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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Boston Terror Investigation; Search for Survivors; FIFA's President Steps Down Amidst Scandal. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired June 03, 2015 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:17] JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Terror investigation in Boston. Law enforcement opens fire on a man believed to have had ties to ISIS, watched by investigators for more than a year. This morning, a new arrest connected to the case. We have these new details ahead.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Time running out for the desperate search for survivors of a deadly cruise ship crash. Hundreds are still missing this morning. We are live with the latest.

BERMAN: A stunning corruption scandal. FIFA's president now stepped down just days after he was re-elected. So, why about the face, what about the United States, what happened in the last few days that sent Sepp Blatter running. We're live.

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

ROMANS: I'm Christine Romans. Nice to see you all this morning. It is Wednesday, June 3rd. It is 4:00 a.m. in the East.

Breaking overnight, police have arrested one man in Massachusetts and search a home in Rhode Island. Law enforcement says both are connected to a man the FBI thinks was radicalized by ISIS. A man shot and killed by Boston police on Tuesday. Boston police officials say the 26-year-old Usaama Rahim lunged at officers with a foot-long knife. Rahim's family tells a radically different story.

National correspondent Deborah Feyerick has the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: John and Christine, investigators from the Joint Terrorism Task Force have this man on radar and under surveillance most recently around the clock because of what they describe as an alarming uptick in his activity.

Now, he was being investigated for possible threats against police officers. Two members of the Joint Terrorism Task Force approached him only Tuesday morning. They did not have their guns drawn and were surprised when he turned and brandished a military-style knife.

Now, they repeatedly ordered the man identified as Usaama Rahim to drop the knife, he refused and then begun moving towards hem. That's when police say the two officers fired a shot, one hitting Rahim in the torso, another in the abdomen. Now, his brother is giving a very different account of what happened, saying that his brother was simply waiting for a bus to go to work when he was confronted by several officers who engaged in a conversation.

Apparently, Rahim, according to the brother, made a phone call to their father who actually heard the shots. The brother making that call because he needed, in his words, a witness for what was going on.

Now, authorities say that he wasn't going to be arrested, that he wasn't even going to be taken in for questioning but they did want to see what he was going and where he was doing, and that's why they decided to engage him. This is now all under investigation. There are surveillance tapes from CVS, where this whole thing happened. And those surveillance tapes are going to be shown to local area imams and leaders in the community.

Police questioning two associates, they believe who were in communication with Rahim, they believe Rahim was radicalized online by ISIS and other extremist elements.

Right now, all of this under investigation -- Christine, John.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: All right. Thanks to Deb Feyerick for that.

Happening now, the Iraqi government more or less begging for help in the fight against ISIS. At a meeting in Paris of the U.S.-led coalition against ISIS, Iraq's Prime Minister Haider al Abadi complained that his forces had received more promises than actual support. This as the U.S. State Department Twitter feed accused the Assad regime of Syria of actually aiding ISIS with air strikes, that as militants advance on the key see of Aleppo in northern Syria.

We have CNN's Ian Lee tracking the events for us.

Ian, what's the latest?

IAN LEE, CNN REPORTER: Well, John, we're hearing right now that in the city of Ramadi, that ISIS is stopping or slowing the water coming from the dam, which would create a humanitarian crisis, in the cities, the government-controlled cities, downstream of Khalidiya and Habbaniya. We're hearing that water is cut off from the Euphrates.

And there's a couple of reason why we're hearing it. One side, they're saying, you know, it's greatest humanitarian crisis. But on the other, ISIS is going to use that to their strategic advantage to be able to move around a lot easier, around those government- controlled cities.

So, this will -- obviously, there's thousands of refugees who have left Ramadi. They're held up in these areas. That's going to create a problem there. But when we go and sits towards Paris, we had the prime minister asking for more support from the international community, more specifically, for aerial surveillance, so that they can monitor and strike ISIS as they move around. [04:05:05] Ramadi is a city that is surrounded by desert. And even though ISIS used civilians as cover, it should be fairly easy to find them at times and strike them but the U.S. government has said that the path right now, the strategy for militarily and politically is working that they should stick with it.

So, there was a unified approach to defeating ISIS just the way forward was not as unified, John.

