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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
NYC Mayor Urges Unity After Cop Killings; Milwaukee Shooting Investigated; Internet Back for North Korea; Guns Smuggled on Planes; Grimm to Plead Guilty of Tax Evasion; Joe Cocker Remembered, 1944- 2014; "El Gordo" Pays Out Nearly $3 Billion
Aired December 23, 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: A growing plea for calm as the war of words escalates over the murders of two NYPD officers. The mayor asking protesters to hold off until these officers are laid to rest and the widow of one of those men now speaks out.
Protests erupt after a district attorney decides not to indict a former police officer in the shooting death of a mentally ill black man. Now, the Feds are looking into this controversial and potentially exclusive case.
North Korea's Internet is back on this after it was struck by a major outage. Was this a cyber attack? And could the U.S. be behind it? Plus, what the Pentagon is doing to protect any attempts to hack the U.S. military.
Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans. John Berman has the week off. It is 30 minutes past the hour.
This morning, New York coping with the deaths of the two of city's finest. Mayor Bill de Blasio rejecting claims that he is anti-police as he calls for healing and unity. With New York in morning and vigils across the city, the mayor urged activists to hold off on further protests in the names of Eric Garner and Michael Brown, he wants them to hold off until two murdered NYPD officers are buried.
At a news conference with Police Commissioner Bill Bratton, De Blasio said he had met with the families of Officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu, and he tried to console them.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO (D), NEW YORK: They are in tremendous pain and they are worried deeply. The Ramos family's case, two teenagers, reminded me of my own children, good young men, who no longer have a father because of an assassin.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: De Blasio urging New Yorkers and the media to focus on supporting the officers' families. But some activists said they will not heed the mayor's call to suspend protests. They will hold a police reform demonstration this afternoon in Harlem.
CNN's Don Lemon has the latest -- Don.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DON LEMON, CNN HOST, CNN TONIGHT: Christine, Mayor Bill de Blasio pushed back at critics who say he contributed to an anti-police atmosphere that got Officers Ramos and Liu killed. The mayor said that the head of the police union who said De Blasio had blood on his hands was wrong and mistaken. But the mayor also called for calm and civility and said he respected the right of the 35,000 sworn officers in the NYPD to have lots of different opinions.
Now, Police Commissioner Bill Bratton supported the mayor on that point, saying, quote, "Can you point out to me one mayor that has not been battling with the police union in the last 50 years?"
The investigation continues even though Ismaaiyl Brinsley is dead because officials say families have the right to know.
And there is new surveillance video to report. It was just released. It was taken at a shopping area in Brooklyn not far from the scene, about three hours before the shooting took place. Authorities want to find out what Brinsley was doing for that time before the shooting to make sure that there were no other accomplices.
They are asking others in the public for help and also we're hearing from the widow of one of the officers killed in the attack. Officer Liu's wife of just two months spoke about her personal loss and the loss of the Ramos family.
PEI XIA CHEN, OFFICER LIU'S WIDOW: We would also like to express our condolence to Officer Ramos' family. This is a difficult time for both of our families. But we will stand together and get through this together. Thank you.
LEMON: As far as the services for the officers, funeral services for Officer Ramos will be on Saturday. The Liu family is waiting on family from China to make their arrangements -- Christine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: All right. Don Lemon, thank you for that, Don.
Now, new threats facing New York City police officers on top of their grief this morning. The NYPD investigating more than 15 new threats against officers posted on various social media platforms. Now, detectives try to determine which if any are serious, which are credible. And because of the new threats to officers, the department plans to increase security around the Times Square ball drop this New Year's Eve.
The sister and aunt of the gunman who shot the NYPD officers, they are speaking out. Ismaaiyl Brinsley who shot himself as police closed in and his family members say they are grieving for themselves and for the families of the dead police officers. They insist that despite Brinsley's anti-cop tirade on social media, the shooting stemmed from his emotional troubles. There wasn't a political motive.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JALAA'A BRINSLEY, GUNMAN'S SISTER: I feel badly for the family. We give our condolences to the families.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're grieving and we are very sorry.
BRINSLEY: This has nothing to do with police retaliation. This was a troubled -- emotionally troubled kid. He needed help. He didn't get it.
If he got arrested this many times, that was a question like they help him out, but they kept releasing him into the streets. So, isn't that a problem that's a justice system should be asking? Not us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Brinsley's family says he leaves behind two children, an infant and a 5-year-old.
