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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Manhunt for New York Prison Escapees; President Doubles Down on "Russian Aggression"; New Allegations Hitting FIFA. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired June 08, 2015 - 04:00   ET

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

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[04:33:06] CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, a huge manhunt under way for two dangerous inmates. They escaped in an elaborate tunnel plot from a high security prison.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: President Obama with key meetings overseas. Due to meet with the Iraqi prime minister and there is one item on the agenda and one only. Stopping ISIS.

ROMANS: Adding to the pile, a host of new allegations hitting FIFA this weekend. Why Russia and Qatar could be stripped of their 2018 and 2022 World Cups. Whoa!

BERMAN: Welcome back to EARLY START, everyone. I'm John Berman.

ROMANS: I'm Christine Romans. It's 33 minutes past the hour.

Developing this morning, state, federal local enforcement fanning out across New York, laying a dragnet for two convicted killers escaped from a maximum security prison. In what sounds like the plot of a Hollywood thriller, Richard Matt and David Sweat tunneled out a Clinton correctional facility 20 miles from New York's border with Canada.

CNN's Polo Sandoval has the latest on the manhunt.

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POLO SANDOVAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: John and Christine, this morning, the search shows no sign of stopping, particularly here in Dannemora, New York. You see heavily armed police officers and in this case correctional officers staging in the area surrounding the prison itself. In fact, we had to go through three checkpoints to go through this location, police and law enforcement and state and federal authorities checking every vehicle leaving this area and also that's making its way here.

Now, if you look off to the distance, you may be able to see temporary flood lights that have been set up, that actually marks the very spot where this manhole is located. This is the location where Sweat and Matt believed to have used this as an exit point.

Now, just before that, authorities believe that they actually used several tools to dig g through a 24-inch wall in the rear of their cell. From there, they entered a steam pipeline and accessed tunnels and drain as well to eventually end up here.

[04:35:09] So, this morning, we know that the U.S. Marshal Service now has filed federal warrants for both these men for unlawful flight to avoid prosecution. We also know that the state of New York hoping people will come forward with any help they can, even offering a $100,000 reward for these two individuals.

Two priorities this morning, that's track them down and try to find out how they were able to execute such an elaborate plan -- John and Christine.

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BERMAN: All right. Polo Sandoval for us, those are dangerous, dangerous men.

Happening right now, G7 world leaders meeting at a picturesque castle in the German Alps. This morning, President Obama set to meet with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al Abadi. They will discuss the fight against ISIS, that is before President Obama comes back here to United States.

This follows Sunday's focus on Russian aggression in Ukraine.

For the latest, let's bring in CNN's Atika Shubert.

Good morning, Atika.

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John.

Well, as you pointed, President Obama will be discussing the fight against ISIS today. He is actually in a meeting with the French President Hollande at the moment. You can be sure that is at the top of their agenda. But we also expect the president to meet with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al Abadi, who has just arrived at Elmau Castle now. They are expected to have a check in assessing the situation in Iraq and particularly those most recent setbacks in Anbar province, Ramadi and the Baiji oil refinery.

Now, it may be that the Iraqi prime minister ask for more assistance, but we don't expect the president to announce any significant new military assistance. Having said that, British Prime Minister David Cameron yesterday announced that Britain will be increasing the amount of military trainers they have on the ground, up to 125 more British trainers helping to fight IED explosives there.

But again, we are not expecting any significant military aid to come out today. We'll have to wait and see what happens after the meeting with the Iraqi prime minister later today, John.

BERMAN: Yes, a lot to ask, that's for sure. Atika Shubert for us in Germany, thanks so much.

ROMANS: All right. There's a claim of significant victory this morning in the battle against ISIS. Iraqi troops are mopping up small pockets of resistance from ISIS fighters in the key city of Baiji after declaring control of the city center, the main mosque and surrounding neighborhoods. But still raging is the battle to retake an oil refinery, strategic oil refinery there, a really important asset.

CNN's Jomana Karadsheh is tracking the story for us.

Jomana, what's the latest?

JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christine, Iraqi officials from the military and also the Shia militias who have been in major fighting force on the ground on Sunday announcing they have regained control of the city of Baiji from ISIS after months of intense fighting there, supported, of course, by U.S. and coalition air strikes.

Now, they say that they have managed to push back ISIS fighters from the key parts of the city toward Mosul, they say. But what remains, they described as pockets of resistance and also clearing operations. As we have seen ISIS in the past leaving behind booby traps in the areas that they have left.

