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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Severe Storms Rip Through Plain States; Report: Patriots "Likely" Deflated Balls; New Controversy Over Officers' Charges; John Kerry in Saudi Arabia. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired May 07, 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: So, the Patriots more probably than not, cheated -- at least some personnel on the team. More probably than not, Tom Brady knew about it. It does not look good for the Super Bowl champs. Andy Scholes breaks it down.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: The case against several police officers in the death of Freddie Gray hinging on one key piece of evidence. What could end upsetting them free, ahead.

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

BERMAN: And I'm John Berman. Good to see you. Thirty minutes past the hour right now.

And breaking overnight: severe storms. They tore across the Great Plains, Midwest and Oklahoma. They spawned dozens of tornadoes, and flattened homes, injured at least 13 people. And there was just heavy torrential rains that followed, producing all kinds of flash-flooding.

ROMANS: This morning, people are picking up the pieces in parts of Oklahoma. Dozens of homes torn apart in Oklahoma City area. A flash flood emergency declared in the metro area for the first time in history. And the main airport canceled all flights for the rest of the night.

Look at the scene in Norman, about 20 miles away from Oklahoma City. Cars doing their best to navigate roads, submerged by flash floodings. The areas of Amber and Bridge Creek, south and west of the metro area, reporting heavy damage this morning, John.

BERMAN: The severe storms produced at least nine confirmed tornadoes in Kansas. People in north central part of the state, they are assessing the damage. Now the strongest storms moved through.

Two homes were severely damaged in Sedgwick County, one of them pretty much just lifted off the foundation. The winds are so powerful. You can see what they did to the trees right here. Also, toppled tombstones at the cemetery there. No reports amazingly than injuries.

ROMANS: And there's huge twister in southern Nebraska. The man who shot this video, look at that. He said he saw it destroyed near the town of Hardy. That's on the state line with Kansas. Not far away in Roseland, Nebraska, another possible tornado yanked homes way off their foundations, ripped others to shreds.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLEO MOUSEL, ROSELAND, NEBRASKA RESIDENT: It's like what you see on TV. Never thought I would see it in real life. I saw one cloud and then I saw it dissipate and I saw two clouds meet as one. And then we could hear the sound of a train. Our ears started popping because of the air pressure. And we went down to our locker room.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: The heavy rains that came with the storms swelled creeks and rivers causing flash flooding across the state.

BERMAN: Meteorologist Derek Van Dam is tracking the severe weather for us. Derek, it doesn't look over just yet, does it?

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: John and Christine, you have to see this statistic. In the month of may, we see 276 tornadoes. Just yesterday, a 24-hour period, we reported 46 tornadoes. Anywhere from Kansas through Nebraska and parts of Oklahoma, even northern central portions of Texas and eastern Colorado even had a reported tornado.

Unfortunately, we are under the fire again this Thursday. We have a collision of air mass. Warm moist air from the Gulf of Mexico, dry air from the Rockies and a jet stream that is helping fuel these thunderstorms. We have the possibility of large hail, damaging winds and isolated tornadoes once again from Kansas through the Oklahoma and Texas panhandle, upwards of 9 million Americans under a slight risk of severe weather. This includes the Dallas and Ft. Worth region. It is west of Oklahoma City.

Speaking of Oklahoma City. Look at this. We had 7 inches of rain in a 24-hour period. Leading to flash flooding for six counties in central portions of Oklahoma. This is the third most rainy event in a 24-hour period for the Oklahoma City region. Just over seven inches of rain, five of which occurred within a two-hour period.

No wonder visuals of flooding this morning. People need to be careful. Don't cross flooded roads.

Back to you, John and Christine.

BERMAN: All right. Derek Van Dam, good advice right there.

ROMANS: Thanks, Derek.

All right. So, there is no smoking gun, no smoking video. But his months long investigation by the NFL into the deflate gate found two New England Patriots employees probably did release air from footballs during the AFC championship game and perhaps more interesting, it said that probably Tom Brady was generally aware that was going on.

Andy Scholes joins us with more details.

I want to say good morning, Andy. Alas, it is not. ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I know. This is bad

news for you as a Brady fan, John, to hear.

But, you know, there wasn't hard evidence against the Patriots and Tom Brady, but there's just a mountain of circumstantial evidence that they did intentionally deflate the footballs during the AFC championship game. The most damning evidence were the text messages between with Jim McNally, a Patriots locker room attendant, who referred to himself as a deflator, and then John Jastremski, a Patriots equipment assistant.

