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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

NSA Spy Program Expires; Iran Nuclear Negotiations: New Obstacles; Biden Family Grieves Loss of Son; 92-Year-Old Cancer Survivor Finishes Marathon. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired June 01, 2015 - 05:00   ET

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

[05:00:19] JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking overnight, the NSA domestic surveillance program -- it is over for now. A dramatic night in the Senate, but you know, the debate not completely over yet. We'll have the details ahead.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: A surprising new obstacle to a nuclear deal with Iran: a broken leg. Secretary of State John Kerry coming home after a major bike accident. What his femur mean for diplomacy?

BERMAN: And the life of Beau Biden cut tragically short. New remembrances pouring in to the vice president and his family. What a huge tragedy.

Good morning, everyone. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm John Berman.

ROMANS: I'm Christine Romans. It is Monday, June 1st. It is 5:00 a.m. in the East.

Let's start with our breaking news overnight. Key terror programs run by the NSA expired at midnight, after the Senate could not reach agreement Sunday on extending legal authority to continue them. Instead, Senate leaders are dropping their opposition any changes in existing programs and are setting up a vote later this week on surveillance reforms already passed by the U.S. House.

CNN's Athena Jones has the latest from Capitol Hill.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John and Christine.

Several provisions of the Patriot Act expire just a few hours ago at midnight because the Senate failed to pass a bill to extend the law.

Take a listen to some of the debate from the Senate floor last night from the two Republican senators from Kentucky, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell who spoke in favor of these programs, and Senator Rand Paul who spoke in opposition. Take a listen.

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY), MAJORITY LEADER: These aren't theoretical threats, Mr. President. It's not theoretical threat. They are with us every day. We have to face up to them. We shouldn't be disarming unilaterally as our enemies grow more sophisticated and aggressive.

SEN. RAND PAUL (R-KY), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The people who argue the world will end and we are overrun by jihadists. They want to take a little bit of your liberty, but they get it by making you afraid. They want you to fear and give up your liberty.

JONES: In the end, by a vote of 77-17, the Senate did agree to proceed to debate on the USA Freedom Act. That's the bill that already passed the House, that would keep these Patriot Act programs going while reforming the phone data collection program that's been so controversial. This sets up the vote for final passage around mid- week in the Senate, that's because of some Senate procedural rules and also some amendments that may end up being voted on.

Now, of course, if they amend that USA Freedom Act, that passed that House, if they change it, it's going to have to go back to the House so that they can consider these changes. So, this is far from over -- John, Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: Athena, time for some more grumbling in Congress, to be sure.

New tributes have been pouring in overnight to the vice president's family for the loss of his son Beau Biden. The former attorney general of Delaware died Saturday of brain cancer. Beau Biden was just 46 years old. He was an Iraq war vet. Many people thought he was due to run for governor of Delaware.

Beau Biden was praised over the weekend by prominent Democrats, including the Clinton family, prominent Republicans including Sarah Palin, and by the president and first lady. The White House canceled an event it planned for Sunday so the president and first lady could go to the Biden's home to spend with them in this moment.

Our national security correspondent Sunlen Serfaty has more now from the White House.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, John and Christine, the vice president was at his son's bedside when he passed away on Saturday evening, as well as the rest of his family. And over the years, the vice president's office, they've been very limited in their details of what illness Beau Biden was suffering, really keeping the details close to their vests, only recently revealing when he passed away on Saturday evening that he did have brain cancer.

He first became sick in 2010 when he had a stroke. In 2013, we know he was diagnosed then with cancer when he became disoriented on vacation and later had surgery to remove a brain lesion. Two weeks ago, Beau Biden was admitted to Walter Reed Military Hospital, which is just outside of D.C. And in the time since, there has been an outpouring of support from Washington.

This is how they opened up the Senate floor last night. MCCONNELL: Beau Biden was known to many as a dedicated public

servant, a loving father of two, and a devoted partner to the women he loved, Hallie.

SEN. HARRY REID (D), NEVADA: Delaware is a better place because of Beau. Our country is in better place because of Beau. And the world is a better place because of Beau Biden.

SERFATY: Beau Biden is actually the second child of Joe Biden that had passed away.

[05:05:01] He lost his 1-year-old daughter in a car accident in the 1970s. So, sadly, he has been through this tragedy of losing a child before.

President Obama says he is grieving along with the Biden family, saying of Vice President Joe Biden, quote, "Joe is one of the strongest men we've ever known. He is as strong as they come and nothing matters to him more than family. It's one of the things we love about him. And it is a testament to Joe and Jill, to who they are, that Beau lived a life that was full, a life that mattered, a life that reflected their reverence for family."

