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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Manhunt for Missouri Gunman; Secret Service Scrutiny; Kerry in Egypt; The Battle for Tikrit

Aired March 13, 2015 - 04:00   ET

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

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, the intense search for whoever shot two police officers in Ferguson, Missouri. The tensions there escalating after the violence. We are live with the very latest.

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

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Christine Romans. It is Friday, March 13th. It is 4:00 a.m. in the East. Nice to see you, everyone.

Tensions remain high this morning in Ferguson, Missouri. The two police officers shot as a protest was winding down early Thursday morning. They have been released from the hospital with non-life threatening injuries. They were the first officers shot at a Ferguson protest in more than seven months since the Michael Brown killing.

A manhunt is on to locate that gunman, with several people questioned and released by police, with no arrest. Overnight, the streets of Ferguson were peaceful, with security now overseen by county and state police.

From Ferguson this morning, I want to bring in CNN's Ryan Young with the very latest.

Good morning, Ryan.

RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Christine.

I don't know if you can hear the steady rain behind me, but there are a lot of people who believe the rain is keeping the protesters away. Of course, people are calling for calm after what happened just the day before. And even law enforcement talking about this, so many days of protesting here without any issues and obviously this happens where they said they were ambushed.

Now, in fact, we talked to some people here in the community who said they were upset. But all the peaceful demonstrations have sort of been ruined by the fact that someone who fire on these two officers. Of course, you said they have been released. But a lot of people in the law enforcement community are talking about what happened.

Last night, we saw protesters take to the street, but not the same sort of numbers that we've seen in the past. But again, law enforcement is talking about this and they told us what they were thinking about the shooting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LT. JERRY LOHR, ST. LOUIS COUNTY PD: It's not every day a fellow officer gets shot or gets hurt. And so, this is kind a reality check for us. It's an ugly reminder of the hazards of profession. And it certainly plays into the minds, it certainly plays into the thought process. You know, guys coming out here tonight versus guys coming out here two weeks ago. Obviously, there is a different mindset, because it's now to become a reality, a painful reality.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YOUNG: An ugly reminder. Of course, a lot of people taking to social media to talk about this, especially in the law enforcement community, talking about being safe. Of course, the two officers who are standing across the street, not even engaged with anybody when those shots were fired.

Like you said, this investigation continues. There's a lot of people are investing in this, hoping that whoever shot those officers is caught -- Christine.

ROMANS: All right. Ryan Young, thank you for that so much, from Ferguson this morning.

BERMAN: Let's hope they make progress on that investigation.

Overnight, President Obama spoke out about the police shootings. He was with Jimmy Kimmel on this late night show. The president offered hopes and prayers for the wounded officers, and he said he also hopes the shootings will not overshadow the issue of racial bias in policing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: What had been happening in Ferguson was oppressive and objectionable and was worthy of protest. But there was no excuse for criminal acts. And whoever fired those shots shouldn't detract from the issue. They're criminals. They need to be arrested.

And then, what we need to do is make sure that like-minded good spirited people on both sides, law enforcement who have a terrifically tough job and people who understandably don't want to be stopped and harassed just because of their race, that we're able to work together to try to come up with some good answers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: The attorney general called it a heinous act, the shootings of those two police officers.

Now, the working theory from investigators in Ferguson is that the shots were fired by a handgun as far as 125 yards away. Now, if that is true, a handgun from 125 yards, it would be fairly remarkable piece of marksmanship, which is causing doubts among some people.

For more on that part of the investigation, let's bring in Tom Foreman in CNN's virtual studio.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Let's look at this crime scene from several different angles. And we start with the basic map. There's the police station over there. The big wide road in front of it, that's South Florissant road. And off to the side here, you see Tiffin Avenue.

Tiffin Avenue in the past has been the site from where some of the more violent interlopers into these protests have emerged. And there have been shots up here in previous protests.

So, here is the scene when the shooting took place. Police were still in front of the police station, protecting it. About 100 protesters remained. The group was breaking up across the street there when these shots came in from somewhere up Tiffin Avenue, according to the eyewitnesses.

