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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Police Officer Charged with Murder; Hackers Penetrate White House Computers; U.S. Speeds Involvement in Yemen; Rand Paul Hits the Road; Residents Fear Returning to Tikrit. Aired 4:30-5a ET
Aired April 08, 2015 - 04:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:30:00] JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: We have new developments this morning in an alarming case in South Carolina. A police officer is behind bars, charged in the murder of an unarmed black man who was running away following a traffic stop. North Charleston Police Officer Michael Slager was arrested after a disturbing video emerged of the shooting itself.
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BERMAN: I heard eight shots right there, eight shots.
Let's bring in CNN's Ed Lavandera with the latest -- Ed.
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ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John and Christine, this dramatic video has ended with Officer Michael Slager, a five-year veteran of the North Charleston Police Department, being charged with murder.
This comes incredibly quickly. The shooting took place Saturday afternoon, just four days ago. And the state law enforcement department there in the state of South Carolina has charged him with murder.
In this video, it's dramatic, you see in the initial moments of the video the victim in this case, 50-year-old Walter Scott, very close to the officer but starting to run away. You see some objects fall to the ground. Officer Slager apparently said that he feared for his life or he felt like he was in danger because the victim had reached for his taser.
But Walter Scott gets about 25 feet away, four seconds later and eight shots, Walter Scott drops to the ground. He is later pronounced dead at the scene.
And then, one interesting piece, if you look closely at the video, at one point you see Slager go back to where the initial confrontation had taken place and then dropped something next to Walter Scott's body. It's not clear if that's the body. Then, moments later, he goes back and picks up that very same object.
It is clear, John and Christine, that this video played a dramatic role in these murder charges being filed against Officer Michael Slager -- John and Christine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: Thanks, Ed, for that. On top of the state murder charges officer Slager faces an FBI investigation for possibly violating Walter Scott's civil rights. He's also likely to be named in a civil lawsuit planned by Scott's family. That family outraged as they spoke to the media last night. Their lawyer called Slager, quote, "a cop who felt like he could get away with just shooting someone in the back."
Walter Scott's brother, Anthony, remembered him as a coast guard veteran and the father of four children.
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ANTHONY SCOTT, SHOOTING VICTIM'S BROTHER: I have -- I had two brothers. I had two brothers. But now, I have one brother.
But out of my brothers, he was the most outgoing out of all of us. He had -- he knew everybody. He knew -- he knew family I didn't know. He knew he had friends I didn't know. He was well known in the community, everywhere. And he was just an outgoing type of person, and loving and kind. That was just his nature.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: Now, city officials in North Charleston are also speaking out. The mayor there says he is grateful that someone was there to capture this moment on camera to capture that video of the shooting. The police chief says he has been devastated by the actions of the officer.
ROMANS: Now, South Carolina political figures reacting to the shooting and murder charges --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR KEITH SUMMEY, NORTH CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA: -- is very demonstrative of exactly what happened. Without the video, and that was the only witness there was, actually, was the gentleman that was making the video, it would be difficult to ascertain exactly what did occur. We want to thank the young person that came forward with the video.
EDDIE DRIGGERS, NORTH CHARLESTON POLICE CHIEF: You've been around me a long time. And you know I think that all of these police officers on this force, the men and women, are like my children. So, you tell me how a father would react to seeing his child act, do something. I'll let you answer that yourself.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: This was a routine traffic stop for a broken taillight.
South Carolina political figures reacting to the police shooting and the murder charges, too. In a statement overnight, Governor Nikki Haley said, "What happened in this case is not acceptable in South Carolina."
On Twitter, Senator Tim Scott said, "After watching the video, the senseless shooting and taking of Walter Scott's life was absolutely unnecessary and avoidable. My heart aches for the family and for our North Charleston community. I will be watching this case closely."
BERMAN: New this morning, U.S. officials are investigating a breach of White House computers, they say, by Russian hackers. U.S. officials briefed on the investigation say the White House hack is connected to a damaging intrusion into State Department computers first reported late last year.
Our justice reporter Evan Perez picks up the story from Washington.
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[04:35:00] EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE REPORTER: John, Christine, Russian hackers in recent months broke into sensitive parts of the White House e-mail system. They even can see parts of the president's schedule not disclosed to the public in real time.