And President Obama and the first lady spent time with the Biden family on Sunday. He spent about 30 minutes at their home here in Washington, D.C. -- John and Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right. Sunlen Serfaty, thank you for that. Certainly, such a sad -- just a sad story.

All right. Five minutes past the hour.

Overnight, John Kerry's doctor jumped on a plane to Switzerland. He Surgeon Dennis Burke will accompany the secretary of state when he returns to the United States later today. Kerry broke his leg while cycling on Sunday. Kerry was in Switzerland for nuclear talks with Iran's foreign minister. He was supposed to attend a Tuesday meeting in Paris on the fight against ISIS.

Now, the secretary of state faces up to six months of rehab for a broken femur.

Let's turn to senior international correspondent Nic Robertson on the phone from Geneva.

You know, already, Nic, this injury is affecting his work schedule.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Absolutely. Secretary Kerry was brought by helicopter from about 30 miles away from France where he had the biking accident negotiating a curb. We are told to be at university hospital in Geneva. The immediate instinct appear to be that he wanted to get on the plane and get back home as soon as possible. That was changed. A medical plane was made available, that was brought in. It appears the doctors here have decided he needed to stay overnight.

His surgeon who performed the hip replacement surgery which is in his right hip, which is close, we understand to where the fracture in his right femur, his thigh bone, has taken place. Clearly decided to put a break on diplomatic activities, telling him it appears that he is better off staying in the hospital tonight.

Secretary Kerry is obviously the key player in the talks with Iran, the negotiations. The deadline for talks with many issues still unresolved such as sanctions, such as inspections systems. The deadline is now 30 days away.

Secretary Kerry's relationship with the Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif, his negotiating partner, has been critical to the talks. Both men have experts on their team to deal with any number of the technical details involved in the issues, but it is Secretary Kerry's reading of Zarif, his understanding and knowing when he can push further concessions, knowing when he is reaching a line, knowing when perhaps Zarif is bluffing and it is important to move the talks forward. That personal relationship is not something that can easily be replaced by a deputy standing in for Secretary Kerry.

We understand that an injury to a femur of this nature, for somebody of Secretary Kerry's age can take a period of recovery. So, we don't know yet the extent of the injury and when he may be able to travel again and to get involved personally in the very, very important and critical negotiations. But it's not the thing anyone would want or expecting to happen right now, Christine.

ROMANS: You mentioned the age of the secretary of state is 71 years old, and obviously, a very active and fit person. But a femur, that is a significant injury. No question.

Nic Robertson, thanks for that, Nic.

BERMAN: John Kerry likes to be involved in diplomacy. Some people have said too personally involved. You can bet this will set him back in the type of missions he likes to perform.

ROMANS: I can bet he is frustrated. He's got a lot of work to do. That's sideline he didn't want to have.

BERMAN: All right. Eight minutes after the hour right now.

Hillary Clinton's two declared challengers for the Democratic nomination both now on the campaign trail. Former Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley, he christened his Des Moines headquarters on Saturday, taking questions from a lot of people packed into that room. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders drew overflow crowds across the state.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The United States of America for public colleges and public universities, tuition will be free. MARTIN O'MALLEY (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm most comfortable

actually as an underdog. When I ran for mayor, I was -- my two opponents both had name recognition north of 80 percent, and I was first choice of a whopping 7 percent of my neighbors.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: He is comfortable. He is sitting right now in a giant La-Z- Boy of politics, because while Bernie Sanders is drawing about 15 percent in the polls, Hillary Clinton about 60, Martin O'Malley right now barely registers.

ROMANS: Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush says he hopes to run for president, though he says he still has not made a decision. Bush is battling accusations he is violating campaign laws by using his super PAC to raise cash for his as-yet undeclared bid for the White House.

[05:10:05] Here is what he said on CBS "Face the Nation."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BOB SCHIEFFER, FACE THE NATION: Do you think you may be violated the spirit of the law? Do you feel that you violated the law here?

JEB BUSH (R), FORMER FLORIDA GOVERNOR: Of course not. I would never do that. I'm nearing the end of the journey of traveling and listening to people, garnering and trying to get a sense of whether my candidacy would be viable or not. We're going to completely adhere to the law.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Bush went on to slam President Barack Obama's plan to defeat ISIS. He said the U.S. should embed troops to train and identify targets.

BERMAN: Lindsey Graham is going to announce a bid for the White House later today. The South Carolina senator will become the ninth official candidate in the fight for the Republican nomination that is on top of others including Jeb Bush who are basically running without saying it out loud or using real words. Senator Graham is considered a long shot by many. The three-term senator typically draws about 2 percent or less in national polls.