Now, as you mentioned, we do not know the situation is at the Baiji oil refinery, all eyes are on that. This refinery has changed hands over the past year. And in recent weeks, we saw ISIS claim control of more than 80 percent of that oil refinery. It is a very important one, although it is not functioning and has not functioned for months. It is Iraq's largest oil refinery. It has great significance, both strategically and also symbolically for ISIS, that has really dedicated a lot of resources to keeping hold of the key infrastructure. That oil refinery.

Now, while Iraqi officials are describing this as a victory. As we have seen in recent months, they have suffered some significant setbacks in the fight against ISIS. The concern here is the challenge remains of will they hold the territory they regained and also, they are facing a very adaptive and very tough enemy here, Christine.

ROMANS: Jomana, we know that refinery is so important because -- in part, ISIS manages to help fund itself by selling some of that oil onto the black market. Thank you so much for that, Jomana Karadsheh for us this morning in Amman.

New this morning, the hack of federal agency computers may affect private citizens, in addition to federal workers. Law enforcement sources telling CNN that security clearance applications dating back decades may have been part of that hack. Those forms require sensitive personal information of spouses, partners, friends and others close to the applicant.

Sources tell CNN that while serious, the hack of private citizen data likely compromise with less sensitive than the one affecting the federal workers.

[04:40:02] And, of course, another big question is, why? Who -- why do they want that information? What will they do with it?

BERMAN: Higher pay for low wage workers. Hillary Clinton told more than 1,000 fast food workers at a convention in Detroit that she wants to be their champion. She spoke by phone and said every worker deserves a fair wage and right to unionize. The former secretary of state pledged her support for the Fight for 15 movement, pressing for a hike in the minimum wage to $15 an hour.

ROMANS: All right. Jeb Bush was campaigning in New Hampshire, the site of the first in the nation primary. The former Florida governor stopped at a church in Portsmouth, later greeted folks at the coffee shop. Bush has been on the trail for some time. He's going to make an announcement on June 15th.

BERMAN: A history making hero returns home. Triple Crown winner American Pharoah, what a horse.

ROMANS: Look at that.

BERMAN: Yes, look at that. Motorcade as he arrives back in Kentucky, at home, a day after winning Belmont Stakes.

ROMANS: Do you think he knows he won?

BERMAN: (INAUDIBLE) question actually get to a lot of the issues of horseracing.

He is the first in 37 years to win horseracing's Triple Crown. The owners say that American Pharoah will hit the track again sometime this summer. Not exactly sure when. After that, he has a serious history as a stud.

ROMANS: Future.

BERMAN: Future, yes. Well, you make history as a stud.

ROMANS: Yes, you will.

Speaking of money. Let's get an early start on your money this morning.

Asian shares mostly higher right now. Shanghai up 2 percent. Seven- year high for Shanghai stocks. European and U.S. stocks futures looking a bit more cautious. They are down a bit right now.

One stock that's climbing right now, Deutsche Bank. That's because the bank's co-CEOs, they had two men who shared the job as CEO, they are both resigning their post after three years. They are leaving earlier than expected after the bank has paid billions of dollars in recent years for legal issues. A board member will gradually take over the position. The shake up brings up the question the future direction of Germany's largest bank. It has 100,000 employees worldwide.

BERMAN: All right. There is a video that has gone viral. It shows what happened after a pool party and has a lot of people saying it should cost this officer his badge. Stay with us.

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ROMANS: Chaos at a concert in northern New Jersey. Police in riot gear using mace, piercing alarm overnight. They're trying to disperse rowdy crowds. Concert goers were pushing and shoving to get into a hip-hop and R&B concert at MetLife Stadium. Officials say people were trying to enter illegally. Some witnesses say all concert goers had tickets but were frustrated by the slow security screening. Officials report multiple arrests.

BERMAN: In McKinney, Texas, a pool party spiraled -- well, some say it spiraled out of control. What is out of control is this video which is now viral. It shows a police officer confronting a group of teenagers, throwing one to the ground and showing his gun to the others. The officer has been disciplined, an investigation is underway.

Let's get more now from CNN's Nick Valencia.

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NICK VALENCIA, CNN NATIONAL REPORTER: John and Christine, an officer responding to a disturbance at a pool party has been put on administrative leave. The incident started on Friday night when police neighbors called them about a group of teen who did not have permission to be at a private pool and were refusing to leave. In the 7 1/2 minute clip, the officer can be seen rounding up teens, wrestling one to the ground and at one point, the officer unholsters his weapon and points it at the crowd.

