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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

University of Oklahoma students Rally Against Racism; Hillary Responds to E-Mail Questions; Military Chopper Crash; Did Senate Iran Letter Break the Law?; Another ISIS Atrocity; Wild Day of NFL Free Agency & Trades

Aired March 11, 2015 - 05:00   ET

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

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Making their apologies. Two University of Oklahoma students booted from school over their racist video, they're now asking for forgiveness. We will tell you what the students and their families say and how that school community is trying to heal.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Hillary Clinton on the record, explaining why she used her personal e-mail to conduct State Department business. What do you make of her answers? More importantly, what do the political leaders think right now? We'll have that ahead.

ROMANS: And ISIS showing disregard for human life once again. It's not just the new video that is raising concerns. It's the willingness to use children to carry out their crimes. A live report straight ahead.

Good morning and welcome to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.

BERMAN: I'm John Berman. It is Wednesday, March 11th. It's 5:00 a.m. in the East.

And new developments this morning at the University of Oklahoma, where two fraternity members are apologizing for leading this racist chant. Now, these apologies come hours after the two students were expelled. Yesterday faculty, students came out in force to cheer the quick action by university president, David Boren, also to protest against racism in general.

Our national correspondent, Miguel Marquez, is at the university with the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: So, John, Christine, this is the area outside the SAE house at the University of Oklahoma. Hundreds of protesters here have come to really rally and show support, more than anything, for what they did not like about that video that made its way around the world, ricocheted around the world.

We're also hearing from one of the individuals who has been expelled, saying that he actually withdrew from the school this Monday, Parker Rice from Dallas, whose house we went to, and they have pulled out of their house. In a statement, he says that their family has received death threats.

And also in that statement, I want to read part of it to you, he says, "I know everyone wants to know why and how this happened. I admit, it likely was fueled by alcohol consumed at the house before this bus trip, but that's not an excuse. Yes, the song was taught to us, but that, too, doesn't work as an explanation. It's more important to acknowledge what I did and what I didn't do. I didn't say no, and I clearly dismissed an important value I learned at my beloved high school, Dallas Jesuit. We were taught to be 'men for others', in quotes, I failed in that regard, and in these moments, I also completely ignored the core values and ethics I learned from my parents and others."

The family also asks that the media and other people please leave them alone for now because they are trying to figure out where everything goes from here. The people here at the University of Oklahoma, though, are going to stay on this. They want the school to address all of the concerns that they have, saying that this is not the only instance of racism at this school.

For its part, the school, which has come down very hard on SAE and on this incident, says the investigation is continuing. There may be more disciplinary actions and even more expulsions -- John, Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: Thanks, Miguel.

You know, the family of another student is apologizing for his role in that racist video. "The Oklahoma Daily" student newspaper has identified the second expelled student as Levi Pettit. His parents issued a statement saying, quote, "He made a horrible mistake and will live with the consequences forever. We were as shocked and saddened by this news as anyone. Of course, we are sad for our son, but more importantly, we apologize to the community he has hurt."

The last African-American member of the University of Oklahoma's SAE chapter, he is speaking out. William Bruce James II, he pledged SAE 14 years ago. He says the fraternity that appears in the video is all but unrecognizable from his years there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIAM BRUCE JAMES II, LAST AFRICAN-AMERICAN MEMBER OF OU'S SAE FRATERNITY: It's extremely painful to hear it still, obviously. I can't watch the video. But it's extremely shocking, but the most shocking thing for me is that just -- it doesn't represent what I remember at all. And I don't understand how the house got there. But that's not indicative of anything I experienced at all.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: And also shocking new video has emerged from the now shuttered chapter of the SAE. "The Oklahoma Daily" says the video appears to show the fraternity's house mother laughing and singing the "N" word. She says that video was out of context. She was singing along to a rap song.

I just -- you know, John, so much has been said about this already, but the fact that all of this happened on the same weekend, that it was the 50th anniversary of Selma, and there was all of this looking back about how far we've come and then to see in this instance that there's maybe a handful, I don't know, a generation of people, young people, who missed 50 years of lessons.

BERMAN: It's true. It's true. But you can't be heartened by the reaction.

ROMANS: I think, though, too.

BERMAN: The quick reaction from the university and the community and the country to this.

ROMANS: A lot of class in the wake of what was absolutely classless.

BERMAN: Five minutes after the hour.

New this morning: Hillary Clinton trying to tamp down the controversy over her use of personal e-mail while secretary of state. She faced reporters for the first time in an awful long time after a United Nations event. She struck a pretty defiant tone, defending her use of a personal e-mail server, also her blackberry, saying that it was for convenience and that it was, she says, allowed under federal rules.

