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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

U.S. Ambassador Lays Wreath at "Charlie Hebdo" Office; Officials: Terror Cell Still Active; Kosher Market Attack Victims' Funeral; Fuselage of Flight 8501 Found

Aired January 13, 2015 - 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: Terror alert in France, new warnings overnight from al Qaeda as the country deploys thousands of troops to keep Jewish schools and institutions safe.

Investigators hunting for terror cells that may have helped in last week's deadly attacks. This, as several victims of those attacks are laid to rest this morning. We are live in Paris bringing you all of the new information.

Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm John Berman live in Paris. About 31 minutes past the hour right now. The highest terror level alert here in Paris this morning.

Here in France, at least 10,000 soldiers and 8,000 police officers have been deployed across the country determined to stop another attack such as the three last week in and around this city that left 17 people dead.

Among the new concerns, police have said according to the "Associated Press," that there could still be an active terror cell active in this country.

Overnight, there was a new threat against France from al Qaeda's North Africa branch. They posted on the internet saying that today France pays the cost.

This posting mentions French participation of the coalition fighting ISIS and also talks about France's what they call lame media they say undermining the prophet.

The terrorist's initial target "Charlie Hebdo" magazine has not been stopped. The surviving members of that publication are putting out a new issue, it ships today. Once again, the Prophet Muhammad is on the cover.

Moments ago, the U.S. ambassador to France visited the ongoing, growing memorial to the victims of the terror attacks here. Ambassador Jane Hartley, she laid a wreath right behind me and talked to me about the controversy over the American delegation to the unity march.

The White House now says it regrets not sending a higher level official. I talked to her about the controversy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JANE HARTLEY, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO FRANCE: You know, I marched and spoke to President Hollande right before the march. He was positive about the U.S. and our president going to the French embassy and thanked us for everything that we had done.

I had been in contact with the liaison through the days and they know our support. I did not get into the logistics, but I did march right behind him. It was very, very moving to see the French government march arm in arm.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: The ambassador has told me she has not been asked to convey any new message of regret for the fact that a higher level official did not attend that unity rally. She told me as far as she's concerned that issue is done.

She is now preparing for the secretary of state's visit to this city which comes on Thursday. There have been many new developments this morning.

Joining me with the latest details, perhaps of a school being closed this morning, is our senior European correspondent, Jim Bittermann.

JIM BITTERMAN, CNN SENIOR EUROPEAN CORRESPONDENT: One of the international schools in Paris apparently was closed today because of security concerns. It should be said in a situation like this that anybody who doesn't want to go to class, could call off and make a threat or something like that and people are tense around town.

I think it could lead to that kind of thing happening. We may see more of that, but in any case, we are not really sure of the details right now. But one of the international schools, there are a number, was closed because of some security issues.

BERMAN: It gets to the issue the fact that there are 10,000 troops now deployed to secure key sites, 8,000 police including 4,000 Jewish schools and synagogues. This was an international school not specific to any faith or another.

BITTERMAN: No, and I mean, a lot of international students in this town and a lot of businesses that have families that have their children in schools.

BERMAN: But potential targets hence the heightened concern. We just saw sort of a remarkable memorial here, Jim, for the three police officers, the men and women, who were killed in these three days of terror here.

BITTERMAN: It was very sad. I was watching the ceremony. The fact is that these three officers were taken out of action by these terrorists in a way that I think was just shocking to the nation and certainly shocked a lot of the police because they were obviously targeted.

The family of one young lady, who was killed in Southern Paris, 26 years old, the family just broke down and cried. President Hollande tried to comfort each one of the family members there at the ceremony.

There is not a whole lot that can be said when you have a loved one taken way the way this one was taken away. The guy was the executive protection service guy, who was protecting the editor.

He was five years away from retiring. The one Muslim who was killed, on the street, executed on the street, his brother is a police officer. They were there at the ceremony this morning too. It is all very emotional.

