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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

New Threat From ISIS; Belgian Terror Cell Linked to ISIS; State of the Union Preview; Fighting Escalates Around Donetsk Airport; #Deflategate: NFL Investigating Patriots?

Aired January 20, 2015 - 05:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: The breaking news this morning, a chilling new threat from ISIS releasing a new video overnight. That as the manhunt in Europe intensifies for a terror cell leader. We'll tell you how European leaders are trying to stop terror at home.

Live team coverage starts right now.

Good morning, everyone. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm John Berman. It is Tuesday, January 20th. It is 5:00 a.m. in the East. Christine Romans is off this morning.

And the breaking news is a chilling new video from ISIS threatening new hostages. And this time, it appears an attempt to extort $200 million from the Japanese government.

We want to get to the latest on this. Let's bring in CNN's Will Ripley. Good morning, Will.

WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: John, this is really devastating news for Japan which is a pacifist country. For the Prime Minister Shinzo Abe who is in the Middle East right now, just two days ago in a diplomatic push and push to bring Japan into a major role on the global stage announcing $200 million in aid to help fight ISIS.

Well, just two days later, ISIS comes out with this video on social media essentially telling Japan, all right, now we are going to charge you $200 million or take the lives of two of your citizens.

Kenji Goto, who you see on the left side of your screen, a freelance journalist who was covering the crisis in the Middle East and hasn't posted anything on Twitter since late October when he was scheduled to return to Japan but never come home.

And on the right, Haruna Yukawa, who according to his Web site is the owner of a private security company. He was taken in august. His father has spoke back then over the summer about the shock that he was in at that moment. You can imagine what he is thinking now, John, after seeing and hearing about this video.

BERMAN: Will, any sense of exactly why Japan is being targeted or is it just a target of opportunity at this point by these ISIS terrorists?

RIPLEY: What we see and what we have seen with previous cases is that ISIS, you know, they take these hostages and they hold on to them almost like they are saving them for a special occasion. They do these dry run through with the videos which is why the two Americans who were executed, the two British citizens as well. They were pretty calm in the videos, because they may not know whether they are being taped in a dry run through or whether it's going to be the actual event.

So, you know, two days ago, Abe pledges $200 million. Conveniently, is comes out with a video. We know they are sophisticated with their videos capabilities, demanding $200 from the Japanese government. Japan has never officially paid a ransom for the release of hostages. Although several years back, there were hostages released from Iraq. And there was some speculation that perhaps there might have been a deal done under the table.

The prime minister would not directly answer a question when asked what steps specifically Japan will take if it will pay any money at all. But he did say they won't bow down to terrorists. They will move forward with the promise to deliver $200 million in aid to fight ISIS.

BERMAN: All right. Troubling new video and again, the terrorist on that video appears to have a British accent speaking perfect English. Will Ripley for us, thanks so much.

More happening this morning. Authorities searching for the man they say is the ringleader of the terror cell raided by police in Belgium last week. A man they say is linked to ISIS.

The senior Belgian counterterrorism official says the man's name is Abdelhamid Abaaoud and that he dropped off the radar in Greece. Also breaking this morning, some 200 German police officers raided 13 locations in three metro (AUDIO GAP) two Islamists arrested on Friday.

I want to go to senior international correspondent Nic Robertson who was in Paris.

And, Nic, there are developments this morning in Paris, in the league of proceedings against suspects who may have been tied to the attacks there?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SNEIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: John, that's right. Five of the suspects held released late last night. That leaves four in custody. We are told due to appear before a magistrate today. They are all young men in their 20s. And when they do appear before that magistrate, we are told we will be informed of the charges against them, which will perhaps give us a little better idea of what it is the police believe specifically that they have been involved in.

The German arrests this morning, two of the police involved in those multiple raids with 13 locations. We are told that in connection with two Islamists arrested last week. Not thwarting an imminent attack. That is the headline from those arrests in Germany. This is part of a broader investigation into counterterrorism issues which is under way in Germany.

So, despite the fact that a lot of northern Europe on high alert at the moment. In Germany, at least, these arrests are not heading off an imminent attack as we understand right now, John.

BERMAN: All right. Nic Robertson for us in Paris, thanks so much.

Of course, the attacks in Paris, those raids in Germany and Belgium, the context as European officials scramble to ramp up their counterterrorism efforts to close loopholes. European foreign ministers have been meeting in Brussels. They have been floating a variety of ideas to try to fight terrorism. Some of these ideas have already been in place in the United States for some time now.

