Return to Transcripts main page

Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Magnitude 7.3 Quake Hits Nepal; Tom Brady Suspended 4 Games Over Deflategate; Kerry in Russia to Meet with Putin. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired May 12, 2015 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:05] ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. John Berman here along with Christine Romans. Welcome to EARLY START.

We have breaking news: a magnitude 7.4 earthquake hit Nepal. Remember, of course, there was a 7.8 magnitude quake on April 23rd that just devastated that nation. So, a new 7.4 quake, that's according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The epicenter reported near the Nepalese city of Namche. That is close to the border with China.

The depths of 11 miles, that is not deep. There is a large possibility of widespread damage. There are reports of buildings collapsing. Tremors are being felt as far as New Delhi.

We are getting a reporter up live as soon as we can. We're getting new information on this and we will have more details for you in just a moment.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: And we have our producer on the ground who said some of the buildings that were damaged from the previous quake have just collapsed now. So, it's damage on top of damage, 7.4 quake. That is a large size quake, relatively shallow.

We will continue to follow all of that for you this morning and give you more information as we get it.

Other news this morning, the NFL bringing down the hammer on the New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, suspending him four games over so-called deflategate. The Patriots also hit hard, fined $1 million, set to forfeit two draft picks, including their 2016 first round choice. The agent for Tom Brady calls the discipline ridiculous, says there was, quote, "no fairness" in the investigation. He promises to appeal.

Team owner Robert Kraft is also blasting the league, while saying Brady has the Patriot's unwavering support.

CNN's Andy Scholes joins with more.

Four games, two draft picks, a million bucks. Wow. ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Christine, this is big time. The NFL says they're hitting Brady and the Patriots with such a harsh punishment because they must protect the integrity of the game. In a letter to Brady, NFL executive vice president of football operations Troy Vincent said by not cooperating with the Ted Wells investigation, Brady's actions were considered conduct detrimental to the league.

Now, Brady's agent, Don Yee, said they plan to appeal the suspension in a statement. He said, "The discipline is ridiculous and has no legitimate basis. The NFL lacks standards with the handling of footballs prior to games. This is not the fault of Tom or the Patriots. We will appeal."

Vincent's letter to the Patriots mentioned the team's prior record, including the spygate scandal in 2007 as a factor in assessing the discipline. Here's a comparison of the two punishments. The Patriots are the only franchise since 1980 to be stripped of a first round pick. It happened to them twice.

As you can see, the NFL doubling the fine to the Patriots this time around and definitely hitting Tom Brady harder than they did Bill Belichick back when they fine him $250,000.

Now, Patriots owner Robert Kraft released a statement last night in regards to his team's latest punishment, saying, "Today's punishment, referring to deflategate, however, exceeded any reasonable expectation. It was based completely on circumstantial rather than hard or conclusive evidence. Tom Brady has our unconditional support. Our belief in him has not wavered."

Now, reaction to the Brady suspension got mixed reaction on social media. Patriots running back tweeted, "This is absolutely ridiculous. Shaking my head. #patsnation. Stand up."

Cardinals defender Patrick Peterson meanwhile, he said, "Well done, NFL, #deflategate."

While Steve Weatherford, the Giants punter, he tweeted, "Tom Brady suspended four games. That's just ridiculous. They're comparing it to steroid use. Protesterous. What are your thoughts?"

Now, guys, Brady is going to miss the first four games of the next season, barring his appeal. And ironically, the fifth game for the Patriots next year will be against the Indianapolis Colts, who, of course the team that got the deflategate story.

ROMANS: All right. Andy Scholes, thanks for that so much this morning.

BERMAN: Developing this morning, police in Lake Mary, Florida, are expected to release a report that details the Monday shooting that injured George Zimmerman, the man acquitted of murder in the 2013 death of Trayvon Martin says that someone he had been in an ongoing dispute with pulled up along him in traffic and took a shot. The bullet missed Zimmerman, but he was hit in the face by flying glass. The attorney for the shooter Matthew Apperson tells a different story,

saying his client shot at Zimmerman because Zimmerman brandished a gun at him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK NEJAME, MATT APPERSON'S LAWYER: Now, this is good old fashioned self defense. If, in fact, one is in reasonable fear of his life or imminent bodily harm, they have a right, as every state in the country allows, to protect themselves if, in fact, they are threatened.

DON WEST, GEORGE ZIMMERMAN'S LAWYER: This fellow was taunting and yelling at him calling him names. You're going to shoot me now kind of thing, and I don't know where that came from.