BERMAN: Very, very moving to see. You can see some of it there. Jim Bitterman, thanks so much for being with us. I appreciate it. And even as the mourning period does continue here in Paris, so too does the investigation.

As we said the "Associated Press" reporting that there are concerns among police that there could still be an operational terror cell here in France. The three terrorists behind last week's attack directly involved the Kouachi brothers and Amedy Coulibaly. They are now dead.

Coulibaly's partner, his girlfriend or wife, Hayat Boumeddiene, she is on the run. But the French prime minister says the terrorists here could not have launched the attacks without help from others at least financial help, planning help of some kind.

So the question is, are there people here still operating and still could be threatening the people of this country that as investigators are trying to connect more of the threads.

It seems that the Kouachi brothers and Amedy Coulibaly met with the same man over the years. A man who had once been considered as al Qaeda's top recruiter in Europe, a man who had been in and out of French prisons and a man who is now simply not on the French radar at all.

CNN's Erin McLaughlin joins us now with the hunt for possible accomplices -- Erin.

ERIN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That is right, John. French prime minister saying that they are doing everything they can to dismantle what appears to be a larger network. They made arrests last week. There were reports out there that there could be as many as six suspects connected to last week's terror attacks still at large.

We made a number of calls to officials here in France. So far, that number not confirmed. So far as it stands, officials have not announced any new arrests in connection with last week's terror attacks. Meanwhile, new surveillance footage has emerged out of Turkey dated January 2nd from the Istanbul airport, which shows 26-year-old fugitive, Hayat Boumeddiene, the girlfriend of the kosher supermarket attacker in the company of a male at the airport.

Now Turkish authorities at the time flagged her and placed her under surveillance and tracked her to an area not far from the Syrian border. It is believed that she has since crossed over into Syria. Not clear if she met up with ISIS. Certainly something authorities are looking at.

The concern being her propaganda value to ISIS as well and if she is, in fact, with ISIS, it would be very difficult to bring her to justice. Meanwhile, you know, authorities here in France very much focused on determining whether or not any of these suspects had links to larger terror organizations.

We know one of the Kouachi brothers, the "Charlie Hebdo" attackers was trained by an al Qaeda affiliate in Yemen in 2011. We also saw, you know, that really ominous video from the dead from Amedy Coulibaly, the attacker at the kosher supermarket pledging allegiance to ISIS.

So authorities here in France looking into any possible connections they may have recently with those organizations -- John.

BERMAN: They are pulling all the threads here in France as they really press ahead on this investigation. Erin McLaughlin, thank you so much.

Happening right now, the bodies of the four French Jews that were killed in the terror attack at the kosher supermarket are in Jerusalem and they are being buried in a joint funeral that is now underway.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to a request from the victims' families that they be laid to rest in the holy city. CNN's Atika Shubert joins us now live from the ceremony. Good morning, Atika.

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John. We are actually right now listening to Israeli President Royvin Revlin. He is giving an emotional speech to the families of each of the victims.

One built an apartment here in Israel and planning to move here, but had not had a chance to move here before he was killed in the attack. How Johan Cohen came here two weeks before for the first time and unfortunately has been making plans before he was killed in the market.

These are sad details that he's mentioning in the speech, but even more emotional when we heard from the families themselves. They lit a candle for each victim. We heard from a son of a victim, saying that his father wanted to live here, but never got the chance. Now he will be buried here.

Also from the wife of Francois Michel Saaad saying how much he loved his family and how much he loved being here. She broke down in tears describing her love for her husband. It has been an emotional ceremony now.

As you can see there, we are now hearing from the dignitaries. We expect to hear from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shortly after Israeli president finishes his eulogy at this point -- John.

BERMAN: A very, very moving ceremony to see that. Atika Shubert for us in Jerusalem, thank you so much.

So behind me, the offices of "Charlie Hebdo" the satirical magazine where 12 people were killed last Wednesday. Well, there is a new edition rolling off the presses this morning. The magazine is now holding back. We will breakdown the new cover as this controversy continues.