I want to get the latest now and bring in our senior Washington correspondent Jeff Zeleny.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John and Christine.

Now, Hillary Clinton finally broke her silence, but she did not break the fever of controversy that's clouded her campaign in waiting for the last eight days. She vigorously defended during a news conference at the United Nations her use of private e-mail. She said any mistakes were innocent ones.

And this is how she explained it.

HILLARY CLINTON, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: And I have to add, even if I'd had two devices, which is obviously permitted, many people do that, you would still have to put the responsibility where it belongs, which is on the official. So, I did it for convenience, and I now, looking back, think that it might have been smarter to have those two devices from the very beginning.

ZELENY: But it's unclear if that two-device defense is going to wash. Some Republicans in Congress already saying, look, we use two devices ourselves. Why would that be such an inconvenience? But Secretary Clinton was steadfast, saying that she did not break any

laws. She said the server, that private e-mail server, was in their house in Chappaqua, New York. It was installed under the watchful eyes of the Secret Service, which is, of course, her husband and her have Secret Service attention.

But that is not enough for congressional investigators either. Look for them to potentially try and subpoena that server. So, she did not clear up the full controversy around this.

She may have given more openings to answer questions, but it's clear that Secretary Clinton finally on the offense, for the first time in eight days, on the offense on this. Democrats will now surely come rallying to her side -- John and Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right. Jeff, thank you for that. And welcome to CNN, Jeff.

Congressional investigators may not stop at Clinton's e e-mails. As first reported by CNN's Dana Bash, the House committee investigating Benghazi will seek private e-mails from as many as 10 of Clinton's top aides at the State Department. The committee chairman says he is concerned about e-mails about Benghazi and the attack on the U.S. consulate there. They may have been sent between private accounts.

Clinton's media team has not yet responded to a CNN request for comment.

BERMAN: Breaking news: an Army helicopter has crashed during a nighttime training mission at the Eglin Air Force Base on the Florida Panhandle. "The Associated Press" reports that seven marines and four soldiers are now missing. Officials say the marines belonged to a special operations group from Camp Lejeune in North Carolina. The soldiers are from a National Guard unit based in Hammond, Louisiana.

Not many details yet about this. But again, seven marines missing, four soldiers. They were in a helicopter mission. We'll get you more details as soon as they come in.

ROMANS: All right. The architect of the Senate letter warning Iran's leaders in a nuclear deal is subject to Senate approval doubling down on his efforts this morning.

In an op-ed for "USA Today," Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton reiterates that any deal without Senate approval would not be binding when President Obama leaves office. He even invokes words from the vice president to make his point saying, quote, "Then-Senator Joe Biden once reflected on this very topic, writing the president and the Senate are partners in the process by which the United States enters into, and adheres to, international obligations."

Of course, Biden blasted Senate Republicans after 47 of them signed this letter to Iran. Some legal scholars and pundits are suggesting Republicans may have been broken a little-applied law when they sent that letter, a 200-year-old law, but no one's ever been prosecuted under that statute.

I think it shows you the depths of the political disagreements over American dealings, the administration's dealings, with Iran.

All right. Who how's the drama over the letter being received in Iran?

Fred Pleitgen has the latest from Tehran -- Fred.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John and Christine.

Yes, certainly, that letter by the GOP senators to the Iranians is a hot topic here in Tehran. There are top-level politicians in Iran who questioned the trustworthiness of the United States when it comes to international negotiations like this one. There's one top cleric who came out and said he believes that the whole nuclear negotiations are a pretext to the U.S. cheating. He also said that the U.S. can't be relied on when it comes to agreements like this one, especially if they're going to be revoked once a new administration is in office.

Now, of course, that's not the opinion of everybody here. The foreign minister, of course, said he believes that the GOP letter will have absolutely no influence on the nuclear negotiations. However, we also have to keep in mind that the nuclear deal is something that's hotly discussed here in Iran as well.

There are many political hard-liners, religious hard-liners, who say they don't want a deal. They feel that Iran should have walked away from the negotiating table a long time ago. And, of course, right now, they're capitalizing on what's going on in Washington and saying, listen, we told you this all the time, the U.S. is not serious about these negotiations.

However, if you talk to ordinary Iranians, they'll tell you, of course they want a deal. And of course, they want sanctions relief as fast as possible -- John and Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: Our thanks to Fred for that.

