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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Oklahoma University: Racist Fraternity Video Fallout Grows; Obama & GOP Battle Over Iran; Taking Back Tikrit; Putin Reveals Crimea Takeover Plot; Oklahoma Athletes Respond to Racist Video

Aired March 10, 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: Oklahoma outrage. Growing disgust over a video showing fraternity students chanting a racist song. A fraternity is now closing its doors, shutdown as the university mulls expulsions. We have the latest.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Senate Republicans warning the Iranians the final say of the nuclear deal rests with Congress. But their overture isn't sitting well with the president or his second in command. We'll have the strong reaction from the White House.

BERMAN: And ISIS on the ropes in the key Iraqi city of Tikrit. The Iraqi military, Shia militia is gaining ground. Now, America's top general is reiterating he expects to defeat ISIS. We have a live report from Baghdad just minutes away.

Good morning, everyone. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm John Berman.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Christine Romans. It's Tuesday, March 10th. It is 5:00 a.m. in the East.

First, the new fallout this morning from the disturbing video at the University of Oklahoma. The racist chant by some fraternity members has led the national Sigma Alpha Epsilon, organization, SAE, to close that chapter. The university evicting members from the fraternity house. The house this weekend vandalized with this message, "Tear it down."

OU president David Boren said Monday he would seek the permanent expulsion of the SEA members involved, especially those leading this chant.

BERMAN: The repercussions are just beginning. A top Sooner football recruit from the Dallas area has declared that he is decommitting and will go elsewhere.

Current player Eric Striker angrily denounced the racist video on Snapchat. He told CNN he was hurt by the damage the video has done to the school's reputation, and he backs the call to expel those responsible.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERIC STRIKER, UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA LINEBACKER: It is playing out. It is out there. I'm not saying it hasn't happened before, but this is something that really extreme, not saying that the little things before should get pushed under the rug. But we, you know, we believe that president Boren has taken the right actions and investigating and doing the right thing, you know, more than just suspensions and expelling these students -- the people who are responsible for it and people on the bus. This is how we feel, that action should take -- students should get expelled that had a lot to do with that, the ones on the bus.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Early Monday, hundreds of students and faculty members marched silently to protest the video. They were joined by University president David Boren that real Sooners, he said, are not racist.

New demonstrations are playing for today in Madison, Wisconsin, following the fatal police shooting of an unarmed biracial teenager. On Monday, hundreds of college and public school students protested the killing of 19-year-old Tony Robinson. They walked out of classes and peacefully marched to the state capital.

Let's get the latest from Madison. CNN's Ryan Young is there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John and Christine, we saw the frustrations really rolling over here in Madison, Wisconsin, as thousands of people walked to state capital to show the displeasure of the shooting death of this teen. If you look behind me, you can see the growing memorial for 19-year-old Tony Robinson.

This memorial has been growing all afternoon. In fact, they've been raising signs here so they can show their support for this young man. They tell us they plan to have more protests.

There's a lot of questions involved in this case. Originally, police were called because of a disturbance. Once police arrived, he said he heard some noise on the inside the home. Once he was inside, the struggle happened and shots were fired on the inside. The 19-year-old was pronounced dead.

Now, this community wants answers. But one thing that we have noticed, the protests here have remained peaceful. And they want to make sure people understand this is not another Ferguson. They plan to push forward and ask more questions, and get to the bottom of this -- John and Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: All right, Ryan, thanks so much.

On the subject of Ferguson, an embattled judge there has resigned. The action comes after the scathing report accusing Ronald Brockmeyer of using his court to fund the city on the backs of poor minorities. Judge Roy Richter will now take over the post. Besides hearing Ferguson's pending and future city cases, the Missouri Supreme Court is also tasking Richter with making, quote, "needed changes to help restore public trust and confidence in the Ferguson courts. He begins his new post starting March 16th.

ROMANS: New this morning: extraordinary tension between the White House and Republicans after 47 Senate Republicans signed an open letter to Iran. That letter declares that unless Congress has its say any nuclear deal with Iran could be null and void after the president leaves office.

Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton leading the charge.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TOM COTTON (R), ARKANSAS: I support a good deal that stops Iran from getting a nuclear weapon today, tomorrow, 10 years from now and forever. The president has already said that a deal could have as little as a 10-year sunset on it. His national security adviser has said that Iran could have uranium enrichment abilities, the critical component of developing a nuclear bomb. Whatever else the terms of the future deal might be, those terms make the deal unacceptable to the United States and to the world because they pave the way for Iran to get a nuclear weapon.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: From the White House this morning, CNN's Michelle Kosinski.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, John and Christine.

