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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
No Indictment in Death of Eric Garner; Orion Spacecraft Launching; New Cosby Accuser Goes Public; American School Teacher Stabbed in Abu Dhabi; America's Oil War With OPEC
Aired December 04, 2014 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Protesters shouting "I can't breathe", march across New York after a grand jury decides not to hand up an indictment in Eric Garner's chokehold death during an encounter with police. Garner's shocked family calls for peace.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: You are looking at live pictures right now from the Kennedy Space Center. It is a historic day for NASA. The space agency launching a test flight for spacecraft it hopes one day could take an astronaut to Mars. We will cover that live the minute it happens 5 minutes after 7:00.
Right now, it's about 30 minutes after 5:00 in the east. Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm John Berman.
ROMANS: I'm Christine Romans. Breaking overnight, let's start here. Protests over race and justice erupt across the country. Just as in Ferguson last week, the flashpoint is a grand jury decision not to indict a white police officer in the death of a black man.
BERMAN: In this case, a New Yorker named Eric Garner is the man you can see in the video right there. Garner died in July after officers used chokehold trying to arrest him for selling loose cigarettes.
Our national correspondent, Jason Carroll, is in Times Square where there were protests. A lot of people involved overnight. Good morning, Jason.
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, John. The streets are relatively quiet this morning. Much different situation as we saw last night when hundreds poured into the streets wanting to have their voices heard.
Hitting some of New York's most iconic spots right here in Times Square, the West Side Highway, Columbus Circle, Rockefeller Center, hundreds also marching across the Brooklyn Bridge, some of them shouting Eric Garner's last words, "I can't breathe."
Others are shouting "black lives matter." At one point, protesters gathering at Grand Central station staging a so-called die-in lying down in the middle of the station.
They marched throughout the night after the grand jury reached its decision not to indict Officer Daniel Pantaleo in the chokehold death of Eric Garner.
Pantaleo releasing a statement last night saying, "It is never my intention to harm anyone and I feel very bad about the death of Mr. Garner. My family and I include him and his family in our prayers. I hope that they will accept my personal condolences for their loss."
Well, last night, Eric Garner's widow spoke out as well, John, saying that she could never accept the grand jury's decision or the officer's apology.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ESAW GARNER, WIDOW OF ERIC GARNER: I'm determined to get justice for my husband. He should not have been killed in that way. He should be here celebrating Christmas and Thanksgiving and everything else with his children and his grandchildren. He can't. Why, because a cop did wrong.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARROLL: Again, the demonstrations last night, John, mostly peaceful. As of last count, 30 people arrested mostly for disorderly conduct. More protests planned in the coming days -- John.
ROMANS: Jason Carroll in Times Square, thanks so much, Jason.
ROMANS: Eric Garner's father, Ben Garner, also had a message for the public telling our Joe Johns that he is disappointed by the grand jury decision, but people should keep protests peaceful and lawful.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BEN GARNER, FATHER OF ERIC GARNER: I don't want anybody to get locked up and go through the same (inaudible) that we are going through all the time.
JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: What do you think happens next? Have you talked to the lawyers a little bit about, you know --
GARNER: Well, the feds will take over.
JOHNS: And your hopeful that the federal government --
GARNER: I'm sure they will give us the right decision.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: The message of peace that you heard there struck a chord with New York City's mayor. Bill De Blasio told reporters about the painful personal talk he had with his son, Dante, who is black. De Blasio says even he, the mayor of New York, had to warn his son to be careful in any interactions that he might have with police officers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO (D), NEW YORK: I couldn't help but immediately think what it would mean to me to lose Dante. Life could never been the same thereafter and I could feel how it will never been whole again. Things will never been whole again for Mr. Garner.
Even in the middle of his pain, one of the things he stopped and said so squarely was there can't be violence. He said Eric would not have wanted violence. Violence will not get us anywhere.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Following the grand jury's decision not to hand out the indictment in Garner's death, the U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced the Justice Department will launch a federal civil rights investigation into the case.
He promised it will be, quote, "independent, thorough, fair and expeditious." The investigation will be handled at least initially by this woman. The woman President Obama has nominated to replace Eric Holder, the U.S. attorney for Brooklyn, Loretta Lynch.
The president himself also weighed on the Garner case vowing to build more trust and accountability between the police and the communities they serve.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: As I said, when I met with folks both from Ferguson and law enforcement and clergy and civil rights activists, I said this is an issue we have dealt with for too long and it's time for us to make more progress than we've made.
I'm not interested in talk. I'm interested in action and I am absolutely committed as president of the United States to making sure that we have a country in which everybody believes in the core principle that we are equal under the law.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: All right, shifting gears right now. The launch is a go in less than two hours. NASA is going to launch a highly anticipated test flight from Cape Canaveral. The unmanned Orion spacecraft will blast off at 7:05 Eastern Time on top of a Delta 4 rocket.
