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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Manhunt For New York Prison Escapees; Pool Party Cop Resigns; Senate Hearing, White House Evacuations; Stock Futures Higher; White House Signals Strategy Shift In Iraq; Vatican Looks To Build Ties With Russia; Stock Futures Higher. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired June 10, 2015 - 05:30   ET

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

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CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, narrowing an intense search for two killers who made a shocking prison break. A new tip in the case and the help they may have had in their escape ahead.

Out of control pool party now costing a police officer his job, he resigns after drawing his gun on unarmed teenagers. The new developments ahead.

And more U.S. troops, more troops could soon be heading to Iraq to fight ISIS. We are live with the possible new plan from the White House ahead.

Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans. It's 30 minutes past the hour. John Berman has the morning off.

Happening now, authorities are pursuing a couple of important new breaks in that manhunt for two convicted killers escaped from a maximum security prison in upstate New York.

The first break, investigators now think a woman who worked with Richard Matt and David Sweat, reportedly teaching them how to tailor MTA uniforms in the prison tailor shop. She planned to pick them up after their escape Friday.

A source tells CNN at the last minute Joyce Mitchell changed her mind and wound up in the hospital suffering panic attacks. Mitchell's son, Tobey, rejecting any suggestion she voluntarily helped these inmates and telling NBC there is simply no way she was simply having an affair with one of the men.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOBEY MITCHELL, SON OF PRISON WORKER: She is not the kind of person that is going to risk her life or other people's lives to let these guys escape from prison. She definitely wouldn't have an affair against my father and it definitely wouldn't be with an inmate. There is no truth to that.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There is a report out there that your mom went to the emergency room with a panic attack. Did that happen? MITCHELL: Yes. She was, in fact, in the hospital that evening. I

don't know the exact details. I just know that she was having severe chest pains and she was concerned about that. My mom, she worries a lot about everything.

I mean, especially with me. People might say, well, no matter what, I wouldn't do that. Well, when you're put in a situation where family members are threatened or other family members might be threatened or at risk, you do a lot of things that you wouldn't think that would affect your family. In my family, family always comes first.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Were there threats, Tobey?

MITCHELL: I have no idea.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: Now there is a second break in the case. A witness report of two suspicious men spotted walking down a road in rural Willsborough, some 40 miles south of the prison. That is where CNN's Jason Carroll picks up the story.

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: For several hours, a number of law enforcement were out here on the ground searching by foot and by air. This after, on Monday night, they got a tip that two men were spotted walking around during the middle of a storm in the middle of a street.

When a car approached them, apparently those two men took off. That set off a lot of red flags. That's also what set off this massive search out here. Where we are located, it's just about 40 miles south of where the prison is located.

So you can imagine why this search effort was under way here. Again, searching by ground, searching by air, in terms of the ground search and the property where we are, it's bordered by train tracks on one side, by a river on the other side.

At one point, officers walking shoulder-to-shoulder as they conducted their search throughout the woods. It wasn't just a search of the woods, but they also checked security cameras, resident security cameras and security cameras from businesses as well.

So far, we are told that has turned up nothing. It's going to be another restless day for many residents in this rural area -- Christine.

ROMANS: All right, Jason Carroll, thanks, Jason.

For days now, authorities have been warning how dangerous Richard Matt and David Sweat are. Few people understand the threat like Matt's accomplice in a 1997 crime. A man named Lee Bates.

Bates served 15 years for his role in the kidnapping and murder of businessman, William Rickerson. Bates told Anderson Cooper he watched Richard Matt brutally beat Rickerson over a 27-hour period in an unsuccessful effort to get money from the man. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEE BATES, MATT'S ACCOMPLICE IN 1997 MURDER (via telephone): Torture is probably an understatement because once -- at different points during the commission of what was the crime there, he used duct tape to tie Mr. Rickerson up. He beat him with anything and everything that he possibly can, a knife sharpener, a security device, the club from my automobile.

He physically grabbed Mr. Rickerson's hands and pulled his fingers back until they snapped, punching him, beating him. Starting from in the house throughout the car ride and then eventually when he opened up the trunk and Mr. Rickerson told him, "I'll take you to the money, let me out."