BERMAN: Interesting. They say the process as is, it's working. It just needs more time. It keeps working like this, who knows how far ISIS will get?

Thanks, Ian.

ROMANS: All right. Crews are struggling this morning to find new survivors among the 458 people aboard the Chinese cruise ship that capsized in a storm on the Yangtze River. Almost two days after the disaster, the count of people rescued, still just 15. Hopes are dimming that more can be found alive.

CNN's Anna Coren standing by with the latest on the rescue and the recovery efforts.

Good morning, Anna.

ANNA COREN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Hi, Christine.

Another survivor was found this morning, taking that number to 15, as you say, but it's such a small number compared to those on the ship, 458 in total. And rescuers are desperately searching for any more survivors. Divers going through the compartments of the ship -- remember, this is a four-story ship, 75 meters long, 13 meters wide. So, they have a lot of area to cover.

They're also working to get through the hull of the ship in certain areas, but at the same time, keep it buoyant, keep it afloat. It is in 15 meters of water. So, so many challenges, as well as the currents, they're very strong.

So, they have teams on boats scouring the Yangtze River, looking for any bodies that may have washed downstream. So, this is a massive operation involving thousands of rescuers.

Another piece of situation that we're learning actually from the transport ministry, through its websites, that tracks the movements of ships, is that minutes before the tornado struck the Eastern Star, it did make a dramatic turn. And it would seem that that certainly took place before it capsized, if we go, you know, according to the transport ministry's official timing. But we don't know whether it was the actions of the captain or the crew on board, whether there was some malfunction on the ship or whether it was the result of weather.

But, this, of course, Christine, was part of the ongoing investigation that went so terribly wrong on the Yangtze River. ROMANS: Anna, only 15 people recovered so far, 15 survivors, 400

people -- we saw for a long time yesterday, we were watching those images of workers tapping on the hull, trying to see if there were survivors inside.

Is there any criticism of the government over the relief efforts at this moment? So few people are found alive so far. In fact, you know, they didn't know that the ship had capsized until one of the survivors had actually swam to shore to alert people. It took a while to get there.

COREN: Yes, it took several hours, obviously, the families distraught, but very angry. And they have been voicing their angst at the government and also the tour operator, saying they've learned information about the capsize -- about what's happened since through the media. They feel that they haven't been, you know, informed, that the government has not been transparent.

In saying that, the Chinese premier, Li Keqiang, he has been on site, he's not there anymore but he certainly was very early on in this search and rescue operation, and he took charge to say every effort must be made to save lives.

But as we know, this is China, they stage-manage this event. They control the flow of information. And certainly, the media is being held back and told where they can go and what they can report.

So, obviously, figures are changing. It is still fluid. There are so many people on the scene, looking for these bodies, looking for any survivors but as we know, there's definitely a race against the clock.

ROMANS: Yes, they are. Anna Coren, thank you so much for that this morning from Hong Kong.

BERMAN: New this morning: the National Security Agency is losing its authority to store the bulk collection of Americans' phone records. President Obama signed the USA Freedom Act last night following weeks of congressional drama, in a 67-32 Senate vote. The compromise bill restores some NSA surveillance program that expired over the weekend.

But within six months, they will need a special court order to get those records. Those records will be held by the phone companies, not by the NSA.

ROMANS: Add the Pentagon to a growing list of location that's may have received a shipment of live anthrax.

[04:10:00] The Pentagon's police force received a shipment of what was supposed to be dead anthrax from a Utah lab from one of three lots that have now been shown to contain live anthrax. It's believed up to a dozen states and facilities in Canada, South Korea and Australia, received shipments, some of them via FedEx dating back to 2007.

BERMAN: Evidence from the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog that Iran's stockpile has actually grown during the country's intra-nuclear agreements is not an obstacle to a full deal, at least that's what a senior official is saying. A senior Iranian diplomat calls the increase a technical issue and says the stockpile will decrease by the end of the month.

While that's going on, Secretary of State John Kerry who is spearheading the talks is expected to begin walking as soon as today, after having surgery to set his broken right leg. The surgery took four hours.

The administration claims the injury will not slow down the negotiations on Iran.

More than 10 million people have signed up for Obamacare. That is according to the Department of Health and Human Services. That number, though, could be in jeopardy, depending on a Supreme Court ruling due later this month. The vast majority of Obamacare customers depend on federal tax credits to help buy that insurance. More than 6 million people could lose those subsidies if the court rules against tax credits and states that rely on the federal health insurance marketplace.

ROMANS: And those tax credits I would say is one of the legs of the three legs of the stool that hold up the entire system.

BERMAN: It's the stool.

ROMANS: It is the most important part, though. That's going to be difficult.

All right. A shocking turn in soccer's corruption scandal. FIFA's once defiant president, he is stepping down, under investigation. New developments, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: So, just days after he was re-elected, a stunning about-face by Sepp Blatter who announced that he will step down as the president of FIFA, the world governing body of soccer. This, of course, coming on the heels of the sweeping indictments alleging corruption at the highest levels of FIFA.

[04:15:05] And as the U.S. Justice Department confirms, that Blatter himself is being investigated.

CNN international sports anchor Amanda Davies joins us in Zurich.

And, Amanda, the question is, you know, Sepp Blatter on Friday was bragging he's going to lead FIFA into the future. And now, on Tuesday, I'm gone. So what happened in four days?

AMANDA DAVIES, CNN INTERNATIONAL SPORTS ANCHOR: Yes, how quickly things can change in football and how quickly this story has been developing, really, since it broke with those raids here in Zurich a week ago, last Wednesday morning.

And the feeling is, really, that Sepp Blatter who up to this point has been the great survivor of world football, the pressure just got too great. Not only after those two federal investigation, the one in the United States and the one here in Switzerland.

But also the added pressure from the success, really, of his opponent's in Friday's election, Prince Ali, the barrage of questioning that Blatter received in Saturday morning's press conference, and then switching through to yesterday where the allegations started engulfing his number two, the general secretary, Jerome Valcke, about what he knew and what role in he played in that payment of the $10 million to South Africa to CONCACAF surrounding the 2010 World Cup.

The FBI have confirmed their investigations do continue into Sepp Blatter. People have been adding two and two together have said that that is obviously why he chose to step down, in such dramatic fashion. But we have heard his statement from his daughter correspond Corinne which said his decision has nothing to do with the accusations that are currently circulating.

But Sepp Blatter said he has no doubt there's more bad days to come, which is we'll have to wait and see what those bad days are.

BERMAN: Yes, nothing to do with the investigation, nothing to see here, curious to say the least.

Amanda Davies, what a story. Thanks so much.

ROMANS: Corporate sponsors relieved by Blatter's sponsors. Major sponsors including Visa, Adidas, Anheuser-Busch, McDonald's, Coca- Cola, all voicing approval that he's out. These companies have been in the top spot in the last few days, raising concerns or even threatening FIFA that none actually pulled any money. Adidas and Visa pay an average $32 million a year for their partnership with FIFA. Coca-Cola, McDonald's and Budweiser pay $19 million each.

Quick check of your money this morning. U.S. stock futures up. There's a lot weighing on the market, with high-stake negotiations over Greece's debt. There's a Friday deadline and there's a big jobs report this week. So, we'll be looking very closely for any hints and clues for how well job growth is proceeding here.

New clues this morning linking suspect Daron Wint to the murders of three members of the wealthy Washington, D.C. family and their housekeeper. Authorities say forensic analysis matched traces of blood found on his shoe when he was arrested to at least one of the murder victims. Investigators have said they do not believe Daron Wint acted alone. So far, no one else has been charged in connection with those killings.

BERMAN: The accused Colorado movie theater gunman is not expected to testify at this trial, but jurors heard more from James Holmes in court on Tuesday. Prosecutors played video of this interview a psychiatrist, in which Holmes said he tried calling a crisis hot line before the shootings and was disconnected. Holmes is charged with kill 12 people and wounding 70 in the theater shooting. The prosecution is seeking the death penalty. The defense claims that Holmes was insane. ROMANS: After showing declines of violent crimes for years, some of

the U.S.'s biggest cities are now seeing increase. In Los Angeles, the crime rate is up 25 percent this year. In New York City, the number of murders has increased 15 percent, leaving the mayor to defend his crime-fighting record.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO (D), NEW YORK CITY: There has been, obviously, an uptick in homicides and shootings. It is something we take very, very seriously. It's something we're addressing right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Mayor De Blasio says public safety is his number one priority.

