Return to Transcripts main page
Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Iran Nuclear Negotiations Continue; Three Teens Arrested in U.K. for Trying to Join ISIS; Ferguson Shooting Suspect Arrested; Human Trafficking Bill in Dispute; Real Estate Heir Arrested; Where is Vladimir Putin? Aired 4:30-5a ET
Aired March 16, 2015 - 04:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
04:30:06
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Secretary of State John Kerry meeting with Iranian foreign minister now, negotiations over Iran's nuclear program. This happening as some Republican senators now say they regret signing a letter to Iran.
Breaking overnight, three teens from the United Kingdom arrested for trying to join ISIS. They are now out on bail. How Turkish officials foiled these plans. We're going to take you live to Istanbul.
And then cold case, Robert Durst under arrest. Could a TV series have uncovered the truth behind the real estate heir's past after all of these years?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BERMAN (on camera): Welcome back to EARLY START, everyone. I'm John Berman. 30 minutes past the hour right now.
New this morning, a critical round of negotiations between the United States and Iran has begun.
(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)
BERMAN (voice-over): Secretary of State John Kerry sat down with the Iranian foreign minister, Javad Zarif, at 3:00 a.m. Eastern. Meetings began then to discuss the Iran's nuclear program. Certainly on the table, the letter to Iranian leaders signed last week by 47 Republican senators, spearheaded by freshman Senator Tom Cotton. Secretary Kerry says the letter was, quote, "absolutely calculated to interfere with these negotiations," but he told CBS News he would not apologize to Zarif for the letter.
JOHN KERRY, SECRETARY OF STATE: I'm not going to apologize for an unconstitutional and unthought out action by somebody who has been in the United States Senate for 60 some days. That's just inappropriate.
(END VIDEOCLIP)
BERMAN (on camera): CNN international correspondent Nic Robertson following developments for us. We're going to bring him in now live.
Good morning, Nic. What's the latest?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John. Well, their meeting's been under way for about an hour or so now. Typically these meetings can last up to two hours or so. Zarif expected to go to Brussels later today to brief the European counterparts on this sort of P5+1 deal with the Iranians. That would be the French, the British and the Germans. But what is happening in this meeting with Secretary Kerry, well, yesterday, the two men arrived in Switzerland. They were both supposed to meet yesterday evening, Sunday evening. That didn't happen.
Their deputies had met earlier in the day and it was decided that both Zarif and Kerry should get briefings from their two teams before they say down together today. That tends to tell you that we're not in an accelerated phase of these negotiations. Zarif, when he arrived into Switzerland, was saying that for his part, he believes that there are mostly technical issues left to resolve. Secretary Kerry over the weekend saying that while there are some technical details to discuss, he feels that this is now at a stage for making political judgments. That's where the talks are.
Originally would expect this framework agreement to be done by the 24th of March. Now we're told that the real deadline for this framework agreement is going to be the end of March, the final deal to be made by the end of June. So, we don't appear at this stage, John, to be in a final push to get that final agreement, that final framework, at least at the moment.
John?
BERMAN: Some of those dates seem to be slipping a little bit. All right, Nic Robertson, covering this for us. Thanks so much.
Breaking overnight, three teenage boys out on bail in London after they were caught trying to join ISIS. The two 17-year-olds, one 19- year-old were stopped by Turkish officials who had been tipped off by British authorities. Turkey deported them back to the United Kingdom where they were arrested Saturday night.
I want to bring in senior international correspondent Arwa Damon live from Istanbul. And, Arwa, Turkey has been criticized in the past for not cooperating enough dealing with this flow of people toward ISIS.
ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And in response to that, John, Turkey has consistently maintained that it is doing all that it can, that it's not deliberately turning a blind eye to the flow of fighters and weapons to ISIS, and points to cases like this one of these three teenagers, saying, look, if you share intelligence with us, and Turkey does want to see a greater level of intelligence sharing, we will take action on it. They received the tip off about those British teens early on Friday,
and that evening, that night when they arrived at Istanbul's secondary airport, they were immediately detained. Turkey really feels at this stage like it is being made out to be much more of a scapegoat, that too much blame is being laid at Turkey's feet when it comes to trying to prevent these various individuals from reaching ISIS territory. Turkey, for its part, says, look, Europe has to have a certain level of responsibility. The U.S. has to bear a certain level of responsibility as well, stopping these individuals from even getting on these planes to begin with.
Turkey is already grappling with a massive flow of foreign fighters. It has a huge, porous border with Syria. People who are determined to do so will eventually make their way across. And Turkey says it really needs all of the help that it can get at all the various different stops along the way to prevent these individuals from reaching ISIS territory.