Well, already, we have seen some in Congress try to bring up legislation, although unsuccessfully, to give them a vote on any nuclear deal with Iran. Well, now, 47 Republicans wrote the open letter to Iran, asserting that they have an important role in the process, acting as a sort of warning. Given the way that the deal is currently being worked on, in actuality, the president doesn't have to send it to Congress for a vote.

But here is what they write in the letter, "We will consider any agreement regarding your nuclear weapons program that is not approved by the Congress as nothing more than an executive agreement with President Obama and Ayatollah Khamenei. The next president could revoke such an agreement with a stroke of a pen."

The reaction to this letter came quickly from Democrats, from the White House, calling it bizarre, a desperate ploy, juvenile, saying it weakens America's hand in the negotiations. And particularly interesting was hearing the White House say that what they're trying to amounts to back channel communications with Iranian hard liners.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think it's somewhat ironic to see some members of Congress wanting to make common cause with the hard liners in Iran. It's an unusual coalition. KOSINSKI: Well, Congress would have a vote in the process on removing

those tough sanctions from Iran or not if that is part of a deal. But the White House now says that would come years down the road from a deal, that it would take a number of years, they said, to first see if Iran was, in fact, compliant.

By the way, Iran responded to the letter calling it a propaganda ploy -- John and Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: Our thanks to Michelle for that.

The Vice President Joe Biden not at all happy with the 47 Senate Republicans who sent that letter to the Iranian leader. The vice president released this statement saying, "The letter expressively designed to undercut a sitting president in the middle of negotiations is beneath the dignity of the institution I revere. This letter in a guise of constitutional lesson ignores two centuries of precedent and threatens to undermine the ability of any future American president, whether Democrat or Republican to negotiate with other nations on behalf of the United States.

Secretary of State John Kerry will return to Switzerland this week to resume nuclear talks with Iran's foreign minister.

ROMANS: New developments in the bloody struggle for control of Tikrit. Iraqi forces on the offensive for a solid week, trying to liberate the birthplace of Saddam Hussein from ISIS.

America's top general, Joint Chiefs Chairman Martin Dempsey, he is in Baghdad, vowing that ISIS will be defeated.

Let's go to Baghdad and bring in CNN senior international correspondent Ben Wedeman.

Good morning, Ben.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Christine.

Yes, General Dempsey was here yesterday meeting with the Iraqi prime minister, the defense minister. Here perhaps to stress that the United States is and international coalition are playing a key role in the fight against ISIS. The U.S. officials have made clear that the international coalition since last September has launched more than 2,000 strikes. Coalition has trained or ISIS in the process of training more than 5,000 Iraqi soldiers.

And therefore, even though there is a lot of talk these days about Iran backing up the Iraqi forces outside Tikrit, that indeed, the coalition is providing significant support and, of course, looking ahead to Mosul. That support will be critical if ISIS is to be driven out of that Iraq's second largest city.

As far as Tikrit goes, we were there yesterday. We saw that the Iraqi forces which appear to be led by these Shia paramilitary forces are making significant progress in taking the city or rather taking the area around it. We saw that in the last three days, they had moved about 50 miles to the very edge, just one mile outside of Tikrit.

We watched as they were firing rockets into the city. A lot of forces gathered there for a push forward towards the West.

Now, we did however also see that indeed there is Iranian involvement. I had a chance to speak discreetly with four Iranian advisers. They told me or described their role there as volunteers. I also spoke to the head of the largest Shia militia. He told me that as far as the coalition goes, we don't need it and we won't need it. We will be able to liberate all of Iraq from ISIS by ourselves.

And when he was speaking about the Iranian advisers, the Iranian role in this operation, he said we thank them deeply --

ROMANS: Ben Wedeman. We thank them deeply I think is what he was trying to say before our signal cut out there. Thanks for that, Ben.

BERMAN: Nine minutes after the hour.

Two French Olympic medalists were among 10 people who were killed in an apparent midair helicopter crash in Argentina. Gold medal winning swimmer Camille Muffat and bronze medal boxer Alexis Vastine, they were participating in a survivalist reality show "Dropped" when their choppers went down. Two Argentine pilots and six other French nationals were also killed. A government spokesman says it appears those choppers collided while filming a scene for that show.

ROMANS: The U.S. ambassador to South Korea released from the hospital overnight. Mark Lippert says he's doing well and grateful to everyone who reached out after he was slashed last week in the face and arm before a speech. Lippert plans to return to work soon now that more than 80 stitches in his face had been removed.

Lippert's attacker, Kim Ki-jong, facing attempted murder charges. He's undergoing surgery today for a broken ankle he suffered when authorities overpowered and tackled him.

BERMAN: Hillary Clinton is ready to publicly comment on what some are calling the scandal that has been dogging her for weeks. A news conference or a sit-down interview could come within 48 hours. That is according to her source. The former secretary of state is expected to say she did use a classified government e-mail system at the State Department, but she could not use that with her BlackBerry because the system was too antiquated.

The White House says the president and Mrs. Clinton did exchange e- mails during her tenure at the State Department, suggesting that he knew or probably saw that she was using a private e-mail account or at least had seen the email she sent from that private account.

ROMANS: All right. A new incident involving a train and a vehicle on the tracks. This happened Monday in North Carolina. A New York-bound Amtrak taken clashed with a tractor-trailer that got stuck trying to make a difficult turn. The driver jumped out just before impact.

One of the train cars derailed. The conductor and nearly 60 passengers suffered injuries. None of them is life threatening. This is the third train crash since just last month. There were deadly incidents in New York and California.

BERMAN: All right. The early thaw is on.

ROMANS: Bring it on.

BERMAN: Warmer than normal temperatures, really spreading across the country along with wet weather.

I want to get to meteorologist Pedram Javaheri for an early look at the weather -- Pedram.

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: John and Christine, a soggy Tuesday shaping up across much of the South, from Alexandria to Jackson, eventually to Memphis, really a theme going to be a lot of wet weather and water vapor imagery here shows you a pretty impressive plume of moisture pushing in.

And this will be the case over the next couple of days. And by the time we are done come Friday afternoon, two to four inches, from New Orleans to Jackson, get your way, I'll say, Birmingham north to southern and central Tennessee. Tremendous rainfall is possible, up to 6 inches, certainly flash flooding is a concern into the Ohio Valley and eventually out there toward the Northeast.

By later on this afternoon, say around 2:00, 3:00 in the afternoon, from Washington to Philly and New York, we will begin to see some rain showers, generally less than 1 inch. So, not an impressive rainmaker across portions of the Northeast, but still wet weather heading our way in the next couple of hours.

Here we go, high temps today in Atlanta, 77. It should make it up to the 80s around Charleston, even around Kansas City and Minneapolis, 61 degrees in the works. Mind you, it was minus 7 in Minneapolis last Thursday for the overnight low temperature. The 61 is the warmest temperature since before Halloween, the warmest in Kansas City since late January. Much the same for warm weather for Atlanta as well, guys.

ROMANS: All right. Thanks, Pedram.

Time for an early start on your money. Stock futures are lower this morning. The market had a nice rally yesterday. Investors in a buying mood on the sixth anniversary of the bull market. The big news is the hottest wearable in tech, right? Apple Watch, but you also have to wait a few weeks to get one. Apple CEO Tim Cook unveiled key details about this Apple Watch at an event in San Francisco.

Now, the pre-orders, they start April 10th. It won't be able in stores until April 28th. There are three models ranging in price from $349, to $17,000, each model comes in two sizes. The battery should last 18 hours. And you're going to need to pair it with an iPhone 5 or iPhone 6 if you want more specific. Please head to CNNMoney.com.

BERMAN: We've asked millions of viewers to send us notes if they plan on buying one of these Apple watches. Exactly two people have weighed in saying they are. Well, one said he is a meteorologist and he wants the ability to look at his watch and always know what the weather would be. I think that makes sense.

And the other on Facebook, a man told me that, you know, he leaves it to Apple to decide for him what he wants. But, know, that's the point. I mean, Apple has a better sense of what we want than we do. So, I respect that as well. Interesting.

Vladimir Putin has long claimed that the annexation of Crimea was the will of the people. But a new admission from Mr. Putin puts that claim in doubt. We will tell you what he said, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: Testimony will resume later this morning in the trial of accused Boston marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. On Monday, jurors heard more testimony from victims. On Monday, jurors heard more gut- wrenching testimony from the victims. They also saw compilation of images from new surveillance video showing the Tsarnaev brothers before and after the bombs went off. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev faces the death penalty in the attack. It left three people dead, 264 injured.

BERMAN: The crisis in Ukraine will be the subject of a Senate hearing today, looking at ways to counter Russian aggression. Vladimir Putin is revealing for the first time that the plan to annex Crimea was ordered weeks before the Crimean referendum on self-determination. The Russian leader had previously said the referendum was the main reason for Russia's annexation of the Crimea peninsula.