ROMANS: From politics to money, sometimes there's a difference. The stocks are up around the world this morning. Asian and Europe stocks are mostly higher. So are U.S. stock futures. Looks like a good start to June so far. On Friday, stocks finished May with solid gains. Dow and S&P climbed 1 percent. The NASDAQ rose 2.6 percent.

Something to watch this week, folks, OPEC ministers will meet in Vienna for the second time since prices plunge last summer. The likely outcome, probably keep production the same. That's the conventional wisdom here.

The U.S. oil boom is driving oil prices down. But now growth is starting to fade and oil prices have rebounded, from $45 a barrel to $60. So, OPEC likely to keep output high even if it means cheaper oil.

There's jobs report this week, a lot of data. June is supposed to be the month that the Fed was going to start raising interest rates. It doesn't look that's going to happen now. So, every piece of data is going to be so scrutinized. I think you could have volatile stock markets.

BERMAN: Excellent. We'll watch.

ROMANS: All right. Happening now, Iraq is increasing their attacks in the fight against ISIS. We are live with the latest, ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:15:09] BERMAN: All right. This morning, Iraqi troops are hitting an ISIS stronghold hard. This weekend marks some of the heaviest fighting in that region. Air and artillery attacks on Fallujah and surrounding villages. Witnesses tell CNN at least 30 people have been killed, another 82 wounded.

While that's going on in Iraq, officials are now concerned that ISIS is gaining ground in Libya.

CNN's international correspondent Ian Lee with the latest now -- Ian.

IAN LEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: John, that's right. ISIS is feeling the full force of the Iraqi military as they unleash air strikes and artillery outside of Fallujah. It has been slow go for most of the part as ISIS had the roadside bombs, these mines they laid down to slow down the Iraqi forces. They have killed some people, but for the most part, we are seeing engineers from the Iraqi security forces disarming them.

This taking place not only outside of Fallujah, but also in Salaheddin province near the Baiji oil refinery where Iraqi forces are trying to cut off the supply lines between Salaheddin province and Anbar province. Then there again, slow going as is has dug in.

But as we have seen in the past, the air strikes are crucial. They are what finally destroyed ISIS in Tikrit. And so, we are going to see more of those.

Now, when you shift over to Libya, that has a lot of Western diplomats very concerned. We are seeing ISIS not at the same pace as we have seen in Syria and Iraq take territory, but they are expanding what they have.

And to give you an idea of the threat that this does pose, you have Europe that just lies 200 to 300 miles from Libya. Western diplomats afraid that an ISIS fighter could get in these boats of migrants that have been going to Europe and stage an attack that way.

Here in Cairo, the government has been calling for a more firm approach to the threat in Libya calling for a military action. Western governments so far are hoping that a political solution can come through with the different factions that they can unite to defeat ISIS -- John.

BERMAN: Ian Lee for us in Cairo this morning -- thanks so much, Ian.

ROMANS: U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter saying he will find whoever is responsible for the mistaken live anthrax shipments to the 11 states and Australia and South Korea, that he will hold them accountable. He says Pentagon is working with the Centers for Disease Control to address the problem. Four lab workers in Delaware, Texas and Wisconsin are taking antibiotics as a precaution. The Pentagon is giving preventative antibiotics to 22 workers in Korea.

BERMAN: Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert is expected to face a judge this week on charges of lying to the FBI. A federal law enforcement official has confirmed to CNN the 73-year-old former high school wrestling coach and teacher allegedly paid off a male student he sexually abuse in the 1980s.

Hastert is facing a federal indictment, accusing him of paying this alleged victim more than $1 million over the last four years. He was actually with illegal bank withdrawals, trying to cover up bank withdrawals. The indictment also says that the FBI -- he lied to the FBI about taking out these large sums of cash to essentially buy that man's silence.

People in Texas reeling from devastation caused by widespread flooding last week. Look at that. Many areas still submerged. Those are amazing pictures.

ROMANS: Just remarkable.

BERMAN: Thousands of homes have been destroyed. Officials say enough rain fell in the month of May to cover the entire state to the depth of 8 inches. The attorney general of Texas is to expected today in one of the hard hit areas, Hays County, to assess the damage. He is going to promise to protect victims from disaster scams and price gouging.

ROMANS: Fortunately, the weather in Texas is expected to improve this week. That should help with the clean up. But now, the Northeast facing its own flood threat stretching from Maine to New York.

Let's bring in meteorologist Derek Van Dam for an early look at your weather.

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good Monday morning, John and Christine.

