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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Egypt Stepping Up Strikes Against ISIS; Train Derailment in West Virginia; Dangerous Winter Storm

Aired February 17, 2015 - 04:00   ET

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

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Egypt stepping up its attacks against ISIS after 21 Egyptian Christians slaughtered by the terrorists, as U.S. officials study the gruesome videos look for clues that could help stop the spread of ISIS.

A fireball lights up the sky as a train carrying crude oil derailed in West Virginia. Hundreds of people evacuated after one home is destroyed and oil spills into a nearby river. What caused the train to go off the tracks?

A blast of winter slamming 60 million people today from the Midwest to the Northeast. The snow piling on as temperatures plummet. The winter storm expected to create another messy and dangerous commute this morning.

Good morning. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans. John Berman has the morning off.

It's Tuesday, February 17th, 4:00 exactly in the East.

Up first, Egypt stepping up involvement in the fight against ISIS. Egyptian war planes launching a second wave of airstrikes against ISIS targets in Libya. The attacks coming after the militants kidnapped and beheaded 21 Egyptian Christians there. Egypt's president vowed revenge.

So, could this be the start of the extended military campaign? Let's get more this morning from CNN's Ian Lee in Cairo.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

IAN LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christine, Egypt appears to be gearing up for a prolong war. Yesterday, Egyptian F-16s bombed ISIS weapons depots and training facilities in the Libyan coastal city of Derna. Egypt's foreign minister is at the U.N. Security Council. What Egypt wants is the international coalition targeting ISIS in Iraq and Syria to add Libya to their list as well.

Meanwhile, in Derna, the Mujahideen Shura Council, an umbrella group of Islamist groups issued a statement. They accuse Egypt of targeting and killing civilians, an accusation we can't verify, vowing their response for the bombings will be harsh, painful and at the right place and time.

The Egyptian army has mobilized its soldiers to assist the police in securing vital facilities. All of this began over the brutal beheading of 21 Egyptian Christians in Libya by ISIS. Hundreds of Egyptian workers are still believed to be in that country. Cairo is urging everyone to leave. They believe Libya is no longer safe for any Egyptian -- Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right. Ian Lee for us in Cairo -- thanks for that, Ian.

Meantime, U.S. intelligence officials poring over that latest ISIS beheading video. They are looking for clues about the participants and any possible strategy going forward.

Let's get more on that this morning from CNN's Barbara Starr.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Christine, the video of the men being marched onto a beach and executed in Libya, achieving what U.S. officials say is one of ISIS' continuing goals, showing videos of unspeakable violence because they know it will get the world's attention.

This time, the video, however, a bit different perhaps -- an all-out assault on Christianity. All of the men, Egyptian Christians who had come to Libya looking for work. Now, the U.S. intelligence community looking at every frame of this video for any clues it can about the identity of the attackers. The man who speaks in the video speaks English very well, very little accent. They're going to want to know his identity.

Another thing they are looking at, once again ISIS using those orange jump suits. The kind of jump suits that detainees wore in Guantanamo Bay many years ago. This has been a typical ISIS recruiting tactic to show the aura of Guantanamo Bay, if you will.

So, right now, very little about who was behind the video, who the exact men were on the beach in Libya, but it's underscoring all of the concerns that ISIS is spreading -- Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right. Barbara Starr for us this morning at the Pentagon.

As the White House convenes a three-day summit on countering violent extremism today, the latest CNN/ORC poll suggests President Obama losing support when it comes to his fight against ISIS. Fifty-seven percent of Americans disapprove of how the president is handling the threat, just 40 approved. It's a significant decline from five months ago, when the disapproval number was 49 percent.

At the same time, nearly eight in 10 Americans want Congress to give president authority to use military force against ISIS. The 78 percent approval down slightly from December. Breaking this morning: police investigating a suspicious letter found near a cafe in Copenhagen, the scene of one of the two deadly attacks over the weekend. This as we learn more about the suspected gunman this morning. Officials say he pledged his allegiance to ISIS in a Facebook posting just before the shootings. The news coming as estimated 40,000 people attended a candlelight vigil for the two victims Monday night.

CNN's Nic Robertson live for us this morning in Copenhagen with these new details. Apparently, a Facebook posting of a pledge to ISIS.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And this posting coming really hours before he went out and perpetrated the first attack at the cafe here. That suspicious package the police found earlier, they removed it. Bomb disposal expert removed it. They examined it and they opened the area a few minutes ago. So, it was -- it appears to be a false alarm.

But the details that we are now learning, not only did he pledge allegiance to al-Baghdadi, the head of ISIS, in the hours before the attack, we also understand now from the Danish ambassador to the United States that he was released from jail only a couple of weeks before this attack and that the Danish authorities believe while he was in jail, he was becoming radicalized by ISIS-type elements within the jail system.

This is what we heard from the police before. They believed one of the motives he may have had in this was a copy-cat type of attack for what we saw in Paris last month, but also that he may have been inspired by radical ISIS propaganda. And that now appears to be the case. Two men, 19 and 22 years old, charged with accomplices to murder and to attempted murder for support and help of pre-arranging to hide him out between those attacks, Christine.

ROMANS: What do they know, Nic, about any other associations he made in prison? Because before this, he was a violent gang member, but not tied to terrorism. Are they making the connection with who he was close to in prison and any concern that this could be an ongoing problem for Danish authorities?

ROBERTSON: Danish authorities are completely aware this is a potential of an ongoing problem. They probably will have good analysis, the intelligence services likely will have a good analysis, who he associated within jail, who were the prime people that sort of moved him to radicalist agenda.

But what I learned from somebody who studies the gangs here, he was a gang member, a major amount of gang warfare in Copenhagen in the last few years. There had been a truce with the gangs. He had been thrown out of his gang recently because he was considered volatile and uncontrollable, and he had a lot of exposure to weapons inside the gangs, a lot of exposure to killing people.

And that turn, this expert said, is where he believes that he got weapons experience and weapons training. But once thrown out of the gang, he seems to have gravitated to this radical Islamist agenda. That happened inside jail, Christine.

ROMANS: Trying to find meaning from a life without purpose prior. All right. We'll continue to follow those developments. Thanks for that, Nic Robertson, in Copenhagen for us this morning.

Eight minutes past the hour.

Five teenagers are in custody this morning. They are suspected of desecrating graves in France at a Jewish cemetery in France. Police say they are all between 15 and 17. They had no criminal records. They say one of the teen suspects turned himself in and admitted to defacing the graves along with four of his friends.

Breaking overnight: firefighters still battling an enormous fire after a CSX train carrying crude oil derailed and exploded in Fayette County, filling the air with smoke and fire. A second explosion, the biggest one yet, shook the area around midnight. The governor of West Virginia declaring a state of emergency.

One home was incinerated. One person injured. Nearly 30 of the train's 100-plus cars came off the tracks in this incident. And two nearby towns have been evacuated.

Officials are concerned about oil. The train was carrying oil. That train spilled oil into a local river, which is a source of drinking water for people in two counties. It's not yet known what caused the derailment.

Also breaking overnight: a federal judge putting a temporary hold on President Obama's executive action on immigration. It's a response to a request by a coalition of 26 states planning a lawsuit aimed of putting a permanent stop to the president's action. The president's action could protect as many as 5 million people who are in the U.S. illegally from being deported.

Breaking this morning, at least eight people killed in a blast in Pakistan. Authorities say it happened as a suicide bomber tried to enter a police station in the city of Lahore. We're breaking more details as this story -- in this story as they come available. But again, eight killed in a bombing.

U.S. officials expressing grave concern about mounting cease-fire violations and what they say is the deteriorating situation in eastern Ukraine. To that end, German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke on the phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and the three agreed to take, quote, "concrete steps" to assure the cease-fire is fully implemented and withdraw of heavy weapons is mandated in the Minsk agreement begins today.

A Moscow-based security software company exposed Western spying operations. On the list, the NSA's ability to hide spying software deep within hard drives made by top manufacturers. It's found on personal computers in 30 countries like Iran, Russia, Afghanistan, among others. Former NSA employee did not deny those findings.

About 11 minutes past the hour. Time for an early start on your money.

Stock futures pointing lower this morning. European markets down as well. The S&P 500 coming off a record high. Markets closed yesterday for the Presidents Day holiday.

The investor fear this morning is about Greece, as that country could stumble out of the eurozone. Debt talks collapsed. Greek officials rejected the proposal to extend the country's current bailout program. Protesters on both sides are holding rallies outside the parliament in Athens. Without an agreement, Greek banks could lose access to case from European Central Bank. That could ultimately force the country out of the eurozone currency and create more instability in global stock markets.

A blast of winter slamming millions of people today. Ice and snow, well, you can bet they will make dangerous road conditions on the commute. What you need to know, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: All right. Much of the country is in the grip of this wicked weather. An estimated 60 million Americans dealing with the record low temperatures, including double digit below zero wind-chills. South expected to bear the brunt of the latest storm. Up to 10 inches of snow expected in some areas there.

Check out this video, by the way. Snowy, icy road conditions in Hampton, Virginia. Leading to an accident, an SUV skidding across the main road and ending up in front of a news crew. It's caught the whole thing on tape. It certainly could have been a lot worse.

The nation's capital bracing for a major storm. A long holiday weekend for federal workers will be even longer. Federal offices are closed today.

Amtrak's Northeast corridor will operate on a modified schedule today. So, check if you're traveling. And more than 1,000 flights are already canceled.

Let's get to meteorologist Pedram Javaheri. He's got the early look at your forecast.

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Christine.

You know, one thing to keep in mind here with all of the cold air across the country, all the wintry weather, 31. That is the magic number. We are how many days away from starting the spring season across the Northern Hemisphere.

But look at this, about 60 million people dealing with wintry weather. In fact, around Nashville, it's where we have ice storm warnings in effect through 9:00 a.m. local time. And this pattern again with significant accumulations of ice have been really disruptive. In fact, storm system parked off the southeast coastline. Snow showers already seeing four inches of it come down around portions of Washington, D.C. It could get another couple inches before it's all done with. And then, New York and Boston could get in on a couple of inches as well. But, generally speaking, 2 to 4 inches for everyone as opposed to 12 to 26 in recent days. But there's the ice storm concern at this point from Greenville to Charlotte, North Carolina, and Raleigh.