And Richard Matt there then said, "I don't believe you, I don't believe you. You've been playing games with me, I don't believe you." and in a fit of rage, he reached into the car, grabbed Mr. Rickerson by his head and snapped his neck in front of me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[05:35:11] ROMANS: Bates says he was afraid of Richard Matt then and is still afraid of him now.

A dramatic new development this morning in McKinney, Texas, where the police officer at the center of that pool party melee, he is stepping down. Protesters had been calling for Corporal Eric Casebolt's badge and calling for his prosecution after he drew his gun on unarmed teenagers. The host of the pool party telling CNN she is happy Casebolt has resigned.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TATYANA RHODES, HOST OF POOL PARTY: I feel he could have done way better and performed better and done better toward teens in this situation. Just like in the video, his peers were working way better, more appropriately than he was.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: For the very latest, let's turn to CNN's Nick Valencia in McKinney.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christine, the huge news on Tuesday night was the announcement of the resignation of Officer Eric Casebolt. The officer in question of that viral video posted over the weekend showing him wrestling a young teenage girl to the ground.

The police chief of the McKinney Police Department came out and said his actions were indefensible. He said of the 12 officers that responded to the incident on Friday, 11 of them acted appropriately but Officer Casebolt was not one of them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) CHIEF GREG CONLEY, MCKINNEY POLICE DEPARTMENT: Eric Casebolt has resigned from the McKinney Police Department. As the chief of police, I want to say to our community that the actions of Casebolt as seen on the video of the disturbance at the community pool are indefensible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VALENCIA: This much is clear. We are told that the incident began with physical altercation between an adult and young teenager. We were told by one of the witnesses, who wasn't within earshot of this, but said others heard it.

That it began when an adult started hurling racial slurs at the young black teenagers. Neighbors in the community say that wasn't the case. One African-American resident in that subdivision where this incident took place on Friday said that it was the teenagers that were causing the commotion and the chaos didn't start until they started hopping the fence.

This has created some division within the community and the case is far from over. Some are asking for charges to be brought against Officer Casebolt -- Christine.

ROMANS: All right, Nick, thank you for that. McKinney police have dropped the charges against the one person arrested following that chaos, an 18-year-old named Adrian Martin.

This morning, the Secret Service and capital police investigating two separate bomb threats that forced evacuations of a Senate hearing and White House briefing room. Reporters were moved to a separate building, while the Secret Service kept the president and his family in place in the White House.

Officials say they covered up TV cameras to protect the methods used to investigate bomb threats. Secret Service officials declined to discuss any possible connection between the two threats.

Another embarrassing development for the Secret Service, it turns out dozens of newly hired officers have been assigned to the White House and other sensitive post and they don't have the proper national security clearance, some of them even having access to classified material.

A rush to hire new personnel in the wake of a host of security lapses is to blame here. Now the Secret Service director is promising to quickly fix the problem.

You can add a laboratory in the U.K. to the growing list of locations that have been sent live anthrax samples from the Pentagon. A privately owned lab received that delivery in 2007. Officials say the samples were quickly destroyed with no worker illnesses. The lab was only recently informed the pathogen was potentially live.

Time for an EARLY START on your money this Wednesday, Asian stocks mostly lower. European and U.S. stock futures looking more upbeat. Stocks very close to record highs here, but uncertainty about a fed rate hike weighing on investor sentiment.

Apple Music announced this week, but it's already under scrutiny. According to "The New York Times," the attorneys general of New York and Connecticut are investigating potential antitrust violations.

They want to know if Apple pressured music labels and if an agreement with Apple will make music labels withdraw from other ad supported services like Spotify.

Universal Music Group is the first to respond saying the agreement with Apple won't affect the availability of its music elsewhere.

All right, it's 39 minutes past the hour. The White House with a possible new plan, weighing new plans to take back territory seized by ISIS, on the table, more U.S. troops being sent to Iraq. We are live next.

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ROMANS: The White House considering a sweeping new strategy in Iraq. The plan calls for a new military base in Iraq's Anbar Province manned by hundreds of new U.S. military trainers.

We want to get the latest from CNN's Jomana Karadsheh. There's been a lot of pressure on the U.S. to shift strategy early and show since ISIS took Ramadi that the U.S. is going to do more for training and equipping both the Sunnis and Iraqi government.

JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, what we do know, