 to $3.25 a gallon. And that's their forecast.

Falling gas prices fueled by relatively low crude oil prices. Oil has fallen more than $15 a barrel from June when turmoil in Iraq sent those prices climbing.

All right. Mortgages are becoming cheaper and easier to get if you are rich. The average rate on conventional 30-year fixed mortgages is 4.36 percent. Compare that to 4.24 percent on jumbo loans. There some mortgages of more 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. Banks have also lowered credit standards for those wealthier home borrowers. Jumbo borrowers used to need a 700 credit score, now lenders are accepting scores as low as 650.

Loosening up the credit standards, but at the very high end. Interesting. Fifty-eight minutes past the hour. "NEW DAY" starts right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. PETER KING (R), NEW YORK: I have great respect for Secret Service but this is absolutely inexcusable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Security breach. Brand new video showing a U.S. veteran making it over the fence and into the White House carrying a knife. The Secret Service now under fire. Can the White House be completely safe?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Making the case. President Obama meeting global leaders at the U.N. this week, now asking the whole world to prosecute recruits who try to join ISIS. This as investigators comb through the latest terror tape. Who is the ISIS leader speaking with an American accent?

CUOMO: Every parent's worst nightmare, pained words from the parents of a missing UVA student pleading for help. Plus, police issue a warrant for the man they believe saw Hannah Graham last after he bolts from a police station. We have the latest with the chief.

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 is Monday, September 22nd, 6:00 in the East. Kate is on baby watch. We have Brianna Keilar with us this morning.

Always great to have you.

KEILAR: Good to be here.

CUOMO: We'll let you know what happens with Kate. If we come out of a commercial, and I'm not here, you all know why.