Alina Machado is at the Kennedy Space Center where Orion -- you can see it right there sitting on the launch pad. Good morning, Alina.
ALINA MACHADO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John. This may be the beginning of a new space era here at NASA. As you could see behind me, Orion is sitting there at the space launch complex at the Kennedy Space Center ready to go on its inaugural flight.
Now Orion will spend about 4.5 hours making two orbits around the earth and reaching an altitude of about 3,600 miles. That is 15 times higher than the International Space Station. No one will be on board Orion as it makes its flight. This is to test the critical systems. These are tests that cannot be done here on earth that are best done in space. They are looking at how Orion's heat shield will work.
Remember that when Orion is making its way back into earth, going through the earth's atmosphere, it's going to be traveling at a rate of speed of about 20,000 miles per hour. The temperatures will be extreme. We are talking about 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit.
So they are going to be looking at how Orion's heat shield work. They are also going to be looking at how a series of parachutes are going to work to slow down Orion so it can make a safe splash down in the Pacific Ocean -- John.
BERMAN: The key, Alina, this is going further than we have gone in a long, long time. The shuttle flight, International Space Station flights have been in near earth orbit. We have to go deeper into space. What is NASA saying about when -- you know, humans may go aboard this new type of Orion spacecraft?
MACHADO: Well, it could still be some time before we actually see people on Orion. If all goes well today, the next test flight is probably going to take place in 2018. That will also be an unmanned flight.
The big difference there it will be on a special rocket that is being designed by NASA. It is not going to be on this Delta 4 heavy rocket that is taking Orion today.
Ultimately, NASA would like to take astronauts to an asteroid and Mars. The Mars landing is a few years away. We are talking about maybe mid-2030s.
BERMAN: An optimistic look. Alina Machado for us at the Kennedy Space Center. We cannot wait to see this launch. Thanks, Alina.
ROMANS: All right, a bizarre and scary story out of the Middle East this morning to tell you about. An American teacher stabbed and killed in a shopping mall in Abu Dhabi. Was her death related to a threat against American teachers?
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ROMANS: Police in the United Arab Emirates are searching for a suspect in the slaying of an American school teacher, 47-year-old Ibolya Ryan was stabbed in the mall of a high end mall in Abu Dhabi. Security footage shows the suspect in women's garb from head to toe.
CNN's Becky Anderson standing by live in Abu Dhabi with the latest. Becky, you say this morning people there, expatriates there are shocked this has happened.
BECKY ANDERSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They are, Christine. Authorities here are set to make an announcement in about 90 minutes about this deadly incident earlier this week, which is quite frankly baffled and very much concerned the community living here in the city in which things like this don't normally happen.
This is CCTV footage released by the Interior Ministry of the suspect talking to security guard. Now watch this, the suspect, gender and identity unknown at this point, enters a corridor to the restroom on the right.
It is there that the American school teacher, Ryan, is stabbed with a kitchen knife. As many as six times before the assailant is then seen running to the elevator and fleeing into a parking garage.
That was roughly 90 minutes after she first entered the washroom. Christine, just a month ago, the U.S. Embassy in the UAE issued a warning to Americans urging them to be careful following they said a recent anonymous posting on a jihadist web site that encourage attacks against teachers at American and other international schools in the Middle East.
Now I must caveat that by saying that a couple of weeks ago, the Egyptian authorities announced that they had arrested a U.S. Egyptian citizen accused of having posted on web sites a threat to the international schools in the region.
That was a 60-year-old man they said. Now clearly a lot of fear here and anticipation of what the interior minister will say in just over an hour from now -- Christine.
ROMANS: Bring that to us as soon as you have that news. Thank you so much, Becky Anderson for that this morning in Abu Dhabi.
BERMAN: Let's take a look at what is coming up on "NEW DAY." Alisyn Camerota joins us now. Good morning, Alisyn.
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR, "NEW DAY": Hi, guys. Nice to see you. So we will have much more on the grand jury's decision not to indict the New York City police officer for Eric Garner's death. We will compare the video evidence with what the officer told the grand jury.
Protesters taking over parts of New York City overnight and Eric Garner's family and elected officials speaking out then and this morning. We will talk with Eric Garner's widow, the speaker of the New York City Council and the New York City police commissioner and more.
We invite you to join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter as we discuss every angle of this story. So Chris, Michaela, and I will see you at the top of the hour when "NEW DAY" begins. We'll see you then, guys.
ROMANS: We will be there. Thank you.
All right, shocking video of a baby stroller, I can't barely watch this, falling on train tracks. We will show you what happened in just moments.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BERMAN: Happening now, reaction to the case surrounding the death of Eric Garner. The New York City grand jury decided not to indict the police officer who tried to arrest Garner using the chokehold. This ended in Garner's death.
The grand jury's announcement sparked protests overnight. In New York, marchers virtually shut down Midtown Manhattan for a time last night.
