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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Iran Talks Continue Past Deadline; Employer Knew of Pilot's Depression; Controversy Grows for Religious Freedom Laws. Aired 4:30- 5a ET

Aired April 01, 2015 - 04:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:30:07] CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Deadline extended. This morning, intense nuclear negotiations are Iran, world leaders pushing for a deal. But if an agreement is reached, can the White House sell it to a defiant Congress? The latest on the negotiations and any roadblocks the president may face.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Deeply depressed and his employer knew. New evidence that the pilot who flew himself and 149 others into a mountain told the airline about a severe episode of depression. Questions now about why he was allowed to fly -- this as the CEO of Lufthansa visits the crash site. We're live this morning with the latest developments.

ROMANS: New backlash over Indiana's religious freedom law. Critics say it will legalize discrimination. That's not stopping one state from passing its own version of the law. New details ahead.

Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.

BERMAN: I'm John Berman. Thirty minutes past the hour.

Happening this morning, the deadline has passed to reach a deal that would curb Iran's nuclear program. The negotiations, though, they continue in Switzerland, overtime, as Iran and major world powers have agreed to stay at the bargaining table at least through today. Midnight was supposed to be the deadline, but diplomats say enough progress has been made toward a framework deal to keep on talking.

For the latest, let's turn to global affairs correspondent Elise Labott.

ELISE LABOTT, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, that deadline came and went. Negotiators worked throughout the night. They should be meeting again shortly, but it doesn't seem as if those key sticking points we've been talking about for the past few days have been resolved yet.

Several of the ministers have left. The French foreign minister last night kind of gave -- I won't say it was an ultimatum, but he did say to the Iranians I'm leaving in the morning, so you have to make a decision. He left. He said he could come back. The Russian foreign minister left, the Chinese foreign minister left. Now, it's really up to Secretary of State Kerry to close the deal with

the Iranians, and perhaps they're waiting to hear back what they say. I think at the least right now, what we're looking at is a general statement of what's already been agreed to. It's quite clear that there are several issues still on the table, Christine.

ROMANS: All right. Thanks for that, Elise.

The White House admitting that the Tuesday deadline was, quote, "at least a little arbitrary". Press Secretary Josh Earnest says negotiations have been going on for more than a year, but he says President Obama is still willing to walk away from the negotiating table if the world powers cannot reach an acceptable deal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: No deal is better than a bad deal. The United States will not sign on to a bad deal. The only kind of diplomacy, diplomatic agreement, political agreement that we envision is one that definitively shuts down every path to a nuclear weapon that Iran has and imposes and Iran cooperates with a set of extremely intrusive inspections.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: There's certainly at least one person who wants no deal at all. Leading the charge against the deal with Iran, Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu.

Happening now, the Prime Minister Netanyahu is meeting in Jerusalem with House Speaker John Boehner and a delegation of House Republicans. Last week, Speaker Boehner gave Netanyahu a very high-profile platform to speak out against the nuclear deal in a speech to Congress.

Let's bring in CNN's Oren Liebermann live from Jerusalem with the very latest -- Oren.

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN REPORTER: Well, good morning, Christine.

We're now half an hour away from scheduled statements from Netanyahu and House Speaker John Boehner. They're here, they're meeting.

The statements may not be long, and it certainly isn't an extended visit, perhaps as little as 24 hours. But just Boehner's presence alone here is a statement in and of itself. Netanyahu has been lobbying against this deal. He's been rallying his supporters against it, trying to make sure that Israel and the security of Israel remain a prime concern here in this deal.

So, he's been pushing against that. We've seen him put out statements every one of the last few days citing his biggest issues. Advanced research, advanced centrifuges, he's been saying all of this would be a threat not only to Israel but to the security of the larger Middle East.

And now, he's getting support, very strong support, from congressional Republicans. It's House Speaker Boehner here now. And again, we expect those statements in just half an hour. It was a team of Senate Republicans here.

Earlier this week, Senator Mitch McConnell met with Netanyahu and said, look, if there is a deal, we're going to push for required congressional approval of that deal. So, a very strong show of support for Netanyahu.