[04:05:03] But in any event, when George recognized him and realized who he was and what he was saying, he rolled his window up and decided to get away. Not to provoke it whatsoever. The fellow followed him around the U-turn and then pulled up next to him and shot him. It could have killed him easily, could have killed him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Zimmerman's lawyer denies that his client waved a gun. So far, there'd been no arrest and no charges in this case.

ROMANS: The head of the National Security Agency says ISIS efforts to use the Internet as a weapon against the West, instead of just for recruiting and spreading ideology is a great concern for the NSA. Admiral Mike Roger says his agency is also increasingly worried about ISIS using the web to recruit lone wolf attackers in the U.S.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ADM. MIKE ROGERS, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY: This concern about individuals within the United States increasingly resonated, if you will, with the ideology of ISIL and acting violently, indiscriminately is clearly of great concern. It's something that concerns us. It's a trend that things would suggest is increasing, not decreasing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Rogers told a cyber security forum on Monday that another challenge for the NSA is balancing Americans' need for security with respect for their privacy.

BERMAN: U.S. officials are knocking down recent reports that a leader of ISIS is seriously injured and out of commission. For weeks, media reports have claimed that Abu Bakr al Baghdadi had been hit by a U.S. air strike, suffering spinal damage that left him incapacitated. Now, two U.S. officials tell CNN there is, quote, "no reason to believe that any of that is true."

Following the story for us, senior international correspondent Frederik Pleitgen. Fred, the details, please?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, absolutely, John, certainly is something that from the very beginning was very difficult to corroborate because Abu Bakr al Baghdadi is the ISIS leader who has been secretive. He's only actually been seen in public once, which was the video that we see right now in a mosque in Mosul after the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria took over the area in July of last year. That was the only time he has ever been seen in public.

Now, of course, you have these reports that surfaced in "The Daily Beast" yesterday and also been in some other newspapers in the past couple months that allegedly he had been wounded in an air strike that happened on March 18th, about 200 miles west of Mosul. All of this comes from ISIS defectors who apparently spoke to pro-opposition groups in Turkey and told them all this. They also said that the morale of ISIS was very low. That there are fewer foreign fighters joining ISIS, and that apparently Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, widely seems to be incapacitated physically, can't move very much, is still running day-to-day operations, is still giving orders.

However, that ISIS is now seriously thinking of putting in place someone in his place, a sort of vice leader of the group to try to run the day-to-day operations. But you are absolutely right. This is something the U.S. says it cannot corroborate. It says, first of all, it has no indication that he has been in an air strike, and second of all, they also have no indication that he is not running the day to day operations of ISIS anymore. So, it's something that's difficult to corroborate, but certainly an interesting line again that has been coming out of that area over the past couple of months, John.

BERMAN: All right. Fred Pleitgen for us, covering the comings and goings of Abu Bakr al Baghdadi -- thanks so much, Fred.

ROMANS: All right. Let's get back to our breaking news this morning. Another earthquake hits Nepal. The U.S. Geological Survey reporting this one, magnitude 7.4 earthquake. The USGS says the epicenter near the Nepalese city of Namche is close to the border with China. This one is relatively shallow, about 11 miles deep.

I want to bring in CNN'S Sumnima Udas live in New Delhi. She has just returned from covering the earthquake that happened in April, a 7.8 magnitude quake that had just widespread destruction in the country. Here another one, 7.4.

What do we know?

SUMNIMA UDAS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is the fear a lot of Nepalese had, even after that previous earthquake, is that another big one would strike. So, a lot of people were camping out refusing to go back to homes. Because the aftershocks just kept continuing, even while we were there. We felt three or four aftershocks a day. And a lot of the homes there, even in Kathmandu, the capital, where the capital is very much cracked by the earthquake two and a half weeks ago, and so people were just too scared to go back home or the engineers have said this is unsafe.

So, a lot of people camping out in cities like Kathmandu, presumably the death toll will not be very high because people were already outside. But the epicenter of this right now the USGS is saying around Namche Bazaar which is actually the hub for all the trekkers who want to go to Everest.

[04:10:00] Now, the Everest expedition had been canceled by the Nepali government because of the previous earthquake and avalanches thereafter.

But still, there were a lot of trekkers around Namche, because they can still trek to Everest base camp, and the areas around, but not actually Summit Everest. So, presumably, there were still a lot of trekkers. There were still a lot of Nepalese there. Obviously, Nepalese locals who live in Namche.

We don't know. It's too early to really talk about the impact of this, but there is a lot of concern that this could also be quite big, Christine.