The hackers are believed to be working for the Russian government. And according to U.S. officials, they pulled off one of the most serious cyber breaches of U.S. government agencies.
This breach is one reason why U.S. intelligence officials recently increased warnings about the cyber threat from Russia. The White House disclosed suspicious activity in its unclassified e-mail systems in October. But officials say even unclassified e-mails contain sensitive information that's valuable to foreign spies.
The hackers got in first by breaking into the State Department's e- mail servers. Then they tricked someone into giving them access to the system serving the executive office of the president. Federal agencies are now warning employees to beware of so-called phishing e- mails. These appear to come from trustworthy e-mail accounts but actually contain malicious software which gives hackers the ability to take over their computers -- John, Christine.
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ROMANS: All right. Happening now, the United States is deepening its involvement in the battle for Yemen. State Department officials say the U.S. is speeding up delivery of weapons and increasing intelligence sharing with Saudi Arabia. For two weeks the Saudis have been launching airstrikes against Houthi rebels who they say are being trained and armed by Iran.
For the very latest on this, let's bring in senior international correspondent Nic Robertson. He's live for us in Saudi Arabia this morning -- Nic.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning, Christine. That announcement by Anthony Blinken, really the strongest
announcement that the Saudi-led air coalition campaign is going to continue for some time. The addition of providing weapons systems more speedily, the addition of that intelligence-sharing information will perhaps greatly assist the Saudis at this time. The military briefer for the Saudis say they are at the peak of their air campaign at the moment. They continue to hit targets. It was relatively quiet, we're told, overnight around the capital.
But around some of the oil fields a little further south, there were strikes on Houthi positions there. The port city of Aden yesterday, relatively quiet after Saudi-led coalition airstrikes targeted Houthis there. But we're also hearing that the Red Cross is still not able to get in the medical supplies that it wants to get in.
And it hopes to get them in today. But the plans they've had over the recent few days haven't panned out to bring in planes and ships. So, they're continuing with that effort to bring desperately needed humanitarian aid into the country. More than 500 people killed so far. More than 100,000 according to the U.N. forced from their homes in this conflict, Christine.
ROMANS: All right. Nic Robertson for us -- thank you, Nic.
BERMAN: Thirty-seven minutes after the hour.
Explosive new revelations in the Aaron Hernandez murder trial. The former NFL star's attorneys make a shocking admission about the day prosecutors say killed his friend. That's all next.
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[04:41:40] ROMANS: The jury in the Boston marathon bombing trial resumes deliberations this morning. On Tuesday, the panel sent the judge two notes after a long seven-hour day. Now, he did not share the contents of those notes publicly, but the judge told the jurors he will answer those questions today.
CNN's Alexandra Field has more from inside the courtroom.
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ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christine, John, a jury made up of seven women and five men spent more than seven hours on the first day of deliberations trying to determine the fate of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. He faces 30 different counts, 17 of those charges coming with a possible death sentence.
If the jury finds him guilty of just one of those counts, this trial will go into a sentencing phase in which the jury will have to determine whether or not to spare Tsarnaev's life.
The defense has never denied Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's participation in the attacks, but it is still the responsibility of the jury to determine whether or not the government met the burden of proof in each of those 30 counts. Deliberations will continue at 9:00 in the morning. The jury has
already sent two notes with questions for the judge about this case -- Christine, John.
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BERMAN: Jurors deliberate today in the murder trial of ex-football star Aaron Hernandez. During closing arguments on Tuesday, the lawyer for Hernandez acknowledged for the first time that his client was at the murder scene. This as prosecutors say evidence clearly shows that Hernandez had a calculated plan to kill Odin Lloyd.
CNN's Susan Candiotti picks up the story.
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SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: A day of passionate closing arguments by both prosecutors and defense in the case of Aaron Hernandez. Prosecutors for the very first time identifying Hernandez as the trigger man in the shooting death of Odin Lloyd.
And defense attorneys for the first time saying that Aaron Hernandez was, in fact, at the crime scene, saying this, calling him a 23-year- old kid who in their words witnesses something committed by somebody he knew, indicating that they are trying to shift the blame on the two other people who were in the car that night.
