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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Obama's Immigration Reform Takes Shape; Secret Service Blunders Detailed; Recorded Voice Claims to be ISIS Leader; Congressional Leaders Decided; Virgin America Goes Public; Denver Hit With Record Cold

Aired November 14, 2014 - 05:30   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: New this morning, big changes for millions of immigrants living in the U.S. illegally. President Obama plans a major overhaul to the current system, one that has Republican leaders of Congress fuming. We are live.

A chilling new message believed to be from the leader of ISIS as a top U.S. general admits American troops may be needed on the ground in Iraq defeat back the terrorists. We are live with all the latest developments on ISIS.

Ebola returning to the U.S. a new infected patient expected to soon arrive at a Nebraska hospital. New details this morning on just who this patient is and how he are going to be treated.

Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans. It's 30 minutes past the hour this Friday morning.

The White House this morning is gearing up for a showdown with Republicans over immigration. An administration official tells CNN a range of options is being prepared for President Obama.

Those options include possibly giving legal status to the parents of green card holders and U.S. citizens. Congressional Republicans are furious demanding the White House slow down and negotiate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY), INCOMING MAJORITY LEADER: We would like the president to recognize the reality he has the government that he has. Not the one that he wishes he had.

REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R-OH), HOUSE SPEAKER: We are going to fight the president tooth and nail if he continues down this path.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: An executive order on immigration could soon be announced next week once the president returns from his eight-day trip to Asia. With the president on that trip in Myanmar this morning is CNN's Jim Acosta. Good morning, Jim. So this could be anywhere from 2 million to 5 million people we are talking about here who could get relief and be allowed to legally work in this country. How likely is it that the president does this?

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, we could be days away from this announcement according to administration officials. Let me break this down for you, Christine, what they are talking about here.

You know, the president has already delayed deportation or deferred deportation for what they call "The Dreamer Kids." These are kids who were brought to the United States by their undocumented parents. They did not know the parents were bringing them to a foreign country.

And so, you know, they argued through no fault of their own, they should not be deported. The president deferred deportation for those children. Now what they are talking about doing next is extending that policy to the parents of those Dreamer Kids.

And then in addition to that, as you just mentioned a few moments ago, extending that deferred deportations to the parents of children who are green card holders, who are U.S. citizens. These are sometimes referred to as anchor babies in the United States.

I should point out that at a news conference earlier today -- I'm sorry. I thought our live shot went down. Earlier today, at a news conference here in Myanmar with this country's opposition leader, the president said because Republicans did not act on immigration reform up on Capitol Hill, he is going to take action anyway. Here is what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: To Speaker Boehner, several months ago, that if in fact Congress failed to act, I would use all of the lawful authority that I possess to try to make the system work better. That's going to happen, that's going to happen before the end of the year.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: All right, Jim Acosta for us, talking about the president speaking in Myanmar on this big plan potentially next week to offer legal status for millions of people who have been here in the country illegally. We are going to get to him next hour on NEW DAY.

In the meantime, Secret Service officials this morning is trying to explain the series of blunders that allowed fence jumper, Omar Gonzalez, to get all the way into the White House in September.

A pretty devastating report released Thursday describes confusion, training breakdowns and communication failures. CNN's Joe Johns at the White House reporting this morning.

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: It's a disturbing new report for the Secret Service. The story of what happened here on September 19th when Omar Gonzalez comes over the fence and proceeds to go all the way into the east room of the White House.

Among other things, the report says a canine technician was stationed inside a van with his dog parked on the White House driveway when Gonzalez jumped the north fence.

The canine officer was on a call on his personal cell phone on speaker and without his radio ear piece in his ear and he had left his second tactical radio in his locker. But there were other problems.

When Gonzalez went to the north portico, he had to go through bushes. Authorities did not think anybody could go through the bushes but Gonzalez did. He proceeded to go through the doors of the portico and on into the building pushing back a female Secret Service officer who tried to tackle him, but he was too big.