Federal officials say the hacking of the State Department e-mail system over the past year is the worst ever against a government agency. According to investigators, Russian hackers suspected of breaching State Department computers are also behind cyber attacks targeting the White House and other federal agencies. Back in November, State Department officials shut down the e-mail system over a weekend in an effort to bolster cybersecurity.

ROMANS: New this morning, a departure in Ferguson, Missouri. The city council voted unanimously to accept the resignation of city manager John Shaw. He was cited in that scathing Justice Department that detailed racial bias in the Ferguson Police Department and the municipal court system. Shaw supervised all city agencies including the police. Since the report, the Ferguson City clerk has been fired and two police officers have quit.

Time for an early start on your money. European markets are higher thankfully after a U.S. market plunged yesterday. Futures here pointing to a rebound today, but it was the worst day of the year for stocks yesterday. The Dow tumbled -- speechless -- 332 points, erasing all of its gains for the year. The S&P 500 also now negative. It sank about 2 percent yesterday.

The surging dollar is what spooked investors here. The greenback at a 12-year high against the euro, the euro slipping even more this morning.

All right. It's great news if you're traveling to Europe. It is terrible news for U.S. companies that sell their goods overseas. It makes their products more expensive there, slashes the value of their overseas earnings. When earnings are slashed, then stocks don't perform as well, and that's what is driving the stock market.

BERMAN: Can't have it all ways is the problem.

ROMANS: You can't it all ways. But it looks like there's going to be a rebound here today. And, you know, every time there's been a big selloff, it's been met with buyers. Even yesterday, a number of people said to me finally a 2 percent pullback. I can buy more stocks. Seriously. So, you're going to see those people stepping in today and buying stocks.

BERMAN: Excellent news.

All right. There is more rain set to start in the Gulf Coast that could spoil our weekend here in the Northeast.

I want to go to the dapper Pedram Javaheri for an early look at the weather -- Pedram.

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: John and Christine, good Wednesday morning to you.

Yes, you know, we do have a weekend storm headed our way. It is going to bring in rain showers, maybe a wintry mix Friday into Saturday. But let's try to enjoy today. We make it up to 60 degrees. Recall the last time it was this warm, back on Christmas Day, it was 62 across Central Park at least.

Look at this. We have 63 percent of the U.S. with snow on the ground as of the 1st of March. All of that depleted now, about 19 percent coverage across the ground. So, a lot of this melting quickly with the mild temperatures in place, and unfortunately, when you melt that rapidly, you introduce a lot of water vapor in the atmosphere. So, we have plenty of fog to go around.

Nearly 90 million people this morning from Chicago towards New York underneath a dense fog advisory, generally through the late morning hours. But wet weather still prevalent across the Southern states, generally about an inch or so from Mississippi into Alabama. Minimal amounts across interior portions of the country as you work your way towards the Northeast.

But the temps into the 70s down in the south, the 60s around New York City, upper 60s around D.C. But here comes our weekend storm system. Again, timing, Friday night into Saturday, a wintry mix possible, but really nothing as bad as what we've seen, of course, in recent months, guys.

ROMANS: Thanks, Pedram.

Thirteen minutes past the hour. ISIS indoctrinating the next generation of terrorists. The terror group enlisting a 13-year-old to carry out its latest killing. We're live, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: A number of new developments in the battle against ISIS. Overnight, Iraqi forces have taken back large parts of the city of Tikrit. ISIS militants reportedly in retreat now after a week of heavy fighting. The Iraqi flag being raised on some of the buildings there.

This morning, there's a Senate hearing to consider the president's request to authorize the use of force against ISIS. And the terrorist group releasing a chilling new video showing a child shooting an alleged Israeli spy, a claim Israel now disputes.

Let's go to Jerusalem and bring in CNN's Oren Liebermann.

A lot of developments here. First of all, let's talk about sort of this new low, I guess, for ISIS, using a child to kill someone they say is a spy.

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we've seen this before in some other ISIS videos. It's meant to draw an emotional response, and it certainly did from the family of 19-year-old Muhammad Musallam. They were very upset. Musallam's brother trying to keep his parents from seeing the video.

At the center of this video is this Israeli spy story, this apparent confession that 19-year-old Muhammad Musallam gives, a fairly detailed story about how he was recruited by Mossad, the Israeli spy agency, and what he did for them. Except, we've now spoken with the Israeli defense minister this morning, and they say he had no connection to Israeli intelligence, or not to any other security agency, and that's something we heard from Musallam's mother as well.

