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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
AirAsia Flight 8501's Tail Found; Warning that Police May be Targets of Gang Violence; Dangerous Arctic Chill Across Country; Baseball's 2015 Hall of Fame Class
Aired January 07, 2015 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: EARLY START continues right now.
(MUSIC)
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news: a breakthrough in the search for AirAsia Flight 8501. Investigators are one step closer to figuring out why the plane suddenly crashed. The divers finding the jetliner's tail section, that's where the black boxes are believed to be. We are live with the latest development this morning.
BERMAN: Happening now: police across the country on alert, warn that officers could be targets of gangs. We're breaking down the new threat, coming up.
ROMANS: A dangerous arctic chill across the country. Millions facing a brutal blast of cold weather. Wind chills up to 50 degrees below zero. Schools closed. Flights cancelled. We're tracking what you need to know for the day.
BERMAN: Wear a jacket and hat. That's what you need to know.
ROMANS: Yes. Well, stay home.
Good morning. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.
BERMAN: I'm John Berman. Wednesday, January 7th, 5:00 a.m. in the east.
We do have breaking news overnight in the search for AirAsia Flight 8501. Just a few hours ago, we got word that divers located at least part of the tail section of the plane.
Look at these pictures -- a major crucial development that could be a turning point in this investigation which has been set back again and again and again by rough weather and high seas in near zero visibility. It's in the tail section of Airbus A320-200, this type of plane, where the black boxes are held.
So, are the black boxes there with this tail? It could be key to the investigation.
Let's get the latest now from CNN's Anna Coren in Surabaya.
Good morning, Anna. ANNA COREN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, hi, John.
We're learning more information about this tail that was found upside down largely submerged in mud at the bottom of the seafloor. They came across it at 5:00 this morning by sonar. They've been working day and night. It was actually find in the second priority area. They used other sonars to verify its existence. They then sent down a camera and then the divers. And that's when the divers were in the water and they confirmed this was in fact the tail of AirAsia Flight 8501.
Now, we just learned from officials that they are going to send in a sub-salvage vehicle. This is going to lift up the tail of the plane, in the hope that those black boxes are actually there. Now, we haven't had any confirmation from the divers that have been in the water late this afternoon as to what they have discovered. But obviously, the fact that they are going to send in this submarine that will lift up this wreckage on to the boats indicates that perhaps they will need to do that to actually get into the tail, get into the debris, to see if they can actually locate those black boxes.
They're two critical black boxes. The flight data recorder and the cockpit audio recorder, that, John, they hope will have the answers as to why this plane crashed in the Java Sea with 162 passengers and crew on board on the 28th of December.
BERMAN: Divers in the water searching that zone again, looking through the pieces of debris in that tail section. Anna Coren, let us know if you hear anything. Thank you so much. Appreciate it.
ROMANS: Police officers across the country are on alert this morning after a new warning from the Baltimore police department. A man carrying a loaded .22-caliber handgun walked into a Baltimore police station Tuesday morning allegedly on orders from one of the city's street gangs. His orders were to test the police station's security.
Officials say officers found the gun when they searched 29-year-old Jason Armstrong after they say they noticed him acting strangely and smelling of marijuana. Baltimore's police commissioner said it's lucky that officers did not end up in a terrible situation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANTHONY W. BATTS, BALTIMORE POLICE COMMISSIONER: Let me say again, an organized gang in the city of Baltimore sent an armed suspect into our building to see our security, to test our security. That is alarming for us. That is alarming to me. And I'm going to send a message along those lines to understand that we're not going to cower, we're not going to back down.
Clearly, this was not a rumor. Clearly, this was not something that was hyperbole. This happened.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Armstrong told police the street gang forced him to enter the police station. And now, he faces a variety of weapons and drug charges.
BERMAN: Police officers in New York may already be taking extra precautions that Baltimore officials are recommending. New figures show a drastic plunge in a number of arrests and summonses by officers in the city, especially from minor offenses. That drop occurring since two officers were murdered in their patrol car last month.