In Milwaukee, more protests after a district attorney there decides not to charge a white police officer in the death of a mentally ill black man. The federal government is now looking into that case.
National correspondent George Howell is in Milwaukee for us with more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GEORGE HOWELL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: A group of protesters has gathered in downtown Milwaukee. I want to show you the group here, at Red Arrow Park. All of this in response to a prosecuting attorney's decision not to charge a police officer for fatally shooting a mentally ill man more than a dozen times. This happened back in April, when Officer Christopher Manney confronted Dontre Hamilton in this park, a report of a man sleeping in the park.
According to the officer, the two got into a confrontation. The officer claims that Hamilton grabbed his baton and struck him. And that is when the officer claims he used deadly force to defend himself shooting Hamilton at least 14 times.
The officer was fired from his job. The police chief basically saying that the officer did identify Hamilton as mentally ill and did not follow training and that he instigated that fight. But again, the case went to a prosecuting attorney, and the decision not to charge this police officer.
However, we have learned that the federal government will be looking into this case, the Justice Department plans to investigate as well.
George Howell, CNN, Milwaukee.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: All right. Breaking overnight: Delta Airlines baggage handler busted for allegedly running a gun smuggling operation aboard passenger jets flying between Atlanta and New York.
Federal authorities say Eugene Harvey and former Delta employee Mark Henry used carry-on luggage to transport these weapons. Police say one of the suspects says they brought 18 guns, seven of them loaded, onto a flight to New York, including an AK-47 and an AR-15 loaded. We'll find out more about one of the biggest airport security breaches in years when prosecutors hold a news conference this afternoon.
In Australia, a new terror warning this morning. Australia's prime minister saying security officials have detected an increased level of terrorist chatter following the hostage siege in Sydney. Tony Abbott is also saying a terror attack is likely. So, there will be an increased presence across the city.
His words come amid a sad farewell to the two victims killed during that attack on a downtown cafe. The cafe manager Tory Johnson and attorney Katrina Dawson laid to rest in separate ceremonies. Survivors from the standoff were on hand to pay their respects. Johnson and Dawson both remembered as heroes. Johnson for trying to wrestle the gun from the shooter and Dawson for shielding a pregnant friend from the gunfire.
ROMANS: A lump of coal in the forecast for holiday travelers, I'm afraid. Let's get to meteorologist Ivan Cabrera for an early look at your weather -- Ivan.
IVAN CABRERA, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Christine, for most of us, it's going to be a rain event, but the problem is, the rain is going to be very heavy, severe weather potential and also some strong winds I think are going to cause some airport delays over the next 48 hours.
So, here's the storm right now. It's just getting going across the mid-section of the country. We aren't going to have that southeastern side that's going to be looking at some nasty thunderstorms I think for today and heading into Wednesday.
As far as temperatures, not looking too bad, here's 30s and 40s to the north, and 70s and 80s in Florida. But you see the temperatures in Chicago in the 40s. So, not cold enough quite yet for snowfall. We're going to start off as a mix and then eventually as this storm pushes to the East on the back side of it, we will get in colder air and it will be snowing across parts of the Midwest, anywhere from three to five inches expected here.
Now, in the next 48 hours across the Southeastern U.S., this is where we have the bull's-eye for severe weather, damaging wind potential, certainly, large hail, and even a few tornadoes. And as we put this into motion, by the time we get into Thursday, Christmas Day itself, we are done with the storm, although a new one is getting going on across the Rockies. It will be a white Christmas certainly for parts of the western U.S.
So, this is the highlighted area. This is for today for the potential of some severe thunderstorms as we head through this afternoon. So, we'll watch that closely. And, of course, we will keep an eye through the next couple of days on the big storm heading east. ROMANS: All right. So, a lump of coal from him, but how about a
Santa Claus rally for your money? Let's get an early start on that.
Santa Claus is coming to Wall Street. U.S. futures pointing up after a fourth straight day of gains yesterday, leaving the Dow and S&P record closes, record highs. The Dow jumped 150 points. The S&P with the 50th record high close. That's the highest number in a year since 1995.
Four-point-four million workers are getting a New Year's raise. On January 1st, 20 states and Washington, D.C. will increase their minimum wage. New legislation raises the hourly rate for 11 states. The rest will have their minimum wage rise through inflation and automotive bump up tied to inflation. The largest hike will be South Dakota, $1.25 extra. While Florida gets about 12 cents boost. After this New Year's increase, 29 states will have a minimum wage above the federal rates of $7.25.