I want to bring in our senior correspondent Ivan Watson who is in Brussels.

Good morning, Ivan.

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John.

A senior Belgian counterterrorism official has been giving us some details about the efforts that the Belgians have been using, the strategies to try to break up a suspected jihadi cell. This began with a dramatic gun battle last Thursday night when the police moved in towards an apartment in the eastern Belgian town of Verviers. The suspects, two of them, clashed with Belgian police and were killed in that gun battle. We since learned that the Belgians believed there were cells of ten people that they have been monitoring that apartment. That they believe it was a safe house. They arrested five suspects here in Belgium since then.

And part of the reason they moved in was they believe that the suspects had gotten weapons and they didn't think they could maintain the 24-hour surveillance for much longer. They've also identified the suspected ringleader of the cell. A Belgian man of Moroccan descent identified as Abdelhamid Abaaoud who was believed to have traveled to ISIS in the past to have fought with ISIS. He was last tracked in Greece. That is where Greek police arrested an Algerian citizen. And the Belgians requested his extradition back to Belgium.

Whether or not they can get their hands on this man defends on whether or not that man agrees to extradition, if he tries to resist using his legal defense, it could take weeks before he was brought back here to Belgium -- John.

BERMAN: From Brussels to Paris to Greece to Germany this morning. Ivan Watson helping us cover the terrorism situation across Europe.

New this morning, protests turning violent and deadly. Demonstrators in the West African nation of Niger furious at the latest edition of the French magazine "Charlie Hebdo." They took the streets. At least 10 people have died, with nearly four dozen churches were set on fire. Many hotels and bars were also burned to the ground. The government of Niger government has declared three days of mourning for the victims of the violence there.

In Yemen, a tenuous ceasefire appears to be holding this morning, after fighting around the presidential palace broke an earlier truce. The U.S.-backed government in the capital of Sana'a says the fighting is part of an effort by the Shiite Houthi insurgents to grab power. Now, if those rebels succeed, it would be a worrying development for Western officials. A power vacuum in Yemen, it already does benefit al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula which has been using Yemen as a base of operations.

Happening today: President Obama delivers his State of the Union Address. That happens tonight in primetime and he will do so facing a very new political environment. For the first time, he will face a Congress under complete Republican control. But resurgent economy and slight bump in the president's polls seems to be inspiring a fresh wave of determination from the White House.

CNN's Jim Acosta has a preview of the address -- Jim.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: John, even though the White House has already shared much of what will be in the president's State of the Union Address over the last couple weeks, a senior official told me there are still some surprises in store. The White House says the theme of the speech will be middle class economics and address will be filled with pitches from the president like those tax breaks he is proposing.

Now, those credits, plus the free community college idea Mr. Obama has already talked about, they add up to well over $200 billion. The president would pay for that with new taxes on the rich and fees on big banks that come to more than $300 billion.

We are also learning more about the president's State of the Union message and the White House announced Alan Gross, the American who was freed from a Cuban prison as part of the deal to normalize relations between the countries, he will be in the first lady's box. So, expect the president to defend his policy in Cuba once again.

White House officials say the president is feeling embolden with the economy and the low gas prices and those executive actions on immigration and Cuba that have performed well in the polls. The president's approval ratings are ticking up, and with those numbers, it's no surprise the president will be taking his State of the Union message on the road to red states for events in Idaho and Kansas later on this week -- John.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: All right. Our thanks to Jim.

And, of course, you can watch the State of the Union coverage live tonight on CNN. One man who will likely watch on television is the Senate minority leader Harry Reid. He will return to work today. The 75-year-old is still closely monitored by doctors after suffering four broken ribs and broken bones around his right eye. This happens during exercise accident last month.

The senator's schedule He is not expected to attend the state of the union address tonight. Senator Reid admits that it might be possible he could lose vision in his injured eye.

Senate Republicans forging ahead with the bill to begin construction of the Keystone oil pipeline. They could begin to vote on the measure this afternoon. The battle over the $8 billion pipeline to drag into February. The president promised to veto this version of the bill.

Let's talk more about your money. Shall we? Alison Kosik here with an early start.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: We shall. We're seeing lots of green on the screen so far. Asian stocks showing gains overnight. Markets in Shanghai and Hong Kong and Japan are all closing higher. Futures in the U.S. looking like they are pointing higher as well as we get set for a four-day trading week. Markets were close yesterday.