The police union denies that officers are fearful or that there's any kind of organized work slowdown, but there are suspicions because of the rift between many police officers and Mayor Bill de Blasio.
Union officials say that they're not scared and the police officers are doing their job. And they to pointing this -- two officers who at the end of their shifts who raced to a robbery scene in the Bronx on Monday and were shot by suspects.
The father of one of those officers told CNN's Don Lemon about the moment he was told that his son had been hit.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOSEPH DOSSI, OFFICER ANDREW DOSSI'S FATHER: The first thing that comes to your head is like, this really can't be happening. And then, of course, when they tell you he's critical and he's been shot twice, I think the worst things possible can go through your mind.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: Both injured officers, Andrew Dossi and Aliro Pellarano are expected to recover.
Our correspondent Miguel Marquez has the latest on the shoot-out and the hunt for the suspects.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: John and Christine, we are learning a lot more about the situation the New York City police officers found themselves in. Five officers total, say NYPD, responded. They were all getting off shift when they heard about this robbery in progress. They all responded.
Some of them perhaps did not even have their safety vests on, their protective gear when they responded to this robbery. When they called into the dispatcher, you could literally hear the adrenaline in their voices.
OFFICER: Shots fired. Shots fired at MOS.
OFFICER: Shots fired, 187 Tiebout, 187 Tiebout, white Chevy Camaro going Northbound --
MARQUEZ: When those officers got to the area, they didn't go directly to the robbery location. They cased the entire area, assuming that the robbery was now outside of that area. They were in fact right. They saw them at another store down the way. That's when that individual who we believe is Jason Polanco at the window of a deli, turned around, fired a .44 revolver at the officers. He got off three shots they say before getting away.
ROBERT ROYCE, NYPD CHIEF OF DETECTIVES: He fires three guns -- three rounds in the .44 caliber magnum, very large caliber handgun. And we believe he dry fires after that, because he has no more rounds in the gun.
MARQUEZ: Police say this all unraveled very quickly. One of the police officers got off three shots. He's the only officer who fired says NYPD. He hit one of the suspects in the leg.
That person later checked into a New York hospital. Police said he fed them a line but it was quickly apparent to their detectives that this was somebody connected to this robbery attempt. He then led them to the person who brought him to the hospital, who then led them to Jason Polanco.
All three individuals in custody, two under arrests, the third in custody.
Police saying, look, this is absolute proof that there is no slowdown out there. That these police officers were off duty and they responded to a very dangerous situation -- John, Christine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: All right. Miguel, thanks for that great reporting this morning.
New this morning, the FBI will investigate a deadly shooting at a V.A. clinic in El Paso, Texas. Sources tell CNN, a gunman shot and killed the doctor Tuesday afternoon and later died from a self-inflicted wound. There's no known motive for the shooting, the facility will be closed today as investigators question staffers and patients who witnessed it.
BERMAN: Lawmakers back to work this morning with Republicans in control of both houses of Congress. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky has taken over as Senate majority leader, John Boehner is now once again the House speaker. But it didn't happen without a little bit of a scare that played out on live national television.
The Ohio congressman had to overcome, you know, some stronger than expected opposition. Ultimately, he did get the votes he needed to avoid what would have been an embarrassing second ballot and he was sworn in for a third term as speaker.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)
REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R-OH), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: I do.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you very much. I pronounce you speaker of the House.
BOEHNER: Thank you. SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY), MAJORITY LEADER: I think the goal is to
do important things for the country. And my colleagues have given me an opportunity to be their leader, and the people of Kentucky have given me their confidence for another six years. And so, I think it's probably not a great time to be measuring the drapes, but rather looking to the question of whether or not we can make a difference for the country.
(END VIDEO CLIPS)
BERMAN: Republicans who opposed John Boehner as speaker are already paying a price. The speaker has moved quickly to remove of them from the influential House Rules Committee.
ROMANS: Congressman Steve Scalise is not backing down. The embattled Louisiana Republican holding a news conference later this morning where he is expected to discuss his 2002 appearance before a white supremacist group. Despite calls for him to step down, Scalise is already moving forward with fundraising plans for a happy hour gathering for would-be donors already scheduled for next week.