And for President Obama, if he has to push this through Congress, if he has to work his deal through Congress, the Republicans could give him a very hard time there because they control both Houses. Netanyahu working with his strongest allies in Congress, those are the Republicans. That's Boehner, that's McConnell trying to essentially not stop a deal. He has realized at this point he doesn't have the influence or the power to stop a deal, but trying to do anything he can to lobby against what he sees as the dangerous aspects of the deal.

Christine, again, those statements coming in half an hour. We'll have reaction from here immediately.

ROMANS: And we'll bring those live to you at 5:00 Eastern Time when they happen. Thanks, Oren, for that, from Jerusalem.

[04:35:02] BERMAN: Thirty-five minutes after the hour.

New developments this morning in the crash of Germanwings Flight 9525. It turns out Lufthansa knew that co-pilot Andreas Lubitz battled severe depression back in 2009 while he was still in flight school -- severe depression, by the way. Lufthansa now acknowledges that Lubitz informed the company himself. This is raising new questions about how the airline industry monitors the mental stability of its pilots.

CNN's Diana Magnay is live outside the prosecutor's office in Dusseldorf.

Good morning, Diana.

DIANA MAGNAY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John.

Exactly, Andreas Lubitz wrote to his flight school explaining to them that he had suffered a severe bout of depression. Lufthansa says -- Lufthansa says that they only found this e-mail now and have handed it over to the public prosecutor here in Dusseldorf.

The question is, of course, did the flight school, did Lufthansa, take that e-mail into account when they certified him as fit to fly a few days after the accident? Lufthansa CEO said he was 100 percent fit to fly with no qualifications whatsoever. So, it does raise many questions about whether Lufthansa took this e-mail seriously enough and how it weighed up his medical and psychological health.

Now, we're also finding out new details from a source close to the investigation, about what the girlfriend of Andreas Lubitz has been telling investigators. She apparently has been saying that she knew of his psychological problems but had been optimistic that the two could work through them together. Also, that Lubitz had recently been to see two doctors, an eye doctor and a neuropsychologist, both of whom had told him he was unfit for work, for psychological reasons.

All this whilst new video appears to have surfaced, seen by a French and German publication, which seems to document the final few moments of Flight 9525. It would appear that someone was filming from the back of the plane as it went down. "Bild" says that it has seen this.

The French investigators, though, the French criminal police, say there's no way that any kind of video from a cell phone could have got out. There have been cell phones collected from the site, but they are still on their way to an institute in France preparing for analysis.

But still, these details, as described by "Bild" are very, very chilling about those final few moments, John.

BERMAN: You know, indeed. Difficult to see, no doubt, even for the magazines or the people who have been describing them.

Diana Magnay, thanks so much.

ROMANS: All 149 victims on the doomed jetliner could be identified by the end of the week. An enormous recovery operation is gaining momentum in the French Alps now that a road has been cleared leading straight to the wreckage.

Lufthansa announcing $300 million has been set aside to deal with the cost of the disaster. The airline's CEO paying his respects at the crash site this morning.

I want to bring in CNN'S Erin McLaughlin live from Le Vernet, France.

It's such a grim task. Do they think they'll be able to identify everyone? Or -- I mean, just the impact of the crash, some may never be able to be recovered.

ERIN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Christine.

Well, French President Francois Hollande says he thinks it's possible that they could have all the victims identified by the end of the week. But authorities here have been saying that the impact of that crash was so devastating that it is possible that they may not be able to identify the human remains of all 150 people that were on board that plane.

Let me just let you take a look at the scene that's playing out behind me. Just over that way is a small memorial site, a stone that has been dedicated to the victims of Flight 9525. Authorities say that so far, over 450 people that have been close to the victims have come to that stone to mourn their loss. We've seen incredibly emotional displays of grief, people arriving there to be close to their loved ones.

And today, we're expecting in just a very short while, the CEO of Lufthansa, Carsten Spohr, which I believe he's arrived just over there. He's arrived to also pay his respects. His spokesperson saying that he's here to lay flowers. You can see the flowers there. He's also here to say a prayer, to mourn the loss of all the victims on that plane.

Now, he was just not far from here in a place called Sene (ph) where they have the staging area for the recovery operation. There he met with the pilots, the emergency workers who have made, at times, a very difficult recovery operation possible.

Shortly after the ceremony that you see back there now, he's going to be giving a statement, we expect, to the press. He may also take some questions, really at a time when there are so many questions for Lufthansa Airlines.