Now, the jury spent about an hour and a half deliberating and will have their first full day of deliberations beginning in the morning at 9:00 a.m. -- Christine and John.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: All right. Rand Paul is on the trail, his first full day as a declared presidential candidate. The Kentucky senator will hold a rally in New Hampshire, home of the nation's first primary, following the Iowa caucuses. The Republican senator came out swinging as he launched his campaign Monday, taking direct aim as the NSA surveillance program.
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SEN. RAND PAUL (R-KY), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Warrantless searches of Americans' phones and computer records are un-American and a threat to our civil liberties. I say that your phone records are yours. I say the phone records of law-abiding citizens are none of their damn business.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Aiming fire at both parties, frankly, saying it's time to take the conversation back, time to take the country back from what he calls special interests using Washington as a piggy bank.
Now, he has a lot of big plans for the country. We put them under an economic microscope to see how they stand up. First, he wants to slash spending dramatically.
[04:45:01] He wants to eliminate the U.S. Department of Education, Commerce, Housing and Energy. He wants to reduce food stamps, Medicaid and child nutrition programs. It's unclear how easily he could close those four big departments.
The ones targeted are small spenders compared to Defense, Social Security and Medicare, of course. Those are the big-ticket items.
Now, let's talk about taxes. He wants a flat tax. He wants to simplify the tax code to one simple rate. That idea is being criticized for being unfair to low income households.
And finally, Paul's big promise is to audit the Federal Reserve. Fed Chair Janet Yellen said she will fight him to keep the central bank independent. She wants to keep it out of politics.
Also the Fed says it is audited. You can see right there exactly where it spends its money and what its balance sheet is. Auditing the Fed, they say, is a veiled way of trying to control interest rates in this country or get the government involved in what is independent policy.
BERMAN: But it is a popular rallying cry among many Rand Paul supporters.
ROMANS: It is. But he's going to have to -- he's been raising money from Wall Street, right? Wall Street is very concerned about some of his economic plans, right? So, he's going to maybe have to step back from some of that language if he's going to be wooing the traditional Republicans of Wall Street.
BERMAN: It will be interesting if he tries to work that balance.
Fifty million people in the path of severe storms today, Texas to Ohio. People there set to be hit with heavy rain, violent wind and hail.
ROMANS: Some of that severe weather was already felt in parts of Indiana Tuesday. Strong winds with gusts of up to 70 miles an hour causing damage to homes in Evansville, leveling -- wow -- leveling trees, too.
BERMAN: In Missouri, there was hail there the size of golf balls. Smaller than a tennis ball, smaller than a tennis ball, smaller than a cross ball, golf balls. Several communities there were flooded when drainage systems were unable to handle the sheer amount of water and ice that fell in that short amount of time.
ROMANS: All right. Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri following the severe weather for us -- Pedram.
PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, guys.
Yes, severe weather also a concern on the western side of the United States. California, several reports of funnel clouds there, also a lot of hail and wind-related storm damages. And get up to the sierra, the high sierra, we're talking about upwards of a foot in a few areas that did accumulate rainfall totals, also impressive.
Of course, the late-season moisture like this really not going to help much in the way of the drought, but also, what it does is push back the concern a little bit when it comes to the fire season threat a little farther back into the season. But that same storm system now centered over portions of the Central Plains, the Midwestern U.S., the ingredients all coming together for what has the potential really to be the most destructive as far as weather so far in 2015.
We know large, damaging hail going to be in the forecast. Also powerful wind gusts. And tornadoes and the threat really enhanced now across portions from OKC out towards St. Louis. About 11 million people live in that zone when the storm system pushes across that region into the afternoon hours.
And again, look at the linearity in the storms, certainly going to see powerful wind gusts into the afternoon hours as well. Plenty of rainfall to go around the next couple days, guys. Especially from Illinois into the Ohio Valley, something we'll watch very carefully.
BERMAN: A lot of rainouts. Baseball season just started and we're going to have a lot of rainouts.
ROMANS: Every story will go back to baseball season for the, what, next four months?
BERMAN: Still 162 games. Just until October.
Forty-eight minutes after the hour.
ISIS has been cleared from Tikrit, but the residents there are afraid to return home. We're live in Iraq with that story, next.
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[04:52:04] BERMAN: A week after Iraqi forces reclaimed Tikrit from ISIS, many families there are hesitant about returning to their homes. They fear ISIS fighters might not be out of that area completely. And now, these families are stranded in makeshift camps in Baghdad.
