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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

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

Aired May 07, 2015 - 05:00   ET

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

[05:00:00] JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: EARLY START continues right now.

(MUSIC)

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news this morning: tornadoes tearing through the middle of the country. Dozens hurt. Communities leveled. It's not over yet, folks. We are tracking the damage done and what comes next.

BERMAN: So, did the most handsome man on earth cheat his way into the Super Bowl? The deflategate investigation, it is out, and I go to say, it does not look good for the Patriots. It does not look good for Tom Brady.

Andy Scholes, who always looks good, breaks it all down for us.

ROMANS: Growing controversy over charges leveled against police officers in the death of Freddie Gray. New challenges this morning. The challenges the prosecutor could face in that case.

Good morning and welcome to EARLY START, everybody. So nice to see you. I'm Christine Romans.

BERMAN: I'm John Berman. It is Thursday, May 7th. It is 5:00 a.m. in the East.

Breaking overnight -- what a night across the Midwest, the Great Plains and Oklahoma. Severe storms spawned dozens of tornadoes. Just flattening homes, injuring at least 13 people. Heavy, heavy rains in flash flooding that followed these storms.

ROMANS: This morning, people picking up the pieces in parts of Oklahoma. Dozens -- look at that, just thousands of homes torn apart in the Oklahoma City area. And a flash flood emergency declared in the metro area -- a flash flood emergency for the first time in history. The main airport cancelling all flights for the rest of the night.

Look at the scene in Norman. This is about 20 miles from Oklahoma City. Cars doing their best to navigate roads. Submerged by flash flooding. The areas of Amber and Bridge Creek, south and west of the metro area, reporting heavy damage. BERMAN: The severe storms produced at least nine confirmed tornadoes

in Kansas. People in the north central part of that state, they are now assessing the damage. You know, a lot of these communities are waking up this morning to figure out just what happened as those severe storms moved through.

We know at least right now, that two homes were severely damaged in Sedgwick County. One of them pretty much has lifted off its foundation. Winds were so powerful, they snapped trees. You could see them right here.

And this happens occasionally -- tombstones in cemeteries just toppled. Luckily, no reports of any injuries.

ROMANS: And then there's this -- a huge twister in southern Nebraska. The guy who shot this video says he saw it destroy a farm near the town of Hardy. That's on the state line with Kansas. Not far away in Roseland, Nebraska, another possible tornado yanked some homes way off their foundations and ripped others to match sticks.

(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: Now, the heavy rains swelled creeks and rivers. Look at the flash flooding across the state. Wow.

BERMAN: Meteorologist Derek Van Dam is tracking the severe weather for us -- Derek, because it's not over just yet.

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: No, it's not. John, and it's very concerning for me to actually see those cars navigate into flooded streets. Remember, only one foot of rain can float a vehicle. Two feet of rushing water can actually float an SUV down a stream.

So, not a good idea. There is a reason the National Weather Service talks about turn around, don't drown when you see a flooded roadway.

Well, on Wednesday, 46 reports of tornadoes. On top of all the heavy rainfall we experience, we currently have a severe thunderstorm watch near the Texas and Oklahoma border. That lasts through 7:00 a.m. local time.

This is right in the heart of the busiest severe weather part of the season, around 276 tornadoes on average during the month of May. And look at that, we've already reported 46 just in one day alone. Here's one of the images of a wedge tornado caught taken and caught on camera in Nebraska. Unfortunately, it isn't over yet.

As John just mentioned, we have all the ingredients coming together for another round of severe weather. This time, we have upwards of 9 million Americans under some sort of slight risk for large hail, damaging winds and isolated thunderstorms or tornadoes. That's for portions of Kansas into the Oklahoma and Texas Panhandle. Even the eastern sections of Colorado under the severe weather threat this Thursday.

Look at this Oklahoma City, third rainiest day in the 24-hour period. Over 7 inches of rainfall took place. No wonder we have all kinds of visuals of flooding across the region.

John and Christine, back to you.

BERMAN: All right, Derek Van Dam. That's a lot of rain there.

Four minutes after the hour.

So, there is no smoking gun. But this long investigation by the NFL into the deflategate, it found that two New England Patriots employees probably did release air from footballs for the AFC championship game, and that quarterback Tom Brady was probably than not at least generally aware of that rules violation.

Andy Scholes joins us now with the details.

Hey, Andy.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: John, I can sense the sadness in your voice right now.