He is the number three in the Republican Party in the House.
BERMAN: Right, there have been calls for him to step down from his leadership post. He says he will not.
President Obama will meet with new Republican leaders next week at the White House. He says he's looking forward to an exchange of ideas but he already has vowed to veto what could be one of the first bills that lands on his desk. That would be for construction of or approval of the Keystone pipeline. The project is still being reviewed by the State Department. The White House said it is not up to Congress to circumvent that review.
The president is scheduled to make a brief stop in Detroit today. He will appear at a Ford assembly plant to tout the auto industry's comeback and resurgence in manufacturing. It also is worth noting that the plant where the president is speaking was shut down this week because Ford dealers have too many energy-efficient cars on their lots. The plant will reopen on Monday.
ROMANS: People are buying.
BERMAN: I think it was a supply chain issue more than anything else.
ROMANS: Right, right, right.
But, you know, the oil prices, people were buying SUVs -- like in December, people are buying SUVs like crazy.
Let's take an early start to look at your money.
It looks like investors are taking a break from the global selloff for the fast few days. Asian and European shares right now are up. U.S. stock futures up. The Dow slid another 130 yesterday on top of big losses Monday. You
can see that chart shows a tough start to the year. The Dow slid 2.5 percent in the first three days of trading.
Energy stocks leading that decline. And oil prices are falling. That's hurting those energy stocks. Crude oil now $47 a barrel, an almost six-year low.
Oil was trading above $100 just this summer. The prices slashed in half still falling. It's great news for drivers. Terrible for energy companies and energy producing countries. That is the big story in money.
That and the dollar and euro, and weakness in Europe strengthened in the U.S., that is the big theme playing out in markets right now.
BERMAN: Things are good here. Not in Europe at all. We're sort of an island of success right now.
ROMANS: Big divergence.
BERMAN: All right. Eleven minutes after the hour, dangerous temperatures across the country. Closing schools, cancelling flights. How low will these temperatures go? How long is this all going to last?
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BERMAN: Breaking news this morning: divers in the Java Sea, they have located a pat of the tail section of AirAsia Flight 8501. This is a breakthrough. This is what they have been waiting for after setback after setback.
Why? Because in this model aircraft, the Airbus A320-200, the plane's black boxes are mounted in the tail section of this plane. Divers have spent 11 days fighting harsh weather, near zero visibility. They're now still at the bottom of the sea looking through this wreckage to see, if they can locate the black box.
The key question is whether they're in this section, this part of the tail section. We should know the answer to that perhaps soon.
ROMANS: All right. It is cold out there. Really cold out there. Forecasters say a mix of wind and cold across the Midwest could push wind chills below 40 below. Temperatures that are -- they are potentially deadly.
BERMAN: Dangerous conditions have closed schools throughout the Midwest. Major cities, Kansas City, Minneapolis, Chicago, Des Moines, Indianapolis, Omaha. Schools in Green Bay will start a two-hour delay. Schools in Cleveland and Milwaukee, they haven't decided yet, but it's way cold there, too.
Many parents are worried that keeping schools open could lead to dangerous conditions for the buses that get the kids to schools, 142 collisions reported in the Baltimore area on Tuesday. At least three students were injured.
ROMANS: Chicago officials are expecting a tricky commute this morning. They say the small amount of snowfall compared to last year's polar vortex, that's going to lead to fewer rail delays. But here's the warning: drivers need to be extra cautious on the road, and they need to be on the lookout for black ice. Another dangers, ponds and lakes icing over.
An 8-year-old in North eastern was rescued Tuesday after falling into a frozen pond. He was described cold but conscious on his way to the hospital.
BERMAN: As you say, his parents were described as --
ROMANS: Terrified.
BERMAN: No doubt.
Roads in Pennsylvania, very messy. Plows were out in force, but it did little to deter accidents. In Wexford, a car slid under a truck hauling rock salt and started fire. This diver plowed right into a building in Center City after hitting a patch of black ice.
ROMANS: Icy roads also wreaked havoc in Indiana. Six trucks slammed into each other on I-65. The highway was shut down for more than five hours. Two people were treated for nonlife-threatening injuries.
BERMAN: The deep freeze disrupting air travel as well. Nearly a thousand flights were cancelled nationwide on Tuesday. It could be more of the same today. Passengers from southwest flight from Nashville to Philadelphia, they had a scare when the plane hit a patch of rough air and suddenly, it got very rocky.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL CONRAD, PASSENGER ON JET THAT HIT ROUGH TURBULENCE: There was no warning. There was just kind of a lurch, a big lurch where a lot of people kind of flung out of their seats. Temporarily, there's a few people out of their seats. A stewardess threw a bag of garbage accidentally all over the place. It was -- it looked quite disastrous in the back of the plane where we were.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: How cold is it? Enough to make one of the Great Lakes steam? That's right, take a look at this. You can see water vapor coming off Lake Superior in Minnesota. It's something known as sea smoke. It is beautiful, but it tells you just how cold it is.
BERMAN: Sea smoke, smoke on the water. Isn't deep purple, Rob, deep purple? Smoke on the water, deep purple, thank you very much.
ROMANS: (INAUDIBLE) rap nickname. BERMAN: How much longer will the deep freeze last? Let's get to meteorologist Pedram Javaheri for an early look at our forecast -- Pedram.
PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hey, good Wednesday morning to you.
Let's talk about this brutal setup here across the country -- massive area of high pressure in place. Some 30 million waking up to temperatures below zero this morning. And that's just the ambient air temperature.
Factor in the wind, more than 70 million people warned for wind chills here. Wind chills advisories and wind chill warnings in place for 40 to nearly 50 below zero in the northern tier of the country. Chicago, not out of the question, that some of these gusts could make it feel like 30 below zero into the morning hours. Current temperatures this morning, most single digits in Chicago, 5 feels like 15 below. Minneapolis, it is minus 3, feels like 25 below.
Look down South, that's a place you want to be right there. Miami, escaping all of this, 70s across the board. It should warm up close to 80 degrees by the afternoon hours across the region of south Florida. But here's your forecast, high temperatures. It's incredibly, these are forecast high temperatures, minus 1, Chicago, the best they can do. Minus four out of Minneapolis, temperatures into the 20s in New York and much of this area underneath generally clear skies. We know massive school closures in place across this region as the jet stream has really taken a nosedive to the South. The trend again looks to be in place for at least the next two to three days before a gradual but slight warming trend.
Guys, let's send it back to you.
ROMANS: All right. Thanks to that, Pedram.
Disgraced former Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell plans to appeal his two-year federal corruption sentence for taking bribes to promote a dietary supplement while he was in office.
Now, before he was sentenced Tuesday, he told the judge he was, quote, "heartbroken and humbled." Afterwards, he still insisted he was innocent but made mistakes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BOB MCDONNELL, SENTENCED TO 2 YEARS IN FEDERAL PRISON: And as I said in court, I am a fallen human being. I've made mistakes in my life. I always try to put the best interests of the people first as governor.
But I have failed the times and some of the judgments that I have made during the course of my governorship, I've hurt myself, my family and my beloved people of Virginia. And for that, I am deeply, deeply sorry.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: McDonnell's wife Maureen who was convicted along with him, she will be sentenced next month.
BERMAN: The NAACP is calling for a new grand jury to consider charges against a Ferguson police officer who fatally shot Michael Brown. In a letter to a St. Louis County judge, the group says it has grave legal concerns. They're asking for a special prosecutor to oversee the case, and in an investigation with the grand jury proceedings that ended with a decision not to indict Officer Wilson.
ROMANS: Meantime, have released surveillance video and photos of suspected looters during the unrest in Ferguson. They are hoping to identify the people who burglarized a gas station near Ferguson. It was one of the more than two dozen businesses in that area, they were looted, they were set it on fire, following the announcement that a grand jury had cleared Darren Wilson in the Michael Brown shooting.