CNN senior international correspondent Arwa Damon live in Baghdad this morning.
Good morning, Arwa.
ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.
Now, at this stage, the Iraqi government is not yet encouraging families to return. Not just because ISIS is still holding out in small pockets of the city, but also because ISIS booby-trapped roads and buildings that have still to be cleared of explosives.
But when it comes to these families, they're not just afraid of the potential threat that ISIS might pose or whether or not Iraqi security forces can actually hold the city. They're also concerned about reprisal attacks coming from this Shia volunteer army that has been instrumental in winning back Tikrit, but there are concerns that some individuals within this volunteer army might carry out revenge attacks against those Sunni families.
We also not just spoke to families from Tikrit but others who are living in these makeshift buildings, half-constructed homes. And they say that even though their particular areas were cleared three to four months ago, they're on the way to Tikrit. They haven't returned back home at this stage either because of the same concerns. They want guarantees from the Iraqi government that it is safe.
BERMAN: Arwa Damon for us in Baghdad this morning -- thanks so much, Arwa.
ROMANS: All right. Big oil getting bigger this morning. The biggest oil merger in 20 years. It is the big deal, the big story in markets this morning. We've got that next.
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[04:57:19] ROMANS: All right. Let's get an early start on your money.
Another big merger, the biggest oil merger in about 20 years, that has European and Asian shares mostly higher. U.S. futures are up. Look at Hong Kong, big day for Hong Kong.
BERMAN: Wow.
ROMANS: Shell paying $70 million for BG Group. Oil stock soaring. This is the first super merger in oil in at least a decade, crashing oil prices make these tie ups more attractive. When you have oil prices crash like that, you have companies moving quickly to adapt.
Help wanted. The number of job openings in the U.S. is at a 14-year high. Your job is safe, Berman. But lots of job openings, 5.1 million job openings in February, the first time above 5 million since January 2001. That is a good-looking chart.
Berman, this is one of my favorites.
BERMAN: Fine-looking chart.
ROMANS: Love this one, love this one.
The number of job seekers for each job opening keeps falling, fewer than two people looking for work for every opening, at the height of the recession. It was seven.
And finally, if you watch us on TV, follow us on Twitter, you know that for over a month John Berman has been upset. He has had his heart broken because just about every show on CNN has a mug, except for EARLY START. What began as a grumpy complaint turned into a social media movement. And for the last week, EARLY START mugs have been popping up across
CNN, starting in London with Christiane Amanpour, here in New York with CNN President Jeff Zucker and who knows where? Kim Kardashian and CNN's Tom Foreman broke the Internet.
Berman, your time has come. CNN staffers all over the country have been enjoying their mugs, and now you can have yours.
BERMAN: Cheers.
ROMANS: Cheers. We made this one. This one is mine.
BERMAN: Your name is on that.
ROMANS: And there's yours.
BERMAN: Here's mine. It says "Jim Berman" right there.
ROMANS: Oh, darn.
BERMAN: Finally getting the respect I so deserve.
ROMANS: You do deserve that.
(CROSSTALK)
BERMAN: But look. You know, it's sad in a way knowing that your great contribution to journalism will be the mugs now campaign. But now I've done that. I've sort of --
ROMANS: You have started a movement.
BERMAN: Everything I set out to do in this business.
ROMANS: We have to thank Vern Peeler, one of our loyal viewers, who actually sent us these mugs because he was so concerned that we didn't have our own mugs. He made these himself which shows you CNN fandom.
BERMAN: We had to make these ourselves also. And now, we finally have them in their hard ceramic form.
ROMANS: All right. Thanks, everybody.
BERMAN: I'm just going to stare at this for a while.
ROMANS: We're going to put it all on Twitter so you can see it. Twitter, Facebook, follow us on Facebook, you can see all the drama as it unfolded.
BERMAN: EARLY START continues right now.
(MUSIC)
ROMANS: A police officer charged with murder, caught on camera, shooting an unarmed black man in the back. This morning, the community outrage and what the victim's family is now saying. Good morning and welcome to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.
BERMAN: I'm John Berman. Great to see you today. It is Wednesday, April 8th. It is 5:00 a.m. in the East.