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BERMAN: All right, new this morning, trucks are rolling across Paris distributing a new issue of "Charlie Hebdo." That of course was the satirical magazine headquartered behind me, the site of the horrific attack where 12 people were killed by Cherif Kouachi and Said Kouachi.

Ten members of the satire magazine's editorial staff were killed. The remaining staffers have managed to get a new issue out and the press run is about 3 million, we're told, far above what they normally public, around 60,000. It is being labeled the survivors' issue. It is due on the stands tomorrow.

Joining me to discuss this really heroic effort to get the magazine out whether you agree with what's in it or not. It is a heroic effort to get it on the stands. Our senior media correspondent, Brian Stelter joins me now. Good morning, Brian.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: It really is a triumphant moment for the magazine, for the surviving staff members to put it together. It is also a very provocative moment because on the cover, we've seen the cover.

It is an image of the Prophet Muhammad with the sign, "I am Charlie," the now famous slogan that we see all around this memorial site. It also has the words "all is forgiven," which could be interpreted many different ways.

But the fact that they are choosing to show a cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad again at a time when so many believe that was part of the motivation for this attack last week is very striking. It will get a lot of attention I think.

BERMAN: And of course, all cartoons open to interpretation of the beholder, but I saw Muhammad crying, shedding a tear also in this cartoon, which is interesting to see as well.

STELTER: Well, people have said not just in the past week, but also in the past years that much of what "Charlie Hebdo" was producing over the years was not -- they were not mocking Muhammad. They weren't mocking religious figures. They were mocking extreme warped views of it. They were mocking the extremists. BERMAN: How do they do this? I mean, they had so many members of the staff killed -- you know, their friends, their colleagues. Where did they find the strength to hunker down and get this done? Not to mention the resources. They can't work in those offices right now.

STELTER: That's right. In some cases, they are using some unpublished cartoons from some of the cartoonist, those who will fill some of the eight pages of the issue that we're hoping we can see tomorrow.

In other cases, they are using ex-columnists, ex-cartoonists have come back to lend a hand and some rival newspapers and magazines have also lent office space and financial support. We will see the rest of it later today.

But we know in the past hour actually, it's arrived at the distribution plant and now it's going to be shipped off all across France and also other countries. We are going to see this translated into other languages as well.

BERMAN: Which brings up the issue, which I think we do have to discuss, what you may have noticed. We have not shown you the cover of this magazine, which Brian and I have both seen.

STELTER: Yes, and this is really complicated for news organizations. CNN is not alone in choosing not to show depictions of the Prophet Muhammad. This has been true for many years.

The BBC and Al Jazeera and the "New York Times" and others also choose not to show not just this particular cover, but other images of the Prophet Muhammad because it is so offensive to so many Muslims. It's a strict taboo within Islam.

Now that said a lot of French media outlets today are showing this cover. It's a green cover. It shows the Prophet Muhammad. It is visible online. People can Google it if they want to see it.

A lot of French media outlets are showing it today. Some American media outlets are as well. The "New York Post" has put it on their cover this morning.

So I do wonder if we will see evolving standards here. Maybe some news outlets that have chosen not to show the prophet in the past will choose in this one case to show it.

BERMAN: It gets to one of the amazing truths here. The irony, if you will, of what the terrorists design was. I mean, look, fanatics, is hard to figure out their reason is to begin with, but if their goal is to shut down the message that was being sent from this magazine. It failed miserably.

They went from, you know, 60,000 published to 3 million published. I have dozens of people who know me, who I don't think it ever heard of "Charlie Hebdo" before last week asking to bring home issues of the magazine. The reach has grown beyond I think, you know, anyone's dreams. STELTER: It failed 3 million times over because that is how many copies they are planning to print and release not just in France, but in other countries. I think there will be some available in the United States in weeks to come as well. They will have an online reach.