In fact, 30 percent of all flights cancelled across the United States have occurred out of Charlotte's Douglas International Airport.

And here's what's left in the forecast, Christine, when it comes to snow showers. Notice, right on the Delmarva coastline, eight to 10 inches. But New York, and eventually Boston, two to four. That's enough to put on you on the second all time for the snowy season in recorded history.

ROMANS: All right. Pedram Javaheri, thanks for that.

Thirteen degrees on the dashboard this morning and already, a lot of snow here.

Believe it or not, it looks like Boston, though, will be spared the worst of this storm. There is still the bone-chilling cold and, of course, 7 feet of snow to put somewhere.

CNN's Will Ripley is there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christine, this is a herculean effort to get the streets of the city clear as people prepare to go back to work later this morning.

I want to show you where we are. This is one of the largest snow farms in Boston. This was an empty lot. But, as you see now, it has become a literal mountain of snow. A mountain that is so high, it dwarfs construction equipment that you see there, scooping the snow up, and bringing it down to this machine here, a snow melting machine, that we are told has the ability to melt 150 tons, that's 300,000 pounds of snow per hour.

They dump the snow into this and then the water comes out right there and they dump that water into the sewers. Even though this is a tremendous operation with a lot of capacity, it is still not nearly enough to keep up with all of the snow that has inundated Boston. Public transportation is still crippled this morning.

It will only be operated on partial routes today. And, in fact, the transportation director is saying it could be 30 days of operations like this clearing all the snow before they are back to normal capacity. That is if another blizzard doesn't hit this city.

But it really is remarkable to see the effort underway here at the snow farm. The largest, but several other snow farms throughout the city as Boston tries to dig out of an unprecedented three-week run of very heavy snow, including that blizzard that we were covering over the weekend -- Christine. (END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right, Will.

A record February and the mayor saying they have run through all of their budget for the year, spent $36 million on snow removal. They ran through their snow removal budget for the year already.

All right. Powerful moments in the so-called "American Sniper" murder trial. The jury hearing from accused killer in his own words about why he pulled the trigger. Does the confession hurt or actually help his case?

And six CNN anchors show off their presidential smarts on the CNN's quiz show. What did John Berman say that made Anderson Cooper threaten to disqualify him?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: Testimony resuming this morning at the trial of Eddie Ray Routh. Accused killer of "American Sniper" Chris Kyle and his friend Chad Littlefield.

In court Monday, the jurors heard a videotaped confession by the marine. Routh confessed to the killing but has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. CNN's Ed Lavandera is following this trial for us in Stephenville, Texas.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christine, the star witness on the fourth day of testimony in the "American Sniper" trial was Eddie Ray Routh himself. But he didn't appear in person to speak before the jury. He appeared in the form of a two-year-old videotaped confession that was recorded just hours after Chris Kyle and Chad Littlefield were killed in February 2013. He was interviewed by a Texas Ranger detective in the town of Lancaster after he led police on a high-speed chase and taken into custody.

And this is significant because it is really the first time the jury has been able to see and hear Eddie Ray Routh in the moments, at least as close as possible and to be able to see his demeanor and state of mind in the hours after Chad Littlefield and Chris Kyle were murdered. And then on the tape, you know, often times, he comes off rambling and speaking incoherently about his soul, and this sort of thing. So, really a lot of issues that point to someone that was disturbed.

In fact, the detective described him as someone who wasn't normal. But repeatedly, he's asked over and over on this confession tape, if he knew what he did was wrong. And after initially saying he could not tell if he had done right or wrong, he later answered those questions from detective, saying that he knew that what he did was wrong and if he was given the chance to speak to the victims' families, he would apologize and say he was sorry -- Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE) ROMANS: All right. Ed Lavandera, following that trial for us, a sad

story all around.

A big blow in the pocketbook for disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong. He has been ordered to pay $10 million as a penalty to a sports promotion company for the bonuses it paid for three of his Tour de France titles. An arbitration panel in Texas ruling Armstrong is responsible for, quote, "pageant of perjury, fraud and conspiracy due to his use of performance enhancing drugs." His legal team is disputing.

All right. Last night, CNN aired presidential trivia quiz show. My co-anchor, John Berman, one of six contestants. And you know what, I got to admit, he dominated most of the night before he caused a bit of controversy with this answer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Which performer did not sing at a swearing in ceremony at a presidential inauguration? A, Kelly Clarkson; B, Beyonce --

(BUZZER)

COOPER: John Berman?

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Beyonce. B.

COOPER: That is incorrect.

BERMAN: It's not incorrect. She lip synced.

COOPER: Oh, that's low. That is a low blow.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Give him the points.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Turns out the correct answer, the textbook answer, Barbra Streisand. John and his teammate, Erin Burnett, came in second behind Jake Tapper and Alisyn Camerota.

All right. Egypt this morning stepping up attacks on ISIS as retaliation for the brutal beheading video. Are the airstrikes just the beginning of a bigger military campaign?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)