Now, here's an example of an exchange between the two in October of 2014.

[04:35:00] McNally said, "Tom sucks. I'm going to make the next ball an expletive balloon." Jastremski responded, "Talked to him last night. He brought you up and said you must have a lot of stress trying to get them done."

Now, McNally and Jastremski also discussed via texts. McNally receiving autographs and shoes for supposedly altering the footballs. All of the text messages were obtained from McNally and Jastremski from their work phones. Brady, meanwhile, he declined to turn over any documents or electronic information such as text messages or emails during the investigation.

Now, in terms of the actual deflate game, the AFC championship game against the Colts, the report cites evidence that McNally took the game balls to the bathroom adjacent to the field and stayed there for about 100 seconds, which the report says was an amount of time sufficient to deflate 13 footballs using a needle.

Now, Patriots owner Robert Kraft, he released a statement on the Wells report, and they read in part, "To say we are disappointed in its findings which do not include any incontrovertible or hard evidence of deliberate deflation of footballs at the AFC championship game would be a gross understatement."

He goes on to say, "We will accept the findings of the report and take the appropriate actions based on those findings as well as any discipline levied by the league."

Now, the Wells report did find Kraft and Bill Belichick had no knowledge of wrongdoing. But, guys, the big question is, what's the punishment going to be? Are the Patriots going to lose draft picks and have a substantial fine and will Tom Brady be suspended for his role in deflategate?

BERMAN: Will Tom Brady talk about it? I mean, this thing came out at 1:00 yesterday and we haven't heard from Tom Brady on this. I suspect that we will not go another day before hearing from young Tom on this.

ROMANS: Andy Scholes, thanks for that.

Now, I wonder, do you win the Super Bowl because you have a deflated football? BERMAN: The balls in the Super Bowl were not controlled by the

Patriots. They were inflated to the right amount. By the way, the second half of the Colts game when they were inflated to the right amount, the Patriots played better than they did in the first half. That's not to excuse the fact that more probably than not, some personnel removed air from the footballs, which would be a clear violation of the rules.

ROMANS: All right. Developing this morning, investigators are increasingly confident that the two men who tried to attack a Texas contest to draw the Prophet Muhammad were lone wolves. Law enforcement officials say they have not found evidence Nadir Soofi and Elton Simpson had direct orders from ISIS.

But officials and a CNN analysis show Simpson was in contact through social media with several ISIS sympathizers and recruiters, including this British ISIS fighter in Syria, Junaid Hussain. U.S. lawmakers are concerned enough about terror recruiting through social media, that's the subject of a Senate committee hearing later this morning.

CNN justice correspondent Pamela Brown is in Phoenix for us this morning with the very latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAMELA BROWN, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: John and Christine, an ominous warning from a key ISIS operative who may have been connected to the Texas attack. On Tuesday, he tweeted out, "You ain't seen nothing yet."

Hussain is believed to have been connected to Elton Simpson, one of the Texas gunmen. In fact, they were tweeting around the time of the attack.

Officials I have been speaking with say Junaid Hussain is a, quote, "real problem." The concern is that he could inspire other Americans to launch an attack. He is very active on social media. We know that Hussain not only exchanged tweets with him, but other terrorists.

In fact, officials I have been speaking with say that in part is the reason why the FBI reopened an investigation into Elton Simpson in the past few months. In fact, I'm told that he was a priority subject, which allowed law enforcement to use all resources available. I'm told he was monitored, but did not have 24/7 surveillance.

I have been talking to a family friend who is very close to the Simpson family. And that friend says that the family is in shock. That it had no idea about Elton Simpson's extremist leanings. In fact, the father apparently just saw Elton in the past couple of weeks and did not detect any issues whatsoever.

I even spoke to Elton Simpson's brother. He was visibly shaken up and called it a tragedy -- John and Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: Pamela Brown in Phoenix.

Now, the mother of gunman Nadir Soofi says she called her son to chew him out when she heard he bought an AK-47 assault rifle. Sharon Soofi heard about the Craigslist purchase from her younger son Ali who lived in the same Phoenix apartment as Nadir and Elton Simpson. Three weeks ago, apparently, Ali moved out. "The Wall Street Journal" reports that Ali was worried about Elton Simpson's radical interpretation of Islam and Simpson's efforts to influence and isolate Nadir.