BERMAN: Earthquakes in Texas. Five -- five earthquakes reported Tuesday, all in the space of five hours in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area. Officials with the U.S. Geological Survey say the quakes were centered in nearly the same area as Irving, Texas. The strongest was a magnitude 3.6. There has been no reports of any injuries or damage.
All right. Baseball has four new hall of famers. We haven't seen that many elected at one time in 60 years. And they're all awesome.
Andy Scholes with "Bleacher Report", next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BERMAN: All right. For the first time in 60 years, four players have been elected in the Baseball Hall of Fame in the same year.
ROMANS: Andy Scholes has more in this morning's "Bleacher Report."
Hey, Andy.
ANDY SCHOLES, BLEACHER REPORT: Yes, good morning, guys.
Yes, this is one of the best classes of all time. You've got the big unit, Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez, John Smoltz, and one of my favorite players, Craig Biggio. Johnson, Pedro and Smoltz all, of course, ballot Hall of Famers, while Biggio, he's getting in a year after missing the cut after two votes. Biggio, the first Houston Astro to ever make it into the Hall of Fame.
And some of the biggest stars in the steroids era like Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds, they remained far from election. Mike Piazza, the next closest to getting in, appearing on nearly 70 percent of the ballots. He needs 75 percent to get in. So, he might be getting in in the near future.
All right. Hey, somebody break up the Pistons, winners of five in a row, playing the defending champions Spurs last night. Brandon Jennings after the buzzer beater. Pistons have now won six in a row after paying Josh smith nearly $27 million just to go away.
All right. John Jones who is widely considered the best pound for pound fighter in the world is going to be out of the octagon for a while. The UFC light heavyweight champion has admitted himself into a drug rehab center after testing positive for cocaine. Jones' positive tests was considered an out of competition test, in his win over Cormier this past weekend. That stings.
All right. Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said he want New Jersey Governor Chris Christie sitting next to him in Green Bay. Jones said, if he's got enough mojo to pull this thing out, he ought to be looked as president of the United States.
The Cowboys are 3-0 with Christie in attendance this year. Guys, Jerry said he's doing everything the same these days. He's very superstitious. He said Christie is a part of the team's mojo. And he doesn't want to mess any of that up.
So, he wants Christie by his side. No word if Chris Christie is actually going to be at Lambeau Field.
ROMANS: Was he wearing a red sweater for all three of the wins?
BERMAN: Yes, he wears that sweater all the time.
ROMANS: He has?
BERMAN: Yes, he wears that sweater.
SCHOLES: The magical sweater.
BERMAN: Yes. And, by the way, if Jerry Jones wants them to go he can pay for it like he did the last time. Jerry Jones paid for Chris Christie which is legal under New Jersey law. So --
ROMANS: Governor McGreevy, right, he --
BERMAN: Yes, McGreevy passed those laws. So, Christie did it, and Jerry Jones can fly him out.
SCHOLES: I'm sure can afford it.
BERMAN: More hugs. You can't put a price tag on a hug, Andy.
ROMANS: The power of the red sweater.
All right. Thanks, Andy Scholes.
SCHOLES: All right.
BERMAN: All right. Twenty-six minutes after the hour.
We do have breaking news overnight, a key development in search for AirAsia Flight 8501. What you're looking at right there, the tail section. Part of the tail section discovered overnight. The tail section is the part of the plane that houses the black boxes. So, are the black boxes there? Divers are on the scene. We'll get
you the very latest, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BERMAN: Breaking news this morning. A crucial part of AirAsia Flight 8501 found overnight. Divers located the jet's tail just hours ago. This piece of the plane, it could hold the black boxes. Of course, this would be key to finding out what went so wrong with this flight. We're live with the very latest ahead.
ROMANS: Police officers on alert. Warned they may become the targets of gunmen. Baltimore police revealing their own security scare, as two New York officers recover from being shot. We're breaking down the new threat to police officers and how they may be responding.