Meantime in Baltimore, following the death of Freddie Gray, there were more homicides in May than any single month since 1971.

BERMAN: Politics now in the Sunshine State. The still officially undeclared but actually running Jeb Bush, not seen right there. That's Governor Rick Scott, he went to Florida to get home field advantage in his discussion about his Republican rivals. He addressed an economic summit in Orlando on Tuesday. And the former Florida governor took aim at Rand Paul on the issue of national security. So, former Governor Jeb Bush also discussed his, as he called it, friend, Marco Rubio.

[04:20:03] Rubio suggested in the video message to the summit that Republicans need to elect younger leaders.

ROMANS: I'm always wondering at this stage of the game, it's so difficult, because at one point, you might want to work for that person if the person wins the presidency, you know what I mean? But how do you go after each other but also make sure that you don't hurt those ties?

BERMAN: Marco Rubio can't work for Jeb Bush. He couldn't be his running mate at least, because they're both from Florida.

ROMANS: That's right. Interesting. He could be in cabinet, potentially.

BERMAN: I suppose so.

ROMANS: OK, but guess what? There's a pretty crowded field, and it's growing even more crowded. The Louisiana Governor Bob Jindal is expected to announce his decision on a possible 2016 run at a June 24th event in New Orleans. A source close to Jindal tells CNN that he's, quote, "likely to seek the Republican nomination." Jindal formed a committee lat month to explore a possible presidential bid.

BERMAN: On the other side, Hillary Clinton will crisscross the country and attend at least 26 fundraising events over the next month. His first campaign rally is scheduled for June 13th here in New York City on Roosevelt Island. The Clinton campaign hopes to have $100 million raised by the end of this year, that I imagine is a low ball figure, between fund-raisers and her super PAC. The number that the Clinton team could bring in could top $1 billion by the end of 2016.

ROMANS: All right. Twenty-one minutes past the hour.

A new spring of bomb threats targeting passenger planes as we learn new details about TSA's big shake-up. All of that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:25:01] ROMANS: Federal authorities are investigating a series of bomb threats Tuesday against commercial airline flights that were originating or landing in the U.S. It comes on the heels of a scathing report on airport security failures, the trigger to shake-up the highest levels of the TSA.

We get more this morning from CNN's Rene Marsh in Washington.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RENE MARSH, CNN AVIATION & GOVERNMENT REGULATION CORREPONDENT: Well, John and Christine, bomb threats made against at least four planes with passengers on board Tuesday, a United flight to Chicago, Delta Plane to Atlanta, a U.S. Airways flight to Philadelphia, and a fourth plane after it left Portland, Oregon, headed for Mexico -- all targeted. None of the threats were credible, but law enforcement is now investigating the source.

Coincidentally, the series of bomb scares come as we are learning more about TSA failures in detecting prohibited items like weapons at airport checkpoints. And now, there's been a major shake-up at TSA. The acting TSA administrator, Melvin Carraway, is out, after embarrassing news, undercover operations designed to test TSA's ability to detect explosives and weapons at airport security checkpoints yielded a 95 percent failure rate.

CNN has also learned undercover teams who smuggled weapons and fake explosives past security were not weapons experts, security or even law enforcement. They were regular staff with the Department of Homeland Security inspector general's office.

Now, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson wants screening procedures revised, more training for officers. And screening equipment re-evaluated. The president is urging Congress for this nominee for new TSA administrator. The agency has been without a permanent leader for five months -- John, Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: Yes. And I think that's a really important point. You know, he's been reassigned. The acting administrator has been reassigned. But he didn't have that job in the first place. So, how much control did he really have over the organization? You know, they need to make sure they have the right people in there, and have that job permanently. BERMAN: It would be nice. I mean, it's one thing to complaint against the airport checkpoint, but it's another thing to have the whole team work in the way it should.

ROMANS: Yes.

BERMAN: Twenty-seven minutes after the hour.

Happening now: a new arrest connected to a terror investigation in Boston. Law enforcement shooting and killing a man believed to have had ties to ISIS. That's what they believe. New developments, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)