[04:40:06] Lufthansa Airlines announcing yesterday a finding of their investigation that in 2009, the 27-year-old co-pilot believed to be responsible for crashing Flight 9525 alerted them to a bout of severe depression. He alerted his flight school via e-mail. Airline analysts say there's so many questions as to, you know, what sort of procedures, what sort of protocols that airline followed, following disclosure, and really people here struggling to understand what, if anything, could have been done to prevent this profound human tragedy -- Christine.

ROMANS: Yes. All right, Erin, thanks for that, in Le Vernet.

And, again, behind your right shoulder, you can see Carsten Spohr, the CEO of Lufthansa, paying his respects at that marker that you point -- 450 of the family members have gone there to mourn the loss of their loved ones. He will be making some comments. We will bring them to you live so you can hear what he has to say. Erin, thank you.

BERMAN: Some other news for you right now. The Iraqi government claims it has taken back the city of Tikrit from ISIS. Iraqi officials say the majority of the city has been liberated, although pockets of ISIS resistance remain. Iraqi troops, they say, have reached the city's center where they have planted the national flag.

The Iraqi prime minister has now arrived in Tikrit according to his office. There are still pockets, again, of ISIS fighters in there. ISIS also still controls the northern city of Mosul. Iraqi officials say liberating that city from ISIS is the goal.

ROMANS: All right. To Yemen now. At least 62 children are among the civilian dead after five days of airstrikes in Yemen, a Saudi-led coalition of Arab nations relentlessly pounding Houthi rebel targets from the air. The Saudis say they've now destroyed the air defense systems of the Iranian-backed fighters and have taken control of all the country's ports, effectively shutting off all supply lanes to those rebels. And, of course, the Saudis say that the Houthis are hiding in civilian populations which is often just a deadly, deadly outcome when you have wars like this.

Forty-two minutes past the hour.

New backlash for Indiana's new religious freedom law, criticized as legalized discrimination. The state's governor promising a fix. But now, another state, another state, passing its own version to the horror of the business community there. We're breaking it all down, next.

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[04:46:04] BERMAN: New fallout this morning from the religious freedom law in Indiana and also a similar law has just advanced in Arkansas. Protesters gathered in Little Rock on Tuesday, calling on the governor to veto the bill just passed by the Arkansas House. There is growing opposition from businesses in that state, including the biggest of them all, Walmart, headquartered there.

Indiana Governor Mike Pence has promised to fix the religious freedom law in his state. He claims it is not a license to discriminate, but he does admit there is what he calls a perception problem.

Let's get more from CNN's Miguel Marquez.

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MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Christine, John, fast- moving changes here in Indiana today. Protests again in the state. This time, Bloomington, where several hundred people gathered to protest SB-101.

The governor, Mike Pence, in a stunning reversal -- this is a guy who had been fighting against any change to this law that he signed in private -- today, he came out to say he doesn't think it invites discrimination, but he still wants a fix.

GOV. MIKE PENCE (R), INDIANA: It's been a tough week here in the Hoosier State. But we're going to move forward. I've come to the conclusion that it would be helpful to move legislation this week that makes it clear that this law does not give businesses a right to deny services to anyone.

MARQUEZ: And just how this fix is taking shape is really changing as well. At the beginning of Tuesday, we understood there was already language that lawmakers were considering. By the end of the day, though, it was clear the House speaker had reached out to businesses and sports leaders and universities and activists across the state to figure out what exactly that bill had to say in order to please everyone and get to the governor's desk.

We understand that bill, that fix, may be in committee here at the statehouse later today -- Christine, John.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right. Miguel Marquez, thanks for that excellent reporting.

More companies say the new Indiana law bad for business. NASCAR and Nike joining a long list of critics. They say the law allows discrimination. Both organizations say they are committed to diversity and inclusion. NASCAR and Nike join Apple, Angie's List, Yelp, NCAA, Eli Lilly, Cummins Engine, lots of companies.

A similar fight is happening between businesses and government in Arkansas. Walmart has its headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas. It asked Governor Asa Hutchinson to veto House Bill 1228 there, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The nation's biggest retailer, it's also the nation's largest private employer -- it says the law does not reflect its values, does not reflect Arkansas' values and has been lobbying against it.