That was unimaginable in the weeks in the past. This magazine was close to bankruptcy weeks ago and months ago. They were seeking donations from the public to stay afloat. Now, we see this support they are seeing in France, but in many other countries.

BERMAN: Brian, last question because this sort of a media politics crossover. The issue of whether there should have been a more senior official marching, American official marching in the unity rally here.

Our own Jake Tapper wrote a scathing commentary suggesting that someone should have come over the White House now reverse ground. Press Secretary Josh Earnest said it regrets not sending someone, an interesting statement from the press secretary.

STELTER: And I think the media had a lot to do with it. I think the commentary that we heard was pretty unanimous on Sunday and into Monday about it and all that press attention did lead I think to that statement.

I also think it's noteworthy so many leaders from other countries with pretty bad records for press freedoms were here for that and yet the U.S. was not. We would like to think the United States has a relatively good record when it comes to press freedoms compared to Turkey or Egypt or these other countries where some leaders were in attendance. That was striking on Sunday.

BERMAN: Brian Stelter, great to have you here with us in Paris. Thanks so much for your reporting. Appreciate it -- Christine.

ROMANS: All right, John, great conversation. We are going to be following the latest on the Paris terror attacks all morning long, but first, breaking news this morning, in the search for Airasia Flight 8501, we are live with that after the break.

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ROMANS: Turning now to breaking news from the bottom of the Java Sea, divers recovering the second black box from Airasia Flight 8501. The cockpit voice recorder found buried beneath a mangled wing.

And also there is new word that the plane's fuselage has apparently been located, but so far, divers have not seen it with their eyes. David Molko is tracking the latest from Jakarta, Indonesia. Good morning, David.

DAVID MOLKO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christine, good morning. That is the crucial bit. Not seeing it with their own eyes or not seeing photos of it. The information about that fuselage, the main piece of wreckage coming from a search and operations director, his name is Mr. Cipriati. He is at the forefront of this search. He has been speaking on camera in front of military briefings over the past couple of weeks. He is starting to walk back some of what he told CNN earlier.

Earlier, he said divers in the water have located the fuselage. He specified in English the main body of the plane, the fuselage. Now he is saying it is appears that one of the search ships has picked up the fuselage via some scanner on the bottom or another way of images.

Christine, mixed signals from some officials, this one disheartening because of the sensitivity of this here, of course, more than 100 families still waiting for news of their loved ones, 48 bodies recovered. The rest believed to be with that main wreckage.

Families, of course, waiting for news of their loved ones. Certainly at this point, there is nothing confirmed by this official. Saying they picked up the fuselage with the sonar. He has not seen it with his own eyes or divers have seen it with their own eyes.

Christine, one important note on the cockpit voice recorder that is coming back to Jakarta today, we are told to join the other black box, the flight data recorder.

A top transport investigator saying the first black box in great condition so much so, at this hour, if all had gone according to plan according to the earlier conversation, that data could have been downloaded and they can begin to piece together, Christine, what happened on Flight 8501.

ROMANS: All right, David Molko in Jakarta, thank you for that update.

Oil prices are plunging this morning reaching a six-year low. Prices likely to go even lower, what it means for you next.

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ROMANS: All right, let's gets an EARLY START on your money this morning. European and Asian stocks mostly higher despite selling of energy stocks as oil prices tumble here today.

U.S. stock futures are higher after a tough start to the week yesterday. The Dow closed down 97 points. It was actually a calm day comparatively snapping a five-day streak of triple digit swing.

It's been a wild start to the year, folks. The big business story this morning is tumbling oil prices. Crude oil sitting just above $44 a barrel this morning that's the lowest in almost six years.

Prices plunged 5 percent yesterday. They've been cut by almost 60 percent this summer. One of the fastest drops in oil ever and analysts say prices could keep falling because of oversupply.

U.S. production is growing. OPEC is not budging on output either. So you have this real oversupply issue that is still in the oil markets.

Terror alert in France as the country deploys thousands of troops to keep residents safe. "NEW DAY" following that story starts right now.