ROMANS: It could be quite big. It could also complicate the rescue and rebuilding which has been slow. Give us a sense of what it is like there before the quake, and from your perspective, having just been there, having just covered it, what this means for the recovery and rebuilding that was already underway.

UDAS: It's just yet another setback really. I mean, Christine, Nepal was just moving into the rehabilitation phase from the search and rescue phase, just starting to rebuild some homes there. They pulled as many survivors as they could, evacuated as many of the injured as they could.

So, they were really just starting to move on. The shops in Kathmandu starting to open. People starting to go back to work -- and now this.

And People were already traumatized by the previous earthquake. So, there was always these rumors. Experts said another big one is coming, the astrologist s as well.

So, this is just another setback, of course in terms of relief operations. You know, the authorities, the army, the police, I'm sure right now are reevaluating, or trying to figure out what the epicenter is and where to go and who could be affected. So, there's much in the early phases. But as you mentioned, they are still trying to manage the disaster that happened two and a half weeks ago and just starting to rebuild and I just starting, and I just saw today, the first home being rebuilt on a post my friend sent.

So, people starting to get their lives together and then now this, Christine.

ROMANS: All right. Thank you for that, Sumnima Udas. We know you're going to get to the phones and work the story and we will get more to you, to our viewers as we learned it. Thank you. BERMAN: I think some of the concerns right now, the epicenter near

Namche, which Sumnima was saying, is that, you know, sort of the gateway to the Himalayas of the trekkers.

ROMANS: Right.

BERMAN: And we know there was an avalanche before. What are the effects this time and sort of the natural disaster associated beyond just the earthquake and also awaiting here more from the Kathmandu, that city which obviously felt it as well. There were some building collapses.

I was just reading tweets about people taking to the streets, obviously very scared of what's going on.

ROMANS: It felt all the way in New Delhi, 7.4. Nothing to mess around with, right around 7.8 just a couple of weeks ago.

All right. Thirteen minutes past the hour. Time for an early start on your money this morning.

European shares are lower. The latest talks between Greece and its E.U. creditors failed to reach an agreement. Greece facing a cash crunch to repay an IMF debt today. U.S. stock futures are down too. Yesterday, stocks pulled back. The Down fell 86, a lot of people talking about a rise in bond yields around the world, a quick rise in bond yields, just some dislocation, one big asset class tends to hurt the stock market. We'll watch that very, very closely this morning.

Also watching Google self driving cars. They have been in 11 accidents in the last six years. According to a Google blog post, they were all minor, limited damage, no injuries. Self driving car was never the cause of the accident. In some cases, the person inside had taken control. In others, the self driving car was rear-ended or sideswiped.

Now, Google says these cars could potentially save thousands of lives a year from fatal, from traffic fatalities, also really save a lot of time and productivity, that the cars are more efficient. Interesting to see they are on the road and what is really happening out there. So, some accidents, but not the fault of the car.

BERMAN: Strange looking vehicle.

ROMANS: The fault of the bad human.

BERMAN: Bad humans, always the fault of a bad human.

All right. We are following breaking news this morning -- a new earthquake in Nepal, 7.4 magnitude, the potential devastation. We are getting new information from that country now.

Plus, storm damage here in the United States: new information on the toll that the severe storms have taken across this country. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:17:16] ROMANS: Updating our breaking news this morning. The U.S. Geological Survey has revised the size of the earthquake in Nepal this morning. That earthquake is 7.4, down to 7.3. Still a very strong earthquake, 7.3 is the revised magnitude.

The epicenter reported to be near the Nepalese city of Namche, close to the border with China. This is about 11 miles deep. There are reports of buildings collapsing, buildings that had been damaged by a quake on April 23rd. Now, those buildings once damaged collapsing. Tremors felt as far away as New Delhi.

BERMAN: Of course, 8,000 people died from the quake that hit Nepal on April 25th. That country is still recovering. The new quake in the city of Namche. Namche is sort of the gateway to the Himalayans region right now. There is concern there could be people who are trekking out near there. No words yet any of avalanches or the like, which happened on Everest.

So, we are getting more information -- 7.3 magnitude quake. Very strong. We will bring you the information as soon as we get it.

In the meantime, we are learning the toll of the severe storms that hit so much of the U.S. Five people killed. Dozens more injured. More than 70 tornadoes tore up parts of the plains and also Midwest.

ROMANS: Yes, take a look at the damage inflicted by an EF-3 tornado in Van, Texas. We told you yesterday, 24 hours ago, we were talking about the storms rolling through Van. That's what it looked like.