04:35:02
BERMAN: Arwa Damon for us in Istanbul, perhaps turning over a new leaf there, the Turkish government in its battle against ISIS. Thanks so much, Arwa.
New developments in the shooting of two police officers during last week's protests in Ferguson, Missouri.
(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)
BERMAN (voice-over): 20-year-old Jeffery Williams has been arrested and is now being held on bond, charged with two counts of first degree assault. Officials say they caught him with help from the community, and that Williams says he wasn't even trying to hit the two police officers. He claims, apparently, he was aiming at a demonstrator. CNN's Stephanie Elam has the latest from Ferguson.
(END VIDEOCLIP)
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, law enforcement officials say 20-year-old Jeffery Williams is the man who was behind the shooting that left two police officers injured outside of the Ferguson police department early Thursday morning.
(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)
ELAM (voice-over): They say Williams says he was in a dispute with somebody else who was other there demonstrating, but accidentally shot the two police officers. Here is what else they had to say.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The charge is still assault in the first degree, they're class A felonies for striking those two officers. There was a weapon recovered which has been tied to the shell casings that were recovered there, weapon recovered from him. And he has acknowledged his participation in firing the shots.
ELAM: Now, while Prosecutor McCulloch says that Williams was a known protester in front of the Ferguson police department, one community organizer that I spoke with who has been behind these protests that have been continuing some 200 days in front of the Ferguson police department says not only does he know that he wasn't a protester, he also knows Williams because of the religious community in the greater St. Louis County area.
He says he went to go speak with Williams since he's been arrested, and he said Williams told him that he was shooting at somebody who he said stole from him, one of the demonstrators. Then this is the rest of the conversation. Take a listen.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I told him, why didn't he come to persons like myself, who he knew, and others to share what was going on, because there was enough law enforcement, there was enough leaders that would be able to diffuse whatever was going on. And I thought it just, you know, it just didn't look good for our community.
ELAM: Back to the investigation. Law enforcement officials say they do believe that they have the shooter in custody who is behind this, but they're not ruling out that he has accomplices.
(END VIDEOCLIP)
ELAM (on camera): And so, the investigation continues, John.
BERMAN (on camera): Stephanie Elam in Ferguson, thanks so much.
A new political hurdle in the confirmation of Loretta Lynch to be the next attorney general.
(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)
BERMAN (voice-over): A Senate vote had been set for this week, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen now until Republicans and Democrats in the Senate resolved a dispute over a human trafficking bill.
Let's get more from CNN's Erin McPike.
(END VIDEOCLIP)
ERIN MCPIKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, Democrats are upset about some language in legislation that would stop human trafficking.
(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)
MCPIKE (voice-over): They are upset about an anti-abortion provision, but Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said that they have had their chance to address this, and he doesn't want to delay it anymore. And he was explaining his reasoning on CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION" this weekend. Listen here.
SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY), MAJORITY LEADER: This is boilerplate language that's been in the law for almost 40 years that they all voted for three months ago in another bill. We are not going to be able to finish the trafficking bill until this gets resolved. And this will have an impact on the timing of considering the new attorney general. Now, I had hoped to turn to her next week, but if we can't finish the trafficking bill, she will be put off again. They need to come to grips with this. I offered them a simple up or down vote.
MCPIKE: So, he says that would further delay the vote on confirming the attorney general nominee, Loretta Lynch.
(END VIDEOCLIP)
MCPIKE (on camera): McConnell also refused to say whether he would vote for or against Lynch when that vote comes to the floor, John.
BERMAN (on camera): Erin McPike, thanks so much.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BERMAN (voice-over): Three American aid workers exposed to Ebola in Sierra Leone due back in the U.S. today. Over the weekend, eight others were flown home, being monitored right now for signs of the disease. The CDC says all 11 workers had contact with an ailing colleague who was just diagnosed with Ebola. That patient said now to be in serious condition at the National Institutes of Health.
All right, it was opening day at Yankee stadium and there was not anyone in pin stripes in sight. No, NYCFC, the new soccer team in town, shut out the New England Revolution 2-zip in its big apple debut. 43,000 fans turned out to see them. A lot Yankee players have expressed concern about damage to the field there with soccer being played there. I want to apologize to Steve Matthew. I might have said something untoward about the Yankees, I can't imagine where that bile might have come from so early in the morning.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BERMAN (on camera): So, is the wet weather a sign that spring could be here, or could winter make a comeback? Let's get to meteorologist Pedram Javaheri for an early look at the weather. Pedram?
PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMF METEOROLOGIST: Good morning. Yeah, it seems like at least winter definitely has at least one more push left in it. And with all that said, we did move on into the record books. Yeah, a little celebration right there.
04:40:00
Number one, all time for the snowiest winter on record in Boston, surpassing the 95-96season. Of course, it's at least one good thing that comes out of it, right? You get this much snow, you go into the record books and make it memorable.
But look at this wintery air really push in here towards the middle portion of the week, some of the coldness there. Unfortunately, parts around the Northeast. So, by Monday, we see it across the northern tier of the country. By Tuesday into Wednesday, it eventually pushes in, really toward the eastern half of the country, the northern and eastern half of the country. And here you go as far as temperature trends. 73 in Chicago. Drops
down into the mid-40s, which is seasonal for this time of year. But in New York, the 50s are seasonal, you haven't felt that very much this year, and it cools off into the 30s over the next couple of days. Good thing with this is, this time of year, of course, the temperatures see-saw pretty rapidly, but they do moderate rapidly, as well. So, we shouldn't cool off that long when it looks like the long- term trend will be back towards seasonal here in the next couple weeks.
BERMAN: Pedram, that's the weather.
Let's get a look at your money right now. Alison Kosik here with that.
ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Let's see which way it's flowing this morning.
Asian and European markets are up. U.S. stock features, they're a bit higher after coming off quite the rough week. You look at all three of the major averages, they posted a third weekly loss in a row. You look at the Dow and the S&P 500, they've turned negative for the year.
All right, so why the slump? A strong dollar and low crude oil prices, those are a couple of the main reasons. The dollar is sitting at a 12 year high versus the euro, and while it's great news for U.S. travelers heading to Europe, it's bad news for U.S. multi-national companies, because a stronger greenback winds up hurting businesses that make a big chunk of their profits overseas.
And you look at crude oil, it's been hovering around the $44 a barrel mark, close to the low point in January, and the extra supple in crude has forced energy companies to cut back production and lay off workers. So, you're seeing the impact on the jobs market. So, investors, John, at this point are looking for a bottom with oil prices. And while we have seen some stability recently, we're not seeing any bottom just yet.
BERMAN: You know, but the slide, that precipitous slide at least seemed to stop.
KOSIK: Right. It still stopped, but you're still seeing oil prices head lower until you see investors kind of confident that oil hits a bottom.
BERMAN: All right. Alison, thanks so much. 42 minutes after the hour. After years proclaiming his innocence, Robert Durst behind bars this morning in connection with to 15-year-old murder case. What the real estate heir was caught saying that could now impact his fate. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
04:45:55
BERMAN: An attorney for Robert Durst says his client will not fight extradition to California, but will fight murder charges. (BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)
BERMAN (voice-over): The 71-year-old Durst, the subject of an HBO documentary, is now accused in the killing of a close friend back in 2000, a cold case that authorities say may be tied to the mysterious disappearance of Durst's wife.
CNN's Shasta Darlington has details.
(END VIDEOCLIP)
SHASTA DARLINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): John, real estate heir Robert Durst is behind bars in New Orleans, according to his own lawyers, in relation to the brutal murder of his very close friend, Susan Berman, who was shot execution-style at her home in Los Angeles back in 2000.
(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)
DARLINGTON (voice-over): A law enforcement source told CNN that he's being held on a capital murder charge in relation to the Berman case. No one has ever been charged in that case, but recently, the district attorney in Los Angeles reopened the investigation. And, of course, the HBO documentary, "The Jinx" has revealed a string of new details about Durst. An eccentric New Yorker from a millionaire family, he's been tied to three different investigations in three different states, including the disappearance of his wife and the killing and dismemberment of an elderly neighbor. Listen to what the director said about "the Jinx."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bob Durst has been accused of many crimes over many years, and that's what makes him, in some ways, the most unusual of all suspects. This isn't a one-time event that people are associating with. They're saying this is a guy for whom murder is an option.
I found him very engaging, I would say charming. He's very funny, yet you cannot be unaffected by the feeling of shaking Bob's hand and recognizing while that's happening that this is a hand that he used to dismember a person.
DARLINGTON: New evidence emerges in the documentary, like this letter written by Durst. They compare it to an anonymous letter, presumably sent by Berman's murderer to alert police to a cadaver at her house. The handwriting is almost identical, even the misspelling of the word "Beverly," compelling evidence that we will no doubt hear more about.
(END VIDEOCLIP)
DARLINGTON (on camera): Another tip from the law enforcement source who told CNN that the reason the FBI moved in when it did is because they believed Durst was about to flee the country. They tracked him to a New Orleans hotel where he was checked in under a false name. John.