At a press conference on Sunday, the police chief in McKinney talked about the incident.

CHIEF GREG CONLEY, MCKINNEY POLICE DEPARTMENT: Several concerns about the conduct of one of the officers has been raised. A formal investigation into the incident has been started. And the officer involved is on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation. The McKinney Police Department is committed to treating all persons fairly under the law.

VALENCIA: The police chief says he will look into the officer's actions. They launched a full investigation within their department -- John, Christine.

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ROMANS: It is really remarkable to watch the video. The police officer running from group to group of people. You know, Tom Fuentes, you know, one of our law enforcement analysts here. He said there is no reason to unholster a gun.

Look, he's walking around with the gun out of the holster. That girl is in a bikini. Clearly she does not have a weapon.

All right. So, the already embattled FIFA slammed with new allegations over future World Cups that may be in jeopardy. That's coming up.

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[04:51:41] BERMAN: New developments this morning in the corruption scandal involving world soccer. Over the weekend, FIFA's head of compliance told a Swiss newspaper that the 2018 and 2022 World Cups could be stripped from Russia and Qatar if it is proven that bribes bought the votes to award each country's bid. That would be epic.

Let's bring in senior international correspondent Frederik Pleitgen.

Fred, if this ever happened -- man, it would just rock the world.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It would certainly the rock the world and it would be very interesting for the U.S. as well, because keep in mind, for the 2022 World Cup, the U.S. was one of the finalists to try to host the World Cup, but lost out in that bid to Qatar. So, all of that would be on the table again. It would be open again.

However, the FIFA official who's investigating all of that and who made the statements, so far, he has nothing that would prove that this World Cup or these two World Cups were actually given to Russia and Qatar only because of bribes. So, that investigation is still ongoing.

However, as has been the case in the past couple of days, the past week, since all of this broke, there have been new allegations that came to light over the weekend. Many of them here in Britain.

One of them came from the newspaper called "The Sunday Times", which has investigated FIFA for a long time and now put forward videos that allegedly shows FIFA officials first of all saying that, yes, bribes were flowing for the 2010 World Cup, which, of course, was held in South Africa and they believe that possibly it wasn't even South Africa who got the most votes for the World Cup, but, in fact, it was morocco. Nevertheless, that World Cup was awarded to South Africa.

So, a lot of allegations out there. A lot of them surrounding Jack Warner, the former head of the CONCACAF, the football association, of course, for North and Central America. It is alleged there was a payment of $10 million that came from FIFA to him that was supposed to go to football and soccer development in Central America, however was never used for that. Most of the money was used for himself.

So, John, a lot is going on. A lot of interesting developments. We will wait and see what happens, but it seems like at this point, there's no end in sight.

BERMAN: You get the sense this is just the beginning, Fred. If Jack Warner starts really talking, more could come out.

Frederik Pleitgen for us in London, thanks so much.

ROMANS: Rock the world.

BERMAN: Rock the world.

ROMANS: All right. Where is the best place to retire? Think sunshine year round and lots of cacti. That's next.

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ROMANS: I'm Christine Romans. Let's get an early start on your money this morning.

Not a great start to the week around the world. European stocks are lower right now, so are U.S. stock futures. On Friday, the Dow fell 56 points. Why if the jobs report was so strong? Well, the jobs market is strong and that likely means an interest rate hike is coming before the end of the year.

College tuition is climbing, so are the salaries of university presidents. The average public college president earned $428,000 last year, up 7 percent from the year earlier. The same time annual tuition at four-year public schools climbed $2,000.

The top paid president, Penn State Rodney Erickson. He stepped down from his position at the end of last year making $1.5 million.

If you are planning your retirement, consider Phoenix. A study out this morning says Phoenix is the best place to retire. Also on this list, Arlington, Virginia, right outside of D.C.

Prescott and Tucson, Arizona and Des Moines, Iowa. Although it's a little colder in Des Moines in the winter than it is in Phoenix.

The study looks at factor cost of living, crime rate and walkability. What cities should you avoid for retirement? No, surprises there, New York City ranked dead last.

So, when you retire, you can leave here and go right to Des Moines.

BERMAN: Next week, I'm headed there. You got it. Sign me up.

All right. EARLY START continues right now.

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