[05:05:02] You know, there wasn't hard evidence against the Patriots and Tom Brady, but there was a mountain of the circumstantial evidence that they did intentionally deflate footballs during last season. Now, the most damning evidence were the text messages between Jim McNally, a Patriots locker room attendant, who referred to himself as the deflator, and John Jastremski, a Patriots equipment assistant.

Now, here's an example of an exchange the two has in October of 2014. McNally said, "Tom sucks. I'm going to make the next an expletive balloon." Jastremski replied, "Talked to him last night. He actually 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 footballs. And all of these text messages, they were obtained from McNally and Jastremski's work phones. Brady meanwhile, he declined to turnover text messages or emails during Ted Wells' investigation.

Now, in terms of the actual deflategate game against the Colts, the report cites evidence that McNally took the game balls into a bathroom, adjacent to the field at Gillette Stadium, and he stayed there for about 100 seconds which the report said was the amount of time sufficient to deflate 13 footballs using a needle.

Now, Robert Kraft, he released a statement. On the Wells report, it 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, guys, the report did find tat Kraft and Bill Belichick had no knowledge of any wrongdoing. But the big question, of course, now is -- will Tom Brady get suspended and will the Patriots -- will they have a fine or even draft picks taken away because of these findings of the Wells' report?

BERMAN: When is Tom Brady going to talk here? I mean, we have had half a day already since this reports come out. He's got to come out and explain or at least -- you know, either admit to it or --

(CROSSTALK)

SCHOLES: The cover up is always worse than the crime.

(CROSSTALK)

ROMANS: Put you guys on the spot. Do you guys both think there will be a suspension, a Tom Brady suspension? What your gut says?

BERMAN: I say one game. But Andy says?

SCHOLES: I mean, Sean Payton got a whole season because he would not cooperate during bounty gate. It appears Tom Brady is not cooperating with the NFL with deflategate. I think he gets three or four games.

ROMANS: I don't know why you take a risk like that for a deflated ball. I just don't know why you would take a risk like that. That's why I don't get. That's why I don't get.

All right. Thanks, Andy Scholes, for that.

Seven minutes past the hour.

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

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

Our CNN justice correspondent Pamela Brown. She is in Phoenix, she has the latest for us -- Pamela.

(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: Our thanks to Pamela Brown in Phoenix.

Now, the mother of gunman Nadir Soofi says she called her son to chew him out when she heard he had 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.

[05:10:01] Three weeks ago, Ali moved out. "The Wall Street Journal" reports that he 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, quote, "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 that he did." Nadir Soofi is scheduled to be buried today outside Kansas City.

ROMANS: This morning, a new video is giving us our first look at Elton Simpson. Simpson appeared in a 2012 fundraising video for the Phoenix mosque he attended with the other attacker, that you just heard about, Nadir Soofi.

In the video, Simpson talks about a power of prayer as a form of 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're reminded about the hereafter.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: So the president of the mosque tells CNN a few months ago Simpson completely stopped coming to services there.

BERMAN: The Pentagon is launching a controversial new program to train so-called moderate Syrian rebels in the fight against ISIS. Four hundred members of the U.S. military have now arrived in Turkey and Jordan to begin the training as soon as this week. The Pentagon plans to furnish the rebels with weapons, trucks and tactical radios once those fighters make it through the program.

ROMANS: All right. Hillary Clinton ready to rake in some big money for her White House bid. She is already courting donors to give to her super PAC, Priorities USA Action. Backers are hoping to raise up to $300 million in what could easily be the most expensive presidential election in history. Clinton is meeting with potential donors today during a campaign swing through California.

BERMAN: You know what's interesting about this. And she is being criticized for raising money for super PACs. But the issue here is that she -- Jeb Bush is out there raising a ton of money for his super PAC. And he is doing it because there are less restrictions on him. There is such nuance here and legalism. Bottom line here, there is a ton -- a ton of money in politics.

ROMANS: At the same time, her campaign is trying not to be so spend thrift it was last time, right? So, you are going to these events and using recyclable name tags and stuff. They don't want to look like they are spending too much money. They want to look a little frugal.

BERMAN: Right. How about Rick Santorum? He could grow the field of people running for president on the Republican side. The former senator says he will make an announcement on May 27th in his hometown of Butler.

So, Santorum you'll remember, he actually won the Iowa caucuses, he beat Mitt Romney in 2012. He outlasted pretty much everyone else besides Romney in the Republican field. This time around, at least for now, he is pulling toward the pack of the pack.