Authorities say there were at least three encounters between Gonzalez and law enforcement officers this year, July 19th, July 21st and August 25th. He had numerous guns and ammunition and at least four hatchets. This investigation is continuing.

Authorities say no one has been disciplined and no one has been fired because that can't happen until all of the investigations have been completed.

ROMANS: All right, Joe Johns for us this morning.

U.S. military leaders trying their best to convince skeptical lawmakers the president's strategy on the war against ISISI can work. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel telling the House Armed Services Committee Thursday that the months of coalition airstrikes have stalled and in some places reversed ISIS advances.

Joint Chiefs Chairman Martin Dempsey refusing to rule out asking the president to send ground troops to Iraq.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEN. MARTIN DEMPSEY, CHAIRMAN, JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF: I would recommend at this point that those forces in Mosul and along the border would need to be accompanied by U.S. forces, but we are certainly considering it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: The speaker on a new audio message posted by ISIS claims he is ISIS Leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi. These just days after Iraqi officials claim he was injured in an airstrike.

Let's get the latest on the fight against ISIS now from our senior international correspondent, Arwa Damon. Let's start with that audio tape -- Arwa.

ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Christine. That audio tape that we cannot verify its authenticity was released via the official ISIS media branch. It is about 17 minutes in length. There are some specifics that are located in the recording.

They give us a bit of an idea of when it may have been taped. Al Bagdadi makes direct reference to the 1,500 additional troops the U.S. is sending into Iraq and he also welcomes the pledges of allegiance from other groups from various other smaller albeit extremists groups throughout the region and in North Africa.

In some cases have specific directions for them. In Saudi Arabia, for example, calling on the new ISIS branch there to conduct direct attacks against the royal family and broadly speaking he is calling on all of his followers to, in his words, create a volcano of jihad.

No indication as to whether or not he may have been wounded in those airstrikes that took place this past weekend. That is where much of the speculation has come from. That he may have been wounded in those airstrikes.

But this most certainly is ISIS continuing to cement itself and putting out the impression the leader is very much alive and well and the organization does continue to survive and thrive despite the ongoing coalition air strikes.

When it comes to the battle fields in Iraq and Syria, trying to differentiate one from the other at this stage when it comes to U.S. strategy, that is going to be very difficult.

They are inextricably intertwined and any sort of strategy to ultimately defeat ISIS is not only going to have to have an Iraqi component, but a cohesive Syrian one as well -- Christine.

ROMANS: All right, Arwa Damon for us, thanks for that analysis in Turkey for us this morning.

U.S. war planes have just finished a third round of airstrikes against the Khorasan al Qaeda cell in Syria. U.S. officials tell CNN the targets included at least one top Khorasan operative.

A law enforcement official tells CNN the strikes have taken a toll on the terror group. U.S. officials are concerned about Khorasan's ability to make bombs that can get pass airport security.

Residents in the self-proclaimed ISIS capital of Raqqa may have no love for the radical Islamist group, but many say they are angry at American airstrikes that have scattered ISIS fighters and disrupted the ISIS efforts to govern in Raqqa.

They told "The New York Times" that Harsh ISIS rule was better than no government. They say they now contend with power blackouts and soaring prices for food and fuel.

A multi-billion dollar price tag due to be announced this morning for emergency fixes to America's stock of nuclear weapons. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel ordered two Pentagon studies in the wake of a cheating scandal among nuclear launch officers. The studies found the U.S. nuclear arsenal has decayed badly since the end of the Cold War.

All right, no big surprises as top posts on Capitol Hill are decided. Senate Republicans unanimously named Senator Mitch McConnell as the Senate majority leader.

Senator Harry Reid was chosen to be the minority leader. John Boehner will stay on as speaker after a party voice vote. He is formally voted in as speaker in floor vote then in January.

House Democrats will hold leadership elections next week. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is seeking re-election unopposed. Democrats have created a seat at the leadership table for this woman, Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, as part of their plan to renew the party's economic message.