All right. Thirty-nine minutes past the hour.
Was North Korea a victim of the cyber attack? The nation mostly back on the Internet after a massive outage. Now, many are asking if the U.S. was somehow behind that. Details ahead.
And remembering Joe Cocker this morning.
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ROMANS: In North Korea, Internet service is mostly back on this morning after a very unusual nine and a half hour long total Internet blackout. This follows U.S. government claims that Pyongyang was behind the huge cyber attack on Sony Pictures which ended the studio pulling "The Interview."
Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr has the latest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDETN: Obviously, a lot of people wondering if the U.S. could be behind this. Could this be the counterattack, the response that the White House promised for North Korea's hacking against Sony?
Nobody is saying right now, but it is hard to figure out who might be behind it. Some people saying maybe North Koreans turned off their own system, maybe the Chinese cut off access. Nobody talking about it.
But here at the Pentagon, the game is all about cyber defense right now. Options being developed to improve Pentagon defenses against any potential North Korean hacking, security already very tight of course on classified computer network systems. But a lot of working done to double check and just to make sure all of the systems are fully secure and developing options for the president. If he decides to launch some sort of cyber counterattack against North Korea and, of course, the administration has other options as well, sanctions or putting North Korea back on the list of countries that sponsor terrorism -- Christine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: All right, Barbara Starr.
A State Department spokeswoman saying that you might see some of our responses, U.S. responses, some things you might not see.
In France, a second car attack in pedestrians in two days. French officials urging calm this morning after at least 11 people were injured Monday when a 37-year-old man rammed his vehicle into a crowd of holiday shoppers in the city of Nantes. That's in western France. Now, police say the suspect then stabbed himself several times. It does not appear to have terrorist motives.
On Sunday, a man shouting "God is great" in Arabic rammed his vehicle into a crowd in Dijon, in eastern France, injuring 13 people.
Republican Congressman Michael Grimm of New York is expected to plead guilty to one count of tax evasion today. The charge could land him in prison. Sources say he will admit failing to report $1 million in revenue from his restaurant business prior to being elected in the year 2010. Grimm made headlines last year when he threatened to throw a reporter off a Capitol Hill balcony at the end of an interview.
"Rolling Stone" magazine has asked the Columbia University's School of Journalism to review its controversial and widely discredited article about a gang rape at the University of Virginia. The review will be conducted by the dean of the journalism school and the dean of academic affairs. It will evaluate the editorial process that led to this story. "Rolling Stone" says the findings will be published unedited on its Web site.
All right. Forty-five minutes past the hour.
Friends and fans alike this morning are remembering legendary singer Joe Cocker this morning.
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ROMANS: The British rocker whose hits included that Beatles cover "With a Little Help From My Friends" passed away Monday after a battle with lung cancer. Paul McCarthy, Ringo Starr both expressing their condolences over Cocker's passing. Cocker died at his home in Colorado. He was 70 years old.
All right. Forty-six minutes past the hour.
It's one amazing Christmas gift. A $3 billion lottery prize has just been paid out, 3 billion. Details about this monster jackpot, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) ROMANS: Later today, House Republicans will release a report alleging a culture of bias against conservative organizations at the Internal Revenue Service. It will reportedly claim IRS employees subverted the agency's nonpartisan mission in order to advance the political goals of President Obama. Several senior IRS officials, including the acting commissioner, have already lost their jobs.
U.S. Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl's fate is in the hands of a four-star general. General Mark Milley will decide whether to charge the 28- year-old criminally for leaving his post in 2009. Milley can order a court martial, impose none judicial punishment, or take no action. His decision will consider a report by Bergdahl's former platoon mates who accuse him of desertion when he walked off his base and was held captive by the Taliban.
Arizona ditching the use of a controversial lethal drug cocktail following serious complications in the execution of an inmate. It took two hours and 15 doses of the drug to kill Joseph Wood back in July. A state review found his execution was, quote, "handled appropriately", but determined the drug combination would longer be used. The drug had previously only been used one other time in Ohio.
NASA releasing this thrilling video of Orion's spacecraft reentry into Earth's atmosphere, with speeds of up to 20,000 miles per hour. The vantage point is amazing. Astronaut's view of reentry. It begins with the dazzling colorful light show created by friction between the spacecraft and super heated gas on the edge of the atmosphere. You can see parachutes deploy to slow down the capsule. The video ends right when Orion splash down off Baja, California. Really cool.
All right. Last night's Miami Bowl ended in a brawl between the Memphis Tigers and BYU Cougars. Memphis had just taken their first victory in nine years when BYU's Christian Stewart closed out the game by throwing an interception. Chaos ensued. Players on both sides pouring into the field to join in the melee. Some throwing punches. Others using their helmets as weapons.
All right. You know the lottery pools you see at work? The spread the wealth approach is the whole idea behind Spain's holiday lottery with the world's largest jackpot.
CNN's Al Goodman is in Madrid with the monster details -- Al.
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AL GOODMAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Christine, this is what a ticket looks like in the world's richest lottery, Spain's annual Christmas lottery known as El Gordo, or the fat one. This ticket costs about $25. If you have the winning combination, it gets you $400,000, which was not my case.
This was my ticket. I won nothing. Nada. However, other people were luckier like a Madrid restaurant, where 40 workers, many of them immigrants, from Latin America and Eastern Europe and Africa, in a single day, they won 100 times their day's wages. Overall, the lottery pays up nearly $3 billion. But it's not winner
takes all. It is spread around as workers and friends and families buy and share tickets and you see winners all across the country. It has been going on for 200 years. And even Spain's bloody civil war in the 1930s didn't stop it. Both sides held their own drawings.
Nowadays, there is a lot of fanfare as school kids sing out the winning numbers on the stage of the royal opera house in Madrid. And the extra holiday cheer, their cash, is most welcome in a country still recovering from a deep economic crisis -- Christine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: All right, Al Goodman. Thanks for that Al.
After all the bad news about auto recalls, it turns out more cars than ever will be safe to drive in 2015. We've got the look at the safest cars on the road. An early start on your money, next.
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ROMANS: All right. Let's get an early start on your money this morning.
The Santa Claus rally in full swing. The market had its fourth straight day of gains, pushing both the Dow and S&P 500 to record high closes. The Dow jumped more than 150 points, its 35th record close of the year. S&P 500 with the 50th record. That's the biggest number of records in a year since 1995. And stocks could swing higher today. At the moment, futures are up a little bit.
All right. The U.S. has hit a French company with a largest ever criminal bribery fine. Alstom, a French energy conglomerate, pled guilty to the tune of $772 million. The U.S. Justice Department alleges this company paid tens of millions in bribes to win business around the world in countries in Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. The company blamed the use of consultants for the bribery.
More cars than ever will be safer to drive in 2015. That's according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, who gave 71 cars top marks this year. That's compared to only 33 last year. The institute evaluates cars with various crash tests to measure how well they protect passengers. Thirty-three cars, including the Toyota Prius, Subaru Outback and Honda CRV even managed to score the group's top safety award.
All right. Fifty-seven minutes past the hour.
EARLY START continues right now.
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ROMANS: Calls for unity this morning amid flaring tensions over the murders of two New York police officers, and now, police are asking for the public's help to learn more about the killer's final hours. The Internet back on in North Korea after the country suffered a major
outage. Was this a retaliation for the Sony hack or just a coincidence?
Breaking overnight, a Delta worker accused of helping smuggled guns, some of them unloaded onto passenger planes. We have incredible details about the breach of security.
Good morning and welcome to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans. John Berman has the week off. It is Tuesday, it's December 23rd, 5:00 a.m. in the East.
This morning, New York is coping with the deaths of the two of the city's finest. Mayor Bill de Blasio rejecting those claims that he is anti-police as he calls for healing and unity. With New York in mourning and vigils across the city, the mayor urged activists to hold off on further protests in the names of Eric Garner and Michael Brown, to hold off until two murdered NYPD officers are buried.
In a news conference with Police Commissioner Bill Bratton, De Blasio said he had met with the families of Officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu, and he tried to console them.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BLASIO: They are in tremendous pain and they are worried deeply. The Ramos family's case, two teenagers, reminded me of my own children, good young men, who no longer have a father because of an assassin.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: De Blasio urging New Yorkers and the media to focus on supporting the officers' families. But some activists said they will not heed the mayor's call to suspend protests. They will hold a police reform demonstration this afternoon in Harlem.
CNN's Don Lemon has the latest -- Don.