BERMAN (on camera): Wow. All right, three teenagers arraigned in Brooklyn for the brutal
beating of 15-year-old girl at a McDonald's last week.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BERMAN (voice-over): Five of the six girls were caught on camera attacking the victim are now in custody. Police say several of them have gang affiliations. One of them, a 14-year-old, was caught with her mother in Atlanta trying to board a plane to Jamaica. The victim here suffered a concussion and several other injuries.
Families who lost loved ones in the Sandy Hook school massacre have filed a lawsuit against the estate of the shooter's mother, claims that Nancy Lanza was negligent for leaving an AR-15 assault rifle unsecured at her home. Adam Lanza used the weapon to kill her before slaughtering 20 children and six adults at the elementary school.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BERMAN (on camera): At least eight lawsuits have been filed in Connecticut on behalf of 16 of the victims this year.
So, coming up, where is Vladimir Putin? The Russian leader has not been seen in public for almost two weeks. This is highly unusual. So, what is behind his absence? Will he show up for a key meeting today? And what happens if he doesn't? We're live from Moscow next.
04:49:30
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BERMAN: So, where is Vladimir Putin? This is a serious question right now that people in Russia and around the world are asking with increasing concern.
Putin, who has not been camera shy ever, has not been seen in public now for almost two weeks, and this is fueling all kinds of speculation about the absence. Let's go to CNN's Matthew Chance live in Moscow. Matthew, what do you know?
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I was worried you were going to ask me that, John. The short answer is nothing very much, except there's a lot of rumors about the whereabouts of Vladimir Putin. He hasn't been seen in public since March the 5th. So, 11 days, which is astonishing for a figure who's usually on every state media channel almost 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. He hasn't been seen for 11 days.
There are three categories of rumor to explain his absence. The first one is that he's ill. He's had cancer. He suffered a stroke. He's got a bad back. He has the flu. All of them have been categorically denied by the Kremlin. The second category of rumor is that he has witnessed the birth of his love child. That's also been denied by the Kremlin. And the third category, which I think is the most interesting and perhaps the darkest, is that there's an internal power struggle inside the Kremlin, and Vladimir Putin has been replaced in a kind of palace coup.
And so, it all makes the meeting that he's scheduled to have in about an hour from now with the president of Kurdistan in St. Petersburg all the more interesting. It's a pretty mundane political meeting, but if it happens, it will be the first time we've not seen Vladimir Putin, as I say, for a long, long time.
BERMAN: Yes, if it happens, I suppose all of this speculation goes away, Matthew. But if it doesn't happen in an hour, then I think, you know, the speculation gets vaulted into the galactic level, I would say.
CHANCE: I totally agree with that. I mean, if he doesn't turn up for this meeting, the social media, the internet's going to go into meltdown.
04:55:01
It's already in overdrive coming up with all of these incredible, sort of fantastical explanations as to where he is. I mean, I can't imagine he won't turn up for this. The Kremlin has said that he will. The pool, you know, the journalists assigned to cover the Kremlin, they were Russian journalists mainly. They've told us that the meeting's expected to go ahead in about an hour from now. So, we're going to watch it very carefully..
BERMAN: All right. Stay tuned here, because, as I said, this matters to a lot of people in Russia and around the world. It'll be the first time we've seen the Russian leader, if we do in fact see him today, in more than 11 days. Matthew Chance, thanks so much.
Riots breaking out across Pakistan, Christians taking to the streets, many of them armed with clubs, retaliating for Taliban suicide bombings that targeted two different churches on Sunday.
(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)
BERMAN (voice-over): Those attacks killed 14 worshippers and injured more than 70 others. Police say angry mobs later beat two suspected militants to death. Two officers were also killed trying to the stop the bombers from rushing into churches.
(END VIDEOCLIP)
BERMAN (on camera): Coming up, hood news for Seinfeld fans. A new streaming deal that could bring the show to a screen near you. Wow. More of Seinfeld, what everyone needs.
And EARLY START on your money, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BERMAN: It's time now for an EARLY START on your money. Alison Kosik here with that.
KOSIK: And good morning. The stocks are mostly higher around the world, and it looks like U.S. stock futures are following that lead. After coming off a pretty rough weak, all three of the major averages, they posted a third weekly loss in a row. You look at the Dow and the S&P 500, they've made a U-turn and are now sitting in the negative for the year.
05:00:00
KOSIK: So, let me ask you this, do you drive a Tesla? It looks like you'll be able to go even further on a single charge. CEO Elon Musk hinted on Twitter that a new software update will end what's known as range anxiety.