BERMAN: The question is, will they do more than just lobby? They could put money behind it. They could affect some change there.

Forty-eight minutes after the hour.

The defense rests in the Boston marathon bombing trial. The short list of witnesses there just two days barely of testimony. The defense wants to keep Dzhokhar Tsarnaev from getting the death penalty. We'll lay out the details of the case, next.

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[06:52:47] BERMAN: Dramatic moments in the Boston marathon bombing trial. The defense rested its case on Tuesday after just calling four witnesses. Lawyers for accused Boston marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev have tried to shift the focus to his older brother, Tamerlan, who they say was the mastermind of the attack. What they're trying to do is spare the life of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. Jury deliberations could begin as soon as Monday, following closing argument which as of now were scheduled for that day.

ROMANS: The trial of former New England Patriots star Aaron Hernandez resumes later this morning. He is accused of murdering his friend, Odin Lloyd, in 2013. In court Tuesday, Patriots owner Robert Kraft testified for the prosecution. Kraft is telling the jury that Hernandez looked him in the eye and told him he was innocent when asked if he was involved in Lloyd's murder. Prosecutors are expected to rest their case on Thursday.

BERMAN: New details emerging about the two men who were shot, one fatally, as they tried to ram a stolen vehicle into a gate at NSA headquarters in Fort Meade, Maryland. Authorities initially thought the suspects were dressed as women, but now they say they were cross- dressing prostitute and stole an SUV from a motel where they had apparently been partying. A police officer and a second suspect were injured in the shootout.

ROMANS: Very bizarre, bizarre story there.

All right. Fifty-three minutes past the hour.

You are saving hundreds of dollars at the pump. So, what are you doing with all that extra money? An early start on your money, next.

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[04:57:38] ROMANS: Let's get an early start on your money this morning.

Stock futures are down right now because yesterday the Dow was down. The Dow dropped 200 points, putting it down for the year once again. The quarter is over. Stocks ended the quarter pretty much right where they started. But that doesn't mean it's been boring.

The Dow fell almost 4 percent in January, surged close to 6 percent in February, fell 2 percent in March, triple digit swings have become the norm and that could continue, lingering questions about economic growth, earnings, and the Fed's looming interest rate hike.

Cheap gas saving you hundreds of dollars. The average price for a gallon of regular, $2.41 today. That's more than $1 cheaper than this time last year.

The White House forecasts that the typical household is going to save about 750 bucks at the pump this year. But what are you doing with that? Americans aren't spending it, they're pocketing it. That's a big disappointment to businesses expecting a boost from cheap fuel.

But, you know, for your personal economy, paying down high-interest credit card debt and saving your gas savings, probably a pretty good idea.

Here's where are people are spending money, on prom. According to a new survey, the average price tag for prom is $919 this year.

Why are you giggling, John Berman?

BERMAN: Because I think we should go to the prom.

ROMANS: The news prom.

This includes the cost of tickets, clothes, limos, flowers, pictures and food. The numbers even more surprising when broken down by income. Families with income of less than 25 grand spend more. They spend $1,400. Those making more than $50,000 will spend far less, about $800. That means people below the poverty line are spending nearly $600 more than those who are well off. That detail and that spending number that really caught a lot of people by surprise.

But I just want to back this up a little bit. Did you just invite me to the prom?

BERMAN: I did. One of the proms I went to, I wore a white tuxedo with a top hat and cane.

ROMANS: You did not.

BERMAN: Yes, my prom date was not happy. That's actually a true story. Not at all happy. White tuxedo, top hat and cane.

If you want business tips like do not wear a white tuxedo, top hat and cane, where should you go to get those tips?

ROMANS: I'm afraid there's no prom chapter in my new book "Smart is the New Rich", but there are a lot of about savings and investing for young people, and the best choices to make for going to college.

BERMAN: "Smart is the New Rich" is available now. Get it!

ROMANS: You just invited me to the prom.

BERMAN: You didn't answer me. We'll do that during the break.

EARLY START continues right now.

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ROMANS: Deadline extended.

[05:00:00] Intense nuclear negotiations happening right now with Iran. Can an agreement be reached? And if it is, will President Obama be able to sell that deal to a defiant Congress?