And we are seeing the Federal Reserve, they are talking about when to raise interest rates. They are on track to raise the short-term rates later this year. No big increase until June. Short-term rates have been near zero. Long-term could go down as investors worry about weak global growing and oil prices falling.

Google is close to investing a billion dollars in SpaceX. The investment in the rocket company would value SpaceX at $10 billion. But at this point, it is not very clear what kind of stake Google would have in the company.

Now, this move would wind up being Google's latest to spread Web access via satellites to remote areas around the world. Did you know, John, that there are billions of people who don't even have access to the Internet?

BERMAN: Yes. In fact, I did know that, sometimes even in their apartments in New York City.

KOSIK: I feel that, too.

BERMAN: All right. Alison Kosik, thanks so much. Appreciate it.

KOSIK: Got it.

BERMAN: Eleven minutes after the hour.

Happening now: dozens dead, fighting intensifies in Ukraine. Russia is accused of fueling this fight.

We are live with the latest developments right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: New this morning, the battle for eastern Ukraine appears to be entering a new phase. Ukraine's prime minister claims that Russia has, quote, "transferred military forces and equipment into his country." The prime minister lists a number of tanks and rocket systems that he says are not sold at local street markets in Donetsk, must have been brought in by the Russian military. This follows a recent escalation in the fighting between Ukrainian and rebel troops around the Donetsk airport.

I want to go to Moscow right now, senior international correspondent Matthew Chance.

And, Matthew, once again the Russians that they're sending troops in.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, absolutely, John.

I men, there have been allegations since the conflict began almost a year ago that Russia has been deploying troops inside eastern Ukraine to fight alongside the pro-Russian rebels against the government. That they have been supplying them with tanks and rocket launchers and surface-to-air missiles.

But time and again, the Russians have categorically denied that. Not ruling the idea there might be volunteers from Russia fighting in Ukraine, but saying none of their regular forces are there. That's what they've done this time as well, rejecting these Ukraine allegations.

But there has been a sharp increase in fighting in Eastern Ukraine, particularly around the airport in Donetsk. It's strategically important location. It's got an airstrip that still can function. And both the government side and the rebel side, both want to keep control of it. There has been very fierce fighting as the airport changes hands.

Currently, it seems to be in the hands, majority of it, in the Ukraine government. There's been a big Ukrainian offensive to take that control. Rebels are fighting back. Defense officials from the Ukraine rebels saying the city Donetsk has been shelled 37 times. The region around has been shelled 37 times in the past 24 hours and a number of people killed. More than a dozen or so injured as well. So, serious fighting taking place now in eastern Ukraine amid concerns that this could be the start of a much bigger escalation in the conflict.

BERMAN: Serious fighting and not much talking right now. Matthew Chance for us in Moscow -- thanks so much.

Sixteen minutes after the hour.

A formal indictment for Christopher Cornell, the man accused of plotting the terror attack at the United States Capitol, that could come as early as tomorrow. The 20-year-old is being held without bond after his arrest last week. This man had been on the FBI radar for months. His alleged plot to detonate bombs at the Capitol, it was thwarted with the help of an informant.

Jury selection begins today in the trial of James Holmes. He is charged in the 2012 Aurora, Colorado movie theater massacre that left 12 people dead, 58 wounded. Holmes has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. The process of seating a jury, it will be a lengthy one. Prosecutors estimate there are 9,000 prospective jurors in the suburban Denver County.

Breaking overnight: a deadly bridge collapse, it shut down a stretch of I-75 in Cincinnati independently. The bridge gave out last night. Not clear what caused it. The Cincinnati fire department says a body of a construction worker who was killed had just been recovered, a truck driver suffered non-threatening injuries.

This morning, a software executive, his wife and four children unaccounted for after a huge fire destroyed their waterfront mansion in Annapolis in Maryland. Neighbors have suggested that Donald Pyle (ph) and his family were away from the home at the time. Firefighters have not been able to search the wreckage. Officials say there is no evidence the fire was deliberately set. The cause is under investigation.

A day of protests, some violent, on the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. In Seattle, 64 arrested and a police officer suffer a leg injury as protesters disrupted highway traffic chanting "black lives matter". In San Mateo, California, 68 demonstrators detained by police after snarling traffic for two hours on a bridge there. And in New York, hundreds of protesters took part in a Dream for Justice March, taking to the streets in Harlem, chanting "racist cops have to go".

Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe is hospitalized this morning, getting treatment after a horse riding accident last month. The governor was in Africa on vacation with his family when he was thrown from a horse, he broke several ribs. Doctors expected the injury healed on its own, but admitted to the hospital on Monday because of the increase of fluid around his lungs. That fluid was drained. The procedure was successful. The governor is expected to be released and return to work in the next few days.

Snow is in the forecast for the Great Lakes and Mississippi Valley today. Let's get to meteorologist Pedram Javaheri for an early look at the weather.

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hey, good Tuesday morning, John. And welcome back.

Yes, let's talk about what's happening here across the Great Lakes and the Upper Midwest, because snow showers certainly prevalent this morning. Really not way in the much of significant accumulation, and the coldest time of the morning at this hour, generally in the low 30s. Few spots in Green Bay, down to 23 degrees. It feels colder after the NFC championship, a loss there on Sunday. But it's certainly going to be a nuisance snowmaker caused that region.

And the South, really, is the big story. Extreme warmth taking place here, well above average after a cold start to much of the southeast here. Sixty-four in Atlanta, upper 60s in Dallas. Charleston at 67 degrees. But over the next couple of days, we are following this disturbance

that piece and that separates here and pushes off towards the Northeast. The big weather maker relatively speaking from Wednesday afternoon and Wednesday night down from the I-95 corridors of New York, down to Philly, could get some significant accumulation in spots.

Now, depending on the trek, at most, maybe two inches around Philly, maybe an inch around New York City. That amount could be higher depending on what the storm system does over the next 24 hours. But that is the weather maker we are tracking for you here over the next couple days, John.

BERMAN: All right. Pedram Javaheri, thanks so much.

Deflategate. What is the latest on the accusations that the New England Patriots took air out of the footballs in their dramatic heroic win against the Indianapolis Colts? What on Earth is going to happen with all this?

Andy Scholes has the details in the "Bleacher Report", next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: All right. I, for one, hope this is not true. The NFL investigating whether the New England Patriots took air out of the footballs, deflated the footballs during their dominating win on the Colts on Sunday.

Andy Scholes with more on the "Bleacher Report". Good morning.

ANDY SCHOLES, BLEACHER REPORT: Hey, good morning, John.

Yes, you know, they are calling this deflategate. Taking the air out of the ball in wet conditions to make it easier to grip and catch. The Patriots say this is ridiculous, but they are going to fully with the NFL's investigation. The Pats, they could face a fine and loss of a draft pick if the league determines the weight of the balls were altered. When asked about this, about deflategate, Tom Brady could not help but laugh.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

HOST: Did you get the sense you were able to grip the ball better than the Colts last night?

(LAUGHTER)

HOST: Would you care to weigh in on that?

TOM BRADY, NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS: I think I heard it all at this point. Oh, God.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Tight end Rob Gronkowski, he had some with this, all this late posted this picture on twitter. Warning, gronk may cause deflation. Oops. LOL, is what he said, pretty funny stuff.

All right. On his way home from the AFC championship game, Vincent Wilfork came across an overturned Jeep Wrangler on the highway. So, the six-foot-two, 325-pound lineman did what anyone would do. He got out of his car and pulled the driver out of the car to safety.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VINCE WILFORK, PATRIOTS DEFENSIVE TACKLE: It was something we saw and we knew she needed help. The good thing is we got her to safety. I'm glad we did.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: The driver was OK but was charged with drunk driving.

Lindsey Vonn won her 63rd World Cup Race in Italy. She got a surprise from her boyfriend tiger woods. Tiger was missing one thing, his front tooth. Tiger's agent says a photographer at the event bumped into Tiger's mouth knocking out the tooth. The race organizers say Woods never reported the incident.

John, I have to say if a tiger -- if a photographer knocked out one of Tiger's front teeth, I feel there would have been a commotion, considering anyone doing anything during one of his backswings.

BERMAN: He doesn't have a great relationship with the press and photographers. Maybe it is different when he is there watching ski racing. Apparently he surprised Lindsey Vonn at that race, gave her a big hug and kissed her and flew away after it was over.

SCHOLES: Right.

BERMAN: Andy Scholes, great to see you this morning. Thanks so much.

SCHOLES: Good to see you, too.

BERMAN: A new terror threats from ISIS to tell you about this morning. Breaking news: ISIS threatening to kill new hostages if their demands are not met. We are live after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)