Here she is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HIND MUSALLAM, MOTHER OF VICTIM (through translator): Muhammad is not an agent. Muhammad is not an agent. Muhammad doesn't have a shackle. If he was an agent, he would have lived a beautiful life. We could have been living a different life, and we wouldn't be living this life. If my son was a spy, I wouldn't be cleaning houses so we can live.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIEBERMANN: So, what do we know about 19-year-old Muhammad Musallam? We know he lived in east Jerusalem, he is a Palestinian descent. His family says he was a funny guy, a fun-loving guy who was a volunteer firefighter. But they say he vanished, disappeared about 3 1/2 months ago he vanished. And that's when he family found out he'd gone to Syria to fight for ISIS.

They say he was duped into believing that he would be living the good life, that he was promised all sorts of things like women, money, cash and cars. But, of course, that turned out not to be the case. When his family spoke with him via Skype, they say they saw someone they didn't recognize. He had grown a beard and was carrying a rifle.

At some point, his father says he tried to help him get home. He sent him cash. He tried to get the Red Cross to try to get him here.

But, Christine, as we know, from the end of that video, that trip home was unfortunately unsuccessful.

ROMANS: All right. Oren, thank you for that.

A lot of developments in the ISIS story. I mean, that is a real setback there. That particular story, but the fact that the Iraqi military is making advances on Tikrit. That's an important development.

BERMAN: A Senate hearing today on the authorization of force.

ROMANS: Right.

BERMAN: About 20 minutes after the hour.

New York Jets fans rejoicing this morning. They're getting -- they're getting him back. Darrelle Revis. But he only plays defense, folks. He can't play quarterback.

Coy Wire has the details in "The Bleacher Report", next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: Crazy day of free agency yesterday. Some big names on some new teams. But I have to say it was the trades that were just nuts.

ROMANS: I was frankly captivated by all of this wheeling and dealing yesterday. Coy Wire has more on this morning's "Bleacher Report".

Hey, Coy.

COY WIRE, BLEACHER REPORT: John, Christine, top of the morning to you.

Like a lot of sports fans yesterday, I was glued to my phone checking Twitter. There were some blockbusters and there were some brow raisers.

Probably the biggest move to go down yesterday involved John Berman's Patriots. One of their best players, Darrelle Revis, left the Super Bowl champs and went back to the New York Jets where he played from 2007 to 2012. Revis' deal was reportedly worth $70 million over five years. That makes him the highest paid cornerback in NFL history.

Revis took to Twitter posting a picture of himself in a Jets uniform saying, "I want to thank the Pats and Pats nation for an unbelievable year. New York, I'm coming home."

Now, Eagles' head coach Chip Kelly, he shocked everyone again with another bold move. He traded away quarterback Nick Foles to the Rams for injury-prone quarterback Sam Bradford. Bradford missed all of last season with an ACL tear, an injury he's had for two straight years. Foles missed the second half of 2014 with an injury as well.

Now, Philly fans, I know being a PA guy, they're scratching their heads saying what's up, coach? Well, some think that Coach Kelly's positioned himself to the team so that they can move up and take Marcus Mariota, the quarterback that he drafted while at Oregon. We'll see what happens there.

Now, a shocker in the NFC south. The New Orleans Saints, they traded away their all-pro tight end Jimmy Graham to the Seattle Seahawks. Graham holds basically every tight end receiving record for the Saints. Now, the Seahawks, they're known for that nasty, naughty defense. And they just got a lot better on offense, too.

With Russell Wilson getting Graham, the Seahawks, they're going to be awesome on offense. And if they, you know, maybe find themselves, say, on the one yard line, maybe in the Super Bowl, and they choose to pass, well, now they can throw it to that guy.

In hoops news, LeBron James made NBA history last night. For the first time in his NBA career, he started the game without his trademark headband. No headband, no problem. Look at that. Money. He dominated against the Mavericks, and so did the Cavs. LeBron had 27 points and became Cleveland's all-time assist leader, during the game. The Cavs got the W, 127-94.

Now, John, I've got to know, man, with Revis going back to the Jets, being in the same division, going to play against Brady, he now knows the Pats' system, are you worried?

BERMAN: Yes. He's the best cornerback in football. I wish he were staying in the patriots. I think he's making a mistake. I wish him happiness and health and a year of poor play.

WIRE: No doubt.

(LAUGHTER)

WIRE: Well said.

BERMAN: Thanks, Coy. ROMANS: Thanks, Coy.

WIRE: All right.

ROMANS: All right. Twenty-six minutes past the hour.

Breaking news this hour: a chopper crash in Florida leaves nearly a dozen Army personnel missing. This is breaking news. We're following all the details. We'll get those to you right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)