Happening today, the Republican-led House will vote on the Keystone XL oil pipeline. It's been a six-year battle over the controversial proposal to funnel oil from Canada to the gulf coast. The bill still faces some hurdles to final passage. The White House has hinted the president may veto the bill if it is passed before a regulatory review of the pipeline is completed.

Time for an EARLY START on your money, European stocks mixed right now. New data shows Europe's economy growing a bit more than expected. Asian shares ended the day mostly higher.

U.S. stock futures are pointing higher. It could be another record day if that holds. Yesterday, the Dow climbed 40 points. It ended the day with its 25th record close of the year.

Stocks jumping on solid earnings from Walmart. Today we'll have one more stock to watch, Virgin America. The airlines formed by billionaire, Sir Richard Branson, priced its IPO at $23 a share last night. It means it raised more than $300 million. Those shares start trading today on the Nasdaq. The ticker symbol VA.

Breaking overnight, a Nebraska hospital preparing for a new Ebola patient. Who it is and the treatment he may soon receive?

Plus the arctic chill already breaking records and it is not close to being over. A deep freeze is deepening. Indra Petersons is tracking the falling temperatures next.

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ROMANS: Millions of you across the country dealing with snow and frigid temperatures. This is the scene in Buffalo, New York, the first snowfall this season in the region. You can see people out there shoveling away.

Denver hit with a double whammy, record setting cold and then heavy snowfall. We are told at one point the temperatures in Denver dips to minus 14 although the flakes came down the hard, the area got a less than an inch in the end.

Some folks in nearby areas had to deal with up to 14 inches of snow. Who is getting hit today? Indra Petersons has an early start on forecast -- Indra.

INDRA PETERSONS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: The question is hit with what? Whether it's cold or snow, it still feels like the dead of winter, right. Let's talk about what's going on from the west coast even to the east coast. We have the threat of snow flurries even some icing out there towards Portland this morning.

Look at all the purple and blue. You don't even have to read the numbers. You know how far south all of this cold air has gone. Meanwhile into the northeast, look at the temperatures near the freezing point.

Many of you are talking about seeing some of your first snow flurries of the season. Boston today could actually get about an inch of snow. Meanwhile, all of this will make its way through New England and exit out of here.

Looks like New York City was hoping to get a couple of flurries, but now that system is kind of clearing out so those chances are pretty minimal at this point. Dome of high pressure. You see one, you see two. What does that mean?

Reinforcing shot of cold air is expected behind this system. So this cold air is hanging on through this entire weekend. Look at those 40s lingering in through New York City and down to the south. You are even talking about 40s today.

And then even notice 20s it is cooling off as you go through Denver as that second system will be making its way through. So we have it down. So we have snow flurries. We have lake-effect snow in the lakes out towards the Pacific Northwest.

Another system making its way in through the Rockies today, just keep in mind, that means flurries out towards the Midwest for the weekend by Sunday. If you did not get the snow yet, you are going to have a shot of flurries in the northeast. I see a trend here.

ROMANS: Another shot at flurries. All right, maybe a little white weekend. Thanks, Indra. Nice to see you.

Let's take a look at what is coming up on "NEW DAY." Chris Cuomo and Alisyn Camerota join us this morning. Happy Friday, guys.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR, "NEW DAY": That's right. Special bonus, the dual team.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR, "NEW DAY": We had been looking to match numbers because usually it is two of you against one of us. Now you seem to have worked a deal on EARLY START where you alternate working days. We have to talk to our representation.

Here's what we will be doing on this Friday edition of "NEW DAY." We are looking for progress, right. That is what the election was about. It looks like we are going to be disappointed and dig in to why. Are the Republicans willing to get anything done before the end of the year or the New Year when they take office? First up will be the president threatening to go it alone on immigration and on a very sensitive issue, anchor babies, people who come here from somewhere else illegally and have a child and then that allows them to stay.

The right is saying to him if you do that, all bets are off. Even the word shutdown is out there. We are going to have former press secretary, Jay Carney, to figure out the thinking on both sides.