Here is a fine how do you do -- 20 degree temperature change from this time yesterday. Look at these daytime highs for New York, 66 compared to yesterday's 87. We are talking 20 to 25 degrees in some locations. Providence up to Boston.

Obviously, we have some sort of system moving through. This low pressure will bring rain to the New England coast including the Big Apple, all the way to Boston, expect a quarter to even upwards of an inch of rainfall. Cooler weather settling in.

We remove rainfall from the Plain States. That's good news. Texas gets the opportunity to dry out. We have this active weather pattern that's instead going to bring the rainfall to the East Coast. In fact, we have flash flood watches for the greater New York City region stretching through parts of Connecticut.

[05:20:01] We also have a chilly morning in store already felt across northern Michigan and into the U.P. of Michigan. Those parts of Wisconsin and Minnesota. Look at these overnight lows. Marquette, Michigan, dropping to 40 degrees overnight.

Back to you.

ROMANS: That's just insulting.

BERMAN: Insulting?

ROMANS: That's just insulting, 40 degrees is insulting. I'm sorry, Marquette. I'm sorry.

BERMAN: All right. Twenty minutes after the hour.

You feel like running a marathon today? Probably not old enough. That woman right there, she is 92.

ROMANS: I love her.

BERMAN: Look at her go? That most -- this is not even the most impressive thing she has done, folks. This is a story you will not want to miss.

Coy Wire has the details in the bleacher report, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: All right. Best story ever alert. A 92-year-old cancer survivor is rewriting the history books, becoming the oldest woman to finish a marathon.

ROMANS: Coy Wire has more on her amazing story in the bleacher report.

Boy, nobody has excuses for anything after hearing this story.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely right. Good morning. You know it is motivation Monday. If you are not pumped up already, this will get you there.

Harriette Thompson from Charlotte, North Carolina, a two time cancer survivor who recently lost her husband to the terrible disease, it didn't stop Harriette though. It took her only seven hours and 24 to finish the Rock and Roll marathon in San Diego on Sunday.

This was her 16th time running a marathon. She even battled a staph infection while running this race. [05:25:05] And if that's not impressive enough, listen to this, guys,

she is a classically trained pianist. She played three times at Carnegie Hall.

She's a big thinker, too. Listen to this.

(BGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIETTE THOMPSON, OLDEST WOMAN TO FINISH MARATHON: I have lofty ideas, really lofty. I keep thinking, I wonder if I will be able to finish this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: And if you are wondering how she finishes these long distances, Harriette says she plays old piano pieces in her head while she is running. Motivation Monday. You go, girl.

All right. To baseball, and speaking of marathons -- Diamondbacks, the Brewers and fans had to go 17 innings. Little known back up catcher Martin Maldonado steps up the plate, hits the ball like he's talking bad about his mama, he goes deep, finally put an end to this one. Maldonado's first career walk-off homer. That capped off the longest game ever played in Miller Park in Milwaukee. Brewers win, 7- 6.

Unto NASCAR and in Dover, Delaware. Check out, Carl Edwards, he is trying to leave the pits. He drags a crew member who has a wrench attached to the car. Crazy situation. But he would be OK.

At the end of the race, it was Jimmie Johnson who took the checkered flag. His tenth win at Dover. That makes him only the fifth driver in history to win ten or more sprint cup races at one track.

All right. Johnny Manziel made news again this weekend, guys, and not for football. He was watching the PGA Tour's Byron Nelson Classical on Saturday, and according to multiple reports, an 18-year-old was harassing Manziel to the point where Johnny threw a water bottle at him. The guy followed him around the course, followed him to the pool, finally Manziel said that is enough.

Security and police intervened. No charges were filed by either men, guys.

I don't know if you want to talk about that for a second, but how about Harriette Thompson? I mean, unbelievable, right?

BERMAN: So, I've actually run a couple of marathons. One of them, I was carried across the finish line and given an I.V. because I was so messed up. That woman crossed the finish line and said, hey, here I am. I'm smiling. Nothing wrong with me.

ROMANS: Took Berman 11 hours to do his. She did it in 7.

BERMAN: She's amazing.

WIRE: Outstanding. Some people just get all the talent, guys.

ROMANS: Piano pieces in her head. I mean, wow, what a great lady.

OK. Thanks, Coy.

BERMAN: Thanks, Coy.

WIRE: You're welcome, guys.

BERMAN: All right. Breaking overnight: the NSA's controversial surveillance program, it has expired. The Congress, after a strange weekend, and heated week of debates, failed to extend it. Does it mean it is over for good? No, folks, more to come, details next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)