ROMANS: Breaking this morning, Russian President Vladimir Putin has just finished his state of the union address to members of parliament. Putin rattling saying to defend our freedom, we have enough power, strength and bravery.
The Russian president is also putting a statesmanlike loss on his aggressive triumphs toward Ukraine. Putin said every nation has a right to choose its partners. Russia will always respect that and the same goes for Ukraine, our brotherly nation.
BERMAN: The maker of the air bags that federal regulators called defective went before a congressional committee. Takata officials defended the company's decision that rejected regulators' demands that the company expand the recall from coast to coast.
The move sets up a possible legal showdown. Takata's senior vice president said there is not enough scientific evidence to expand an existing regional recall to make it nationwide.
The air bags in question have been found to explode occasionally with too much force which hurls debris, which acts like shrapnel when it hit the drivers.
ROMANS: Three new accusers have come forward claiming they were sexually assaulted by Bill Cosby. The famous attorney, Gloria Allred joined the women at a news conference where Allred proposed a settlement for the alleged victims.
One of these women, Beth Ferrier, spoke exclusively to CNN tonight about what happened to her after her alleged abuse.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BETH FERRIER: My life ended the day I met Bill Cosby.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Why do you say that?
FERRIER: Because he is as a powerful and I'm a Christian, he is as powerful or more powerful than God and you don't mess with God.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Allred propose Cosby place $100 million into a fund for all alleged victims.
BERMAN: We have some video that is heart stopping. This is out of Australia. Look at that. A baby stroller falling on train tracks. Officials say the stroller began to roll down inclined in an platform and the man believed to be the child's grandfather looked away.
The stroller crashes to the ground and then you can see those men jumping on the tracks to help. The little girl who was in the stroller is being treated at a hospital for facial wounds. Lucky though.
ROMANS: I'm glad everything turned out OK.
All right, Indra Petersons has an early start on your forecast this morning. Hi, Indra.
INDRA PETERSONS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning. If you were in the mid-Atlantic or the northeast, it has been raining for days, but finally today we are going to get just a little bit of breather, high pressure building in.
So temperatures into the southeast actually warming up. Clear skies into the northeast. You got lake-effect snow, barely anything out there. Temperatures are a little bit milder. So maybe New York City about 43 for your high today.
But again, all thanks to the high pressure building and some nicest day of the week. By the time we get to the weekend, notice the next system coming in and it is a soggy weekend for so many of us. We will look at it day by day. Not to the weekend yet.
We are looking to the Midwest and back through Texas looking for some of those showers. Heavy amounts of rain in through tomorrow places like Louisville, Nashville and Memphis getting more of that bull's- eye.
But notice all these moisture even filling into the mid-Atlantic and northeast. By the time we get through Saturday, we will see hot spots. Boston and New York City through D.C., we will look at a soggy mess. Not a change, mild weather in D.C. in 40s and 50s, but also rain on Saturday so that mixed bag for you.
Meanwhile out west, we are still talking about the systems here. The first one pulling out of here, moisture pulling into the four corners so they kind of get a breather for a day.
But another system is behind it labeled it number two making its way in so more heavy rainfall is expected into California by the time we get to the weekend.
ROMANS: All right, thanks, Indra.
BERMAN: All right, gas has fallen below $2 a gallon. Where and how long will it take you to get there? That's an early start on your money coming up next.
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ROMANS: Let's get an early start on your money this morning, Asian stocks soaring. Shanghai up 4.3 percent. That is a big move for a single day. Strong data from the U.S. and also hopes for more stimulus measures there.
European stocks are up 2. U.S. stock futures following that lead. Stocks at the highest they have ever been. Dow and S&P closed at record highs. S&P 500 up 12 percent this year.
It's an oil market game of chicken, American energy against OPEC. Prices are falling. Neither side seems willing to budge. Right now, crude oil is $67 a barrel following the OPEC decision not to cut output.
Oil prices down almost 40 percent from the summer highs. It means oil producers everywhere are hurting. Oil heavyweights like ExxonMobil and Chevron could survive $40 a barrel. More oil company mergers potentially in the near future. It means cheap gas.
When I say, cheap, I mean, less than $2 a gallon in places. Some gas stations in Oklahoma are already selling gas below $2. Gas Buddy says drivers in Virginia, Missouri, South Carolina, Texas, New Mexico, you could join Oklahoma by the weekend. If the oil war keeps pushing prices down, below $2 gas could become common.
BERMAN: I think this is one of the stories of the year. You know, it is putting billions of dollars in consumers' pockets in America. It is causing economic growth and major implications in Iran and Russia. Vladimir Putin is dealing with a shaky economy. This is a big deal.
ROMANS: The last time we had gas prices and oil prices this low, it was a global recession. This time it is very different circumstances, but very big move.
BERMAN: All right, there is a lot to get to today. The protests over the grand jury decision not to indict a white police officer in the chokehold death of an unarmed black man.
"NEW DAY" will speak with Eric Garner's widow and more starting right now.