Look at this. It left more than 40 people injured. Eight people were missing in the east Texas town. But they are all accounted for now.

And look at the 45-foot wide sink hole that opened up in a parking lot of a north Texas grocery store. It is 40-feet deep. Heavy rains are being blamed all over the Lone Star State. People are struggling to pick up the pieces.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was loud, man, real loud. The only thing I can think of. Just sounded like a jet engine above your head. You could not open your eyes because there was so much dust flying around.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When you find out everybody's OK, you thank god for your blessings. Everything else is possessions. We can rebuild.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: It will take weeks to clean up in Van, Texas. It tore up Main Street on Sunday, ripping roofs off homes and a local high school. Power lines and trees are still down all over that town.

ROMANS: In Arkansas, storm damage there extensive as well. Most devastating loss is a couple in a tiny town of Nashville killed in their homes shielding their 18-month-old daughter when the tornado hit. The child found alive near the bodies of her parents.

People in that town now trying to put their lives back together.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[04:20:00] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It has been bad. I don't know I have seen this damage in Nashville since I have been in the department here for over 17 years.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: All right. There's more severe weather in the forecast for today. So, let's bring in meteorologist Pedram Javaheri -- Pedram.

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hey, good morning, guys.

Yes, tropical storm Ana, when it made landfall across portions of the Carolinas, North Carolina in particular, tremendous rainfall. Heaviest of which stayed offshore. It picked up 4 to 6 inches around areas of costal North Carolina, and that was the trend with that storm system.

But I want to take you in towards the northeast, because take a look at this -- here is what is left of Ana, right offshore of New York City. Here comes the front that caused all the tornadoes across Texas in the past 24 hours. The feature was kind of scatter about thunderstorms around say, northern Vermont and Burlington, and, of course, what is left of Ana, it will bring this scattered showers in Rhode Island.

At this point, we do have dense fog advisories in place this morning. Visibility less than a half mile in New York City, while wet weather still around southern Texas. Pretty tremendous thunderstorms across extreme southern Texas. In fact, we had radar estimated rainfall towards a five-plus inches per hour over that region so the eastern half of Texas, flood watches, warnings in effect over this region.

And take a look. Models over the next five days bring in another flooding potential across Abilene, Midland, and also Dallas with at least 3 inches of rainfall in the forecast -- guys.

BERMAN: All right. Our thanks to Pedram for that. Happening right now, Secretary of State John Kerry in a high stakes meeting with the Russian President Vladimir Putin. We are live in Russia, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:25:04] ROMANS: Welcome back.

U.S. officials say Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian President Vladimir Putin meet face-to-face in Sochi this morning. The first meeting since the crisis in Ukraine erupted. And there's a lot of the agenda, including the upheaval in Yemen and Syria and nuclear talks with Iran.

CNN senior international correspondent Matthew Chance live for us this morning in Moscow.

I think it's fair to say the relations with the two nations have been strained over the past year or 13 months. What's on the agenda for this meeting?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, those strains are bound to be discussed in this meeting since 2013 of the sitting U.S. official inside Russia. John Kerry will be meeting the Russian President Vladimir Putin at some point later today, though an exact time hasn't been given yet.

Look, these are the things on the agenda that the real tensions between Russia and the U.S. right now. It's about the crisis in Ukraine, the sanctions that the U.S. and others have imposed against Russia for its alleged military involvement in Ukraine.

Other issues like NATO expansion, that these have sunk relations between Moscow and Washington to post cold war lows. So, it's absolutely crucial the two countries to get together at this very high level and trying to hammer out their differences, or at least trying forge some kind of working relationship because a working relationship with Russia and the United States is essential for global security.

There are whole areas where they still cooperate despite tensions. You mentioned some of them before. You know, the situation in Syria, the situation in Iran. Without Russia, the U.S. would not have got so close to getting Iran to the negotiating table and getting a deal over its controversial nuclear program.

They need the Russians as well for cooperation of U.N. Security Council over some kind of a resolution on Yemen as well. And so, there are whole areas where they need to cooperate and they need to and try to get a normal working relationship started again.

ROMANS: A normal working relationship after a very, very tough year for those two countries.

Matthew Chance in Moscow, thank you.

BERMAN: All right. We do have breaking news this morning. A new earthquake has hit Nepal, 7.3 magnitude. A strong, strong quake and shallow as well.

We are trying to get reports of damage to find out what's going on there. This could be very, very damaging to a country that does not need this. We'll have new information right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)