Let's go down to the street level and look at this. When say up Tiffin Avenue, we do mean up, because it is a hill. So, it's fully possible that shots could be fired from that hill, they could fly in over the heads of the protesters and strike the police on the other side of the road.

But if you rotate this around and look directly up Tiffin Avenue, you could see why investigators have doubts about that, because the shots would have originated right at the limit of sight there and traveled 100 to 125 yards to get here based on these accounts. That's a really long shot for a pistol. They can be effective at that range, they can be lethal at that range, very hard, though, to be controlled very well and put the shot where somebody might want to put it.

That's much more likely to happen with even a skilled marksman at something like this range about a quarter or a less than the distance we are talking about. That doesn't mean it was fired from over here from the protesters, but it does mean that investigators have to look very seriously at that possibility.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right. Tom Foreman, thank you, Tom.

There are new details this morning about the high ranking Secret Service agents reassigned after allegedly driving under the influence, through an active crime scene. Among the new pieces of information are the names of those agents. A source tells CNN one is a top supervisor in the Washington field office, George Ogilvie. The other is Mark Connolly, ranking member of the president's security detail. We're also learning that it was days before the head of the Secret Service learned what had happened. Let's get more this morning from White House correspondent Michelle

Kosinski.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

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

Well, we're now finding out that the new director of the Secret Service who has put in place to try to clean up the agency's problems didn't even find out about this incident until about five days after it happened. That might have been later than some staff at the White House knew about it.

So, law enforcement sources now are telling us, of course, that shouldn't have happened. He should have been notified immediately and somewhere along the line of communication, it failed.

These sources, though, are also now pushing back against the growing outrage out there over there as well as some of the reporting, that these agents allegedly slammed through a crime scene investigation. It was investigating a suspicious package, and that they ended up slamming into a White House barrier or gate.

So, they are saying it did not quite happen that way. They say apparently these agents who are in the same government car drove under some crime scene tape that was there. They didn't drive over any evidence, but drove right past it. But that they were literally going one mile an hour, according to these sources, who also say that they merely nudged one of those orange barrel type barriers out of the way a few feet with their car so they could get to the first checkpoint.

Well, sources say that at this checkpoint, they rolled their windows, showed their badges for about 25 seconds and without incident were cleared through to the next checkpoint. They didn't need to roll down their window for that one, that their car was checked for explosives, and then they were on their way.

These sources say that this all lasted about a minute. There was no crash. No damage to the vehicle. And the agents never even got out of their car.

The fact is, though, there is that allegation that they were drinking. There was a suspicion that they might have been drunk. And also, the allegation is out there that a superior let them go home even though other officers at the scene allegedly thought that they should be at least tested for alcohol if not arrested.

All of this, of course, under investigation within the department of Homeland Security -- John and Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: A lot of questions there. Michelle Kosinski, thanks so much.

Major world powers are discussing a resolution that would lift United Nations sanctions against Iran if a nuclear deal can be reached. Now, these nuclear talks with the Iranians resume Sunday in Switzerland.

Right now, there are eight U.N. resolutions that ban Iran from uranium enrichment and buying atomic technology. The Iranians want those U.N. sanctions dropped since the U.S. and E.U. used them as a legal basis to impose their more severe sanctions.

ROMANS: Secretary of State Kerry arriving in Cairo, ahead of the next round of nuclear negotiations with Iran. A lot on the secretary's plate -- Iran, ISIS, the instability in the Middle East expected to top the agenda during meetings with the Palestinian and Egyptian presidents and King Abdullah of Jordan.

CNN's Ian Lee is tracking developments. He is live with us from Cairo this morning.

Why is this trip, Ian, so important for Secretary Kerry?

IAN LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is a very important trip for him to meet with Egyptian President Abdul Fatah al-Sisi. Relations between Cairo and Washington soured after the 2013 popular coup to overthrow President Morsi, and relations with the current president haven't been all too warm.

But this is a very important meeting to improve relations between the two countries. Egypt is a very important ally for the United States. They receive roughly $1.5 billion in military aid a year. So, there's going to be a lot to discuss, from security to Egypt's economy.