ROMANS: New arrests linked to the Paris terror attack. Four people taken into custody now with alleged ties to Amedy Coulibaly. He's the gunman and hostage taker at the kosher supermarket. Among the arrests, a police woman and her boyfriend all charged with providing logistical support. She reportedly worked at a police intelligence center east of Paris.

BERMAN: A group of Israeli cave explorers stumbled across an ancient treasure. Silver coins and jewelry that archaeologists estimate are more than 2,000 years old. They say two silver coins were minted during the reign of Alexander the Great. That's a long time ago. His image on one side and image of Zeus on the other side, that's like in Zeus we trust, I supposed. Experts believe that the valuables may have been hidden in the cave by local residents who fled there during a period of unrest.

That's 5:18. I came with that at 5:18. Not bad.

ROMANS: That's pretty good. You're clever. You are clever, Berman, for a Tuesday.

You may not know the name Sam Simon, but he was a Hollywood heavyweight in his own right. Simon was a creator of "The Simpsons" and a legendary philanthropist. He gave millions of dollars to charitable causes, most notably to Rescue Animals and Feed the Hungry.

After being diagnosed with terminal cancer in 2013, he pledged to donate all of his fortune to charity. Sam Simon died Monday. He was 59. He had a long career in Hollywood.

BERMAN: "Taxi" and "Cheers" and "Fat Albert" series, a lot.

The University of Oklahoma Sooners, they skipped their team meeting and practice on Monday. They had something bigger than football on their minds. Andy Scholes with the details on "The Bleacher Report", next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: The Oklahoma Sooners football team joining their fellow students in protesting the awful video of fraternity members chanting racial slurs at that university.

ROMANS: Andy Scholes has more this morning in "The Bleacher Report".

Hey, Andy.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, guys.

Yes, the Sooners were supposed to have practice, but instead, they decided to join their fellow students protesting that online video. The Sooners, they dressed in all black and they walk arm in arm together to their practice facility. They then stood in silence on the field. They met at the 50 yard line and said a prayer together.

Now, OU head coach Bob Stoops, he was in the front of the line of the group, with some of his upper classmen, as they walked over. And he tweeted, "Pleased to see president Boren take swift action against racism and punishing bigots. I join our campus in fighting racism everywhere."

Now, the Sooners have already been affected by the racial video that has gone viral. Four star recruit Jean Delance decommitted from the Sooners yesterday, saying he doesn't want to go to a school where this type of things happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEAN DELANCE, FORMER OU FOOTBALL RECRUIT: Uneducated people. I wouldn't want my son or my child to go anywhere like that, I don't want my brothers to go anywhere like that. So, it was just very disturbing to me. I don't like it.

ALTAVIAN DELANCE, JEAN DELANCE'S MOTHER: I had strong family history in racial issues and inequality. Jean knows these are serious to us. When he brought me that video, the first thing I said was, what do you want to do?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: In the NBA last night, Chris Bosh was back on the bench for the Miami Heat. He's not gong to play again this season after doctors found blood clots in his lungs. But the good news is Bosh is expected to be able to resume basketball activities in September.

Before a tipoff last night, Bosh addressed the crowd.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLP)

CHRIS BOSH, MIAMI HEAT: I want to thank each and every one of you for all of the love and all of the support you have given me and my family. I truly am standing here because of you guys. Although this is not the situation that I want to be in, I'm happy to be right here where I belong with you all.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Great to see Bosh doing well, guys.

And NFL free agency officially starts today at 4:00 Eastern. It's a big name signing to some new teams. Ndamukong Suh is going to the Dolphins, Julius Thomas to the Jag, where Frank Gore up? Who knows? He's going to reportedly going to go to the Eagles now. Maybe he's wavering, going to sign with the Colts. We'll find out, hopefully, later this afternoon.

Some other big names, we don't have any idea where they're going to go. DeMarco Murray, Andre Johnson, and so, exciting time in the NFL.

BERMAN: Darrelle Revis.

SCHOLES: Darrelle Revis with your Patriots. He might go back. Fingers crossed for you, John.

ROMANS: May I say something about OU quickly, back to OU? I have seen a lot of class in the last 24 hours.

BERMAN: Oh, yes.

ROMANS: A lot of class from the president of the university, from the team, from coaches, from the students, even the student who decommitted, the football player decommitted. A lot of class following the complete lack of class that sparked all of this.

BERMAN: A great point.

ROMANS: All right. We'll be right back.

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