CAMEROTA: And then on the ISIS front, the leader who some thought had been killed in an airstrike has reportedly reemerged. We'll tell you about his message to the west. We are going to have military analysis of the new alliance with al Qaeda. It may not be all it is cracked up to be. We are going to talk about that when Chris and Michaela and I see you in 13 minutes.

ROMANS: All right, can't wait, a lot to talk about that immigration story. Fascinating how the president is going to move forward on that. OK, thanks, guys.

Breaking overnight, Ebola coming back to the U.S., a Nebraska hospital now preparing for a new infected patient, what we are learning this morning ahead.

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ROMANS: A new Ebola patient due to arrive here in the United States. The Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha is preparing to receive a surgeon born in Sierra Leone, who was treating Ebola patients there.

Now this unidentified patient is a permanent U.S. resident. Officials expect him to get to Omaha sometime this weekend, but they say it depends on whether he is healthy enough to make the trip.

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DR. MARK RUPP, NEBRASKA MEDICAL CENTER: They are evaluating this patient trying to make sure if he is stable enough for transfer. If that's the case then they probably will be coming to us. We are hoping that this patient is stable enough, healthy enough, where they can get him to us and hopefully we can do what we have been doing with the last two patients and care for them appropriately.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Doctors at Nebraska Medical Center say the patient will have access to a new experimental Ebola treatment. The Omaha hospital is one of four in the U.S. designated to treat Ebola patients.

Lawyers for the family of Michael Brown appealing for peace in Ferguson once the grand jury decides the fate of Officer Darren Wilson. The family made it clear they do not condone any active rioting, looting or violence marring the Missouri town since a white police officer shot and killed their son. Earlier this week, the governor said he would have the National Guard on standby as a precaution. Later this morning, the man suspected in the kidnapping and murder of University of Virginia student, Hannah Graham, he will be in court to hear the charges in a different crime.

Jesse Matthew is charged in an unrelated sexual assault case from 2005. It is expected the judge will set a trial date. Forensic evidence from the rape victim has linked Matthew to Hanna Graham's case and the disappearance and death of Virginia Tech student, Morgan Harrington in 2009.

Two terrorism counts have been added to the charges against the suspected cop killer, Eric Frein. Authorities say it is related to the comments he made following his arrest comments about a revolution and wanting to change the government.

Frein was captured after a 48-day manhunt in northeastern Pennsylvania. He is accused of ambushing two state troopers, killing one, and wounding the other. Prosecutors say they plan to seek the death penalty.

Right now, a massive search under way for a tiger on the loose in France, French officials say the tiger was spotted near Disneyland Paris. Now residents in three towns have been warned to stay indoors. Disneyland told the "Associated Press," it has no tigers in the theme park. Where the tiger wandered off from is still a mystery.

College tuition is rising. In that number, some good news for students, we'll explain with an EARLY START on your money next.

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ROMANS: All right. Time for an EARLY START on your money this Friday morning. U.S. stock futures are higher right now. It could be a record day if that holds. Yesterday was a record. The Dow is up 40 points, the 25th record high close of the year.

Twitter stock moving lower before the opening bell. Standard & Poors rated Twitter's debt as junk. Twitter is investing aggressively and still doesn't make any money.

The job market steadily improving, there were 4.7 million job openings in September that means for every job opening, there are fewer than two people looking for work. That's the lowest since early 2008. That's a good number.

That number climbed to seven unemployed people per job opening during the recession, a really frustrating position. It is getting better. Also new government data also showing people are quitting jobs at the fastest pace in six years.

That's a good thing. That means people feel confident enough to quit and find new higher paying jobs.

College tuition at public schools is still rising, but at the slowest rate since 1970s. In-state tuition at public four-year colleges climbed to about $9,000. That's a 2.9 percent increase from last year.

Tuition at private schools rose 3.7 percent to about $31,000. It's tuition, folks, not room and board. Even more good news, most students pay much less than the sticker price. The total amount borrowed has fallen 13 percent in the past three years mostly because people just cannot afford to borrow so much money.

All right, President Obama soon to unveil some massive changes to the United States immigration system. "NEW DAY" starts now.