Sharon Soofi says of her son, "I had all of the hopes and dreams that he would grow up and raise a family and be successful. For whatever reason, he thought that wasn't what he needed to do. Something else called him to take the path he did."

Nadir Soofi is scheduled to be buried today outside Kansas City.

ROMANS: This morning, a new video giving us our first look at one of the gunmen in that Texas attack.

[04:40:00] Elton Simpson appeared in the 2012 fundraising video for the Phoenix mosque he attended with the other attacker, Nadir Soofi. In the video, Simpson talks about the power of prayer as spiritual armor.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ELTON SIMPSON, SLAIN GUNMAN: It recharges your imam when you come together and pray five times a day with the brothers and you reminded about the hereafter.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: The mosque president tells CNN that a few months ago, Simpson completely stopped coming to services there.

Forty minutes past the hour. Time for an early start on your money.

Stocks lower around the world. Asian and European shares down right now. U.S. stock futures are lower, a continuation of yesterday when the Dow fell 86. Oil prices are up. And Fed Chair Janet Yellen says stock values are, quote, "quite high, but don't pose a big risk yet". Yesterday, the market was the third longest bull market in history, FYI.

Keurig Mountain shares are plunging before the bell. It seems that the days that everyone wanting a Keurig machine maybe over. Sales tumbled 23 percent in the first quarter. The problem, users are frustrated the new machines only brew Keurig branded cups. So, the Keurig is bringing back the accessory that lets customers brew any coffee, also, working on its cold coffee brewing system. But those shares down, losing about a fifth of their value so far this morning.

BERMAN: All right. Forty-one minutes after the hour.

Police officers accused in the death of Freddie Gray, they are fighting back and disputing a key piece of evidence right now. What will this mean for the case? That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:45:08] BERMAN: Baltimore police clearly not seeing eye to eye with the city's top prosecutor. Sources tell CNN the police investigation into the death of Freddie Gray does not support some of the charges filed against the department's officers. The sources are law enforcement sources.

Police, some of them already filing motions challenging a key findings in State Attorney Marilyn Mosby's case. Mosby claims that Freddie Gray's arrest was legal because the knife that Gray was carrying was legal, that the knife was not a switch blade. But lawyers for the officers say the blade was legal in Baltimore. A lot will hang on this.

Let's check in with CNN's Athena Jones.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): According to Maryland state law, the blade is legal if it deploys without manual assistance.

(on camera): Legal or illegal, it all comes down to a spring.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely. It comes to a spring essentially. This is the one that kind of gets closer to what you call a switch blade or automatic knife. It's got a spring inside, and when you barely push that, it clicks the rest way open. It clicks the rest of the way open. So, you just kind of bang.

JONES: It's spring assisted, but it's still legal.

(voice-over): If successful, the knife argument could derail the case against the officers. Says the former prosecutor who has been critical of the charges and how quickly Mosby filed them. If the knife is illegal --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Those two arresting officers will be completely exonerated. Her whole case depends against those two. It depends upon an illegal arrest.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: That report from Athena Jones.

While that's going on, the mayor of Baltimore, Stephanie Rawlings- Blake, is now asking the Justice Department to expand its inquiry into this case. In addition to the inquiry into whether Freddie Gray's civil rights were violated. The mayor is now asking for a broad investigation into the patterns and practices of the Baltimore police department.

ROMANS: All right. In Boston in just a few hours, testimony resumes in the penalty phase of the Dzhokhar Tsarnaev trial. Jurors are expected to hear more from the defense about the supper max prison where the convicted bomber would spend the rest of his life, if they decide against the death penalty.

On Wednesday, a former brother-in-law testified that Dzhokhar went along with anything his co-conspirator brother Tamerlan said to do.

BERMAN: Emotional testimony in the Colorado courtroom on Wednesday from the woman who survived the Aurora movie theater massacre, but lost a friend in the carnage. James Holmes is accused of killing 12 people and wounding 70. Sandy Phillips lost her daughter. She's been in court each day since the trial began and has no plan to stop going.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SANDY PHILLIPS, DAUGHTER KILLED IN COLORADO MOVIE THEATER SHOOTING: You get through the day. You are exhausted. You go home. You try to eat something. You go to bed and you prepare yourself as best as you can to go through it the next day. But it's extremely hard and it's extremely when you hear that you're supposed to have empathy or sympathy for the person that butchered your children. I can't do it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Two graduate school professors testified on Wednesday, describing Holmes as cocky and socially immature. Homes pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. If convicted of the most serious charges, he could face the death penalty.