ROMANS: All right. Time for an early start on your money this morning. Not a very good day for stocks so far. European shares down quite a bit. The U.K. voting in a contentious general election. Asian shares, U.S. stock futures down. Yesterday, the Dow fell 86 points. The fed chief saying that stocks are quite high and that meant people hit the sell button.

Whole Foods gearing up to launch a lower cost chain to attract millennials. The new stores will stock cheaper goods while still maintaining the quality standards. Whole Foods sometimes called whole paycheck is still growing, opening new stores every year. It faces a lot of competition in natural and organics foods. Even Wall Mart is selling organic. The new store is aimed at cost conscious shoppers an option. Whole Foods currently negotiating leases for this new lower cost chain.

All right. Baltimore police charged in Freddie Gray's death, they are fighting back. The key piece of evidence that could make the prosecutor's case, we got that for you, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK0

ROMANS: Baltimore police not seeing eye to eye with the city's top prosecutor. The police investigation into the death of the Freddie Gray does not support some of the charges filed against the department's officers. That's what the sources briefed on, both the police and prosecutors investigations are telling CNN. Lawyers already filing motions challenging a key finding in the State Attorney Marilyn Mosby's case.

Mosby claims Freddie Gray's arrest was illegal. The arrest was illegal because the knife that Gray was carrying was legal. The knife was not a switch blade. But lawyers for the officers say the blade was illegal in Baltimore.

We get more this morning from CNN's Athena Jones.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): According to Maryland state law, a knife is illegal if the blade deploys with the push of a button, 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, because 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) ROMANS: That report from CNN's Athena Jones.

Meanwhile, the mayor of Baltimore Stephanie Rawlings-Blake is now asking the Justice Department to expand its inquiry in this case, in addition to an inquiry into whether Freddie Gray's civil rights were violated. The mayor is asking for a broad investigation into the patterns and practices of the Baltimore Police Department.

Eighteen minutes past the hour.

In just a few hours, testimony resumes in the penalty phase of the Dzhokhar Tsarnaev trial in Boston. Jurors there 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.

[05:20:04] Holmes has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. If convicted of the most serious charges, he could face the death penalty.

Happening now, Secretary of State John Kerry is in Saudi Arabia pushing for a cease-fire in Yemen as the crisis in that country grows worse by the day. We're live next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: Secretary of State John Kerry is in Saudi Arabia this morning and the situation in Yemen is at the top of his agenda. The secretary is expected to meet with senior Saudi leaders about the humanitarian pause in the air strikes against the Houthi rebels in Yemen. Secretary Kerry will also meet with the Yemeni president who is no longer in Yemen. He's in Saudi Arabia.

CNN's Nick Paton Walsh monitoring the developments for us. Good morning, Nick.

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John.

The key issue, of course, is how do you deliver the $68 million in humanitarian aid that John Kerry says is available from the U.S., along with a lot of other aids from a lot of countries. The question is, the central airport and capital Sana'a while its runways are now inoperable. They're being heavily. And the port city, particularly Aden, they're being heavily fought over, difficult to know how you get that desperately needed food and medical supplies in to Yemenis now after weeks of the bombardment from that Saudi coalition and clashes, too, on the ground.

[05:25:00] Today, we also hear that John Kerry has, in fact, met with the Saudi foreign minister and President Hadi, too, and that comes on the heels of a letter from the Yemenis to the U.N. Security Council, asking for an unspecified land force to intervene, to assess, to improve stability there as well, and after claims repeated in that letter that 50 civilians were killed as they tried to flee the port city of Aden in boats. The pro-Hadi government says was, in fact, shelf fire from the Houthi rebels. Human Rights Watch, too, calling for both sides to respect civilian lives. Now, rather than pause in Saudi air strikes, suggested by a recent statement they made, in fact, seen continue bombardment and heavy clashes on the ground. The Saudis have hinted at the humanitarian pause. John Kerry now pushing that, but with the chaos on the ground, how thorough, how comprehensive would that be to allow badly needed aid in, John.

BERMAN: All right. Nick Paton Walsh, some serious questions facing the secretary of state today. Thanks so much, Nick.

ROMANS: All right. Breaking news this morning, tearing through the middle of the country, areas hardest hit by tornadoes and what is still to come. We got that for you next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: Breaking news this morning. Tornadoes tearing through the middle part of the country, communities suffering this morning, just waking up to assess the damage. We are tracking the storms live, ahead.

ROMANS: The Patriots likely cheaters. It is more probable than not that Tom Brady is at the center of this.