On the security front, Egypt is battling ISIS in the Sinai Peninsula. They have also attacked ISIS in Libya. That is going to be high on their agenda to talk about that issue. But also, he is here to talk about Egypt's economy as well, which has staggered really and is lowly improving.

And that's going to be important for the stability of Egypt. And Egypt is one of the key Arab countries. If Egypt sees any sort of instability, that really has a profound effect on the region -- Christine.

ROMANS: All right. Ian Lee for us this morning in Cairo -- thank you, Ian.

BERMAN: Republican lawmakers today may formally request access to Hillary Clinton's e-mails from her tenure as secretary of state. The House Oversight Committee is prepared to subpoena the messages and Mrs. Clinton if necessary, they say, to answer questions about her use of private e-mail account to conduct for government business. The former secretary of state says it is a matter of convenience. A State Department spokesperson says at that time, Mrs. Clinton did not have a government-issued BlackBerry.

ROMANS: California, New York and 12 other states throwing their support behind President Obama's immigration plan, which would shield millions of people living in the country illegally, shield them from being deported. Attorneys asking an appeals court to lift the order by a Texas federal judge that froze the Obama plan or limit the effect of the 26 states that are suing to stop the executive actions on immigration.

Time for an early start on your money this morning.

U.S. stock futures up a bit right now after a strong rally yesterday. Look at that. The Dow climbed 260 points, 1.5 percent. Bank stocks led the rise.

The big banks passed the Federal Reserve's stress test. Morgan Stanley climbed 6 percent. Citigroup rose 3 percent. Major questions remain about the timing of the Fed interest rate. We could see more big swings as investors speculate of when the Fed will actually start raising interest rates.

It's been a pretty wild week -- 333 point drop earlier in the week. Yesterday, a rally. Stocks now, though, are now up again for the year.

BERMAN: Thank goodness.

ROMANS: For perspective, we are close to a record high. The Dow about 2 percent away from its record high. The NASDAQ and S&P are not far behind.

BERMAN: Excellent news.

All right. Twelve minutes after the hour.

We have dramatic new surveillance video released in the Boston marathon bombing case. A man -- the man who was carjacked shares his terrifying story, wow. That's right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: Welcome back to EARLY START.

More dramatic testimony at the trial of accused Boston marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. Jurors hearing from a man who was carjacked at gunpoint by the Tsarnaev brothers shortly after they allegedly killed an MIT police officer. The victim describing his harrowing ride and terrifying decision to escape.

We get more this morning from CNN's Deb Feyerick in Boston.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: John, Christine, the man who was carjacked by the Tsarnaev brothers took the stand and testified about his harrowing ordeal. He talked about how Tamerlan got into the car, pointed a pistol at him and said, "Do you know the Boston marathon explosions? I did it. I just killed a policeman in Cambridge."

The brothers took their hostage to a gas station where Dzhokhar Tsarnaev went inside and bought snacks for a trip to New York, according to Meng. And that's when Meng decided he was going to make a run for it. He quickly slipped out of the car, racing as fast as he could across the street. Surveillance video showing him entering a mini mart and begging the clerk who is very confused to call 911.

Well, the clerk did call 911. Police spoke to him on the line and realized that this was the break they had been waiting for.

The Tsarnaev brothers quickly leaving their path, their destruction about to end -- John, Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: Our thanks to Deb for that.

A gun expert getting grilled by both sides in the Aaron Hernandez trial. The employee of Glock identified a black object that Hernandez was holding in the surveillance video just after Odin Lloyd was killed. The employee said it was a gun and more specifically it looked like a Glock. Now, the actual murder weapon has not been found.

A lot of debate about this testimony and the judge denied the defense request to strike the entire testimony, but did tell jurors to disregard parts of it.

ROMANS: An American health care worker who contracted Ebola in West Africa is being flown to the National Institutes of Health in Maryland for treatment. Officials say the person was volunteering at an Ebola treatment center in Sierra Leone. It is the second Ebola patient to be treated at NHI. The first, Texas nurse Nina Pham, she recovered and was released five months ago free of the disease.

BERMAN: Dr. Nancy Snyderman has announced that she is resigning as NBC's chief medical editor. Dr. Snyderman says she is leaving the post she has held since 2006 partly due to the controversy that erupted last fall. She faced a barrage of criticism for breaking quarantine after returning from Liberia covering the Ebola outbreak. In a statement, she says she will be joining the faculty of a major U.S. medical school, hadn't told us which one, though.

ROMANS: Heavy rain making flash flooding a strong possibility from Louisiana on up to Indiana today.

Meteorologist Derek Van Dam tracking the storm system for us -- Derek.

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, John and Christine.

We've got a wet start to our early weekend. Across the Gulf Coast states, look at the moisture streaming at near Louisiana and Texas. That's where we have a low pressure system that's going to draw in very persistent moisture, you guessed it, bringing rainfall to much of the southeast. That includes the Mississippi River, as well as the Ohio River Valley. In fact, upwards of 21 million people impacted by a flash flood watch or warning going forward into the weekend.

Here's the setup, low pressure system slides eastward to eastern half of the United States bringing rainfall to the East Coast, maybe a rain/snow mix from Boston northward by Saturday evening. How much rain, you ask. Well, perhaps two to four inches from New Orleans to Jacksonville, as well as Louisville, Kentucky, lesser amounts near Atlanta and Tallahassee, Florida. Look for the flood risk, again, Ohio and Mississippi River.

Look at these temperatures for all the St. Paddy's Day parades, Chicago, Atlanta and New York looking mild to warm.

Back to you.

ROMANS: That's good news. I'll take that.

BERMAN: Exactly.

ROMANS: Nineteen minutes past the hour.

ISIS embracing a new partnership as the terrorists fight Iraqi forces for control of a crucial city. We are live in Iraq right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: ISIS has a new ally, accepting a pledge of allegiance from Boko Haram, accepting that pledge of allegiance. The new alliance is already evident online. Boko Haram's Twitter account featuring a slick new look and more video messages using the ISIS recruiting style.

And a top U.S. general is warning lawmakers ISIS operatives can now easily enter the U.S. from the Caribbean and South America. But the terror group is on the verge of a significant setback in Iraq. Nearly all of its forces have been driven out of Tikrit.

CNN's Jomana Karadsheh live from Baghdad this morning.

So, how much progress is the Iraqi military and the Shiite militias -- how much progress are they making retaking Tikrit?

JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Christine, they are confident that they are very close to liberating the whole city of Tikrit. They say they are in control of more than 70 percent of that city north of Baghdad. And the force that is primarily made up of Iranian-backed Shia militias, saying it is only a matter of days before they take full control of Tikrit.

But that might be a bit too optimistic, because ISIS is not letting go and giving up Tikrit so easily. They have met some resistance on the way. The roads, according to commanders and advisers on the ground has been -- a lot of areas have been booby trapped, they planted roadside bombs and improvised explosive devices in an attempt to slow down the progress and the advance of these forces toward the center of Tikrit where they say about a couple of hundred ISIS fighters, according to the Shia militias are holed up in the city.

But it does seem at this point that the liberation of all of Tikrit might be a matter of time at this point. And this will be considered, Christine, a major victory for these Iraqi forces. And also for Iran, that has been playing a direct role and supporting the Iraqis on that battlefield.

ROMANS: All right. Jomana Karadsheh for us this morning live in Baghdad -- thank you.

BERMAN: All right. This is a really interesting story. A spokesperson for Vladimir Putin is dismissing Internet speculation that the Russian president is in poor health. The spokesman says the 62-year-old Putin is quite, is, quote, "really perfect."

A Kremlin announcement this week that Vladimir Putin was postponing a planned trip to Kazakhstan had set off a flurry of Internet rumors. There are all sorts of people out there speculating, is there something wrong with Vladimir Putin? He has not been seen in public for the last week, and actually, the Kremlin put out video that was dated, which had people wondering whether there's conspiracy going on. So, there are all these rumors out there that something is wrong. They say, no, no, he is in perfect health and we'll show you his judo soon.

ROMANS: He's really perfect.

BERMAN: Really perfect.

ROMANS: Really perfect.

Twenty-six minutes past the hour.

Happening right now: police is searching for the gunman who shot two police officers. Protesters filling the streets. President Obama weighing in. New developments overnight, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)