ROMANS: All right. Happening now, Secretary of State John Kerry is in Saudi Arabia, asking that country to stop dropping bombs in Yemen. We are live after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:52:26] BERMAN: Secretary of State John Kerry is in Saudi Arabia this morning. The worsening situation in Yemen is certainly at the top of the agenda. The secretary will meet with senior Saudi leaders and talk about a proposed humanitarian pause in the air strikes by the Saudi-led coalition against the Houthi rebels.

Secretary Kerry will also meet with the Yemeni president who fled to Saudi Arabia.

CNN's Nick Paton Walsh is monitoring these developments.

Nick, good morning.

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: John, a complex task delivering humanitarian aid. The U.S. has put $68 million aside for it. And there's a lot of it stocking up in the African port city of Djibouti. But the question is, how do you deliver it?

The port cities themselves, Aden in particular, the scene of intense fighting. Fifty is claimed by President Hadi's government civilians killed as they try to flee the port area of Aden yesterday. They claim to have been shelled as they try to leave. And the key airport in Sana'a, the capital, well, that had runways

which were accepting aid shipments and they have since been hit again by Saudi air strikes.

So, very difficult task simply getting that humanitarian aid in, and then, the question, of course, is can you coordinate both sides to pause in fighting adequately to allow shipments to occur?

On top that, John Kerry will be hearing, of course, from the Yemeni government and their desires to express to the U.N. Security Council in letter yesterday for, quote, "a land force" to intervene, an international land force to intervene and try to bring some sort of stability back. Unclear who will make up that force.

But this really is all about this conflict worsening and continuing. The Saudis called an end to their airstrike campaign, Decisive Storm, recently. But that has not led to the air strikes actually stopping. The violence is worsening, as is the humanitarian crisis, as is the fear that this could bring in more regional players. John Kerry facing some complex talks today in Saudi Arabia -- John.

BERMAN: Yes, a complex issue to be sure.

All right. Nick Paton Walsh for us, thanks so much, Nick.

ROMANS: All right. Google opening its wallet to get more women and minorities in tech. The latest on Silicon Valley's diversity problem. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:58:03] ROMANS: I'm Christine Romans. Let's get an early start on your money this Thursday morning.

Stocks lower around the world. European shares -- they're down quite a bit as the U.K. votes in the general election, with the hung parliament the most likely outcome, a really wild political situation there. That's kind of hurting the tone around the world.

U.S. Dow futures down a little bit here. Yesterday, the Dow dropped 86 points. Oil prices climbing and comments from the Fed Chair Janet Yellen saying stock values are, quote, "quite high."

Google committing $150 million this year to recruit more women and minority into tech. That means looking for talent at wider variety of colleges and expanding computer science education for kids. The money will also fund internal training to make Google more inclusive. Last year, only 17 percent of Google's tech workers are female, 2 percent were Hispanic, 1 percent African-American.

All right. Want to make a lot of money? Major in engineering.

BERMAN: I saw this. I saw this article and I knew you were going to do it this morning.

ROMANS: You did? You know me so well. According to a new report out this morning, nine of the ten highest college majors are engineering. Number one, petroleum engineering. Workers with the degree, they made a median salary of $136,000 a year. The second highest, pharmaceutical sciences, $113,000. Over a lifetime, these grads will earn millions more, millions more, than the lowest paid fields like education and social work.

Pay doesn't always correlate with how important it is for society. And those petroleum engineers, by the way, there'd been a lot of layoffs in oil this year. But when you look at the top paid majors, it's almost entirely engineering.

BERMAN: Doesn't Fareed have a new book out, like "In Defense of a Liberal Arts Education"?

ROMANS: And I will defend -- you know, the basis of humanities and liberal arts education, that's where the creativity, the innovation, that's where the back drop that drives -- seriously -- that drives some of the other -- you have to have it all.

BERMAN: All of the poetry I'm writing is thanks to the liberal arts education. All of the paintings that I have done in the last 25 years.

ROMANS: How much are you making for those paintings?

BERMAN: I know. Exactly.

ROMANS: Exactly.

BERMAN: EARLY START -- well, I'm here on EARLY START -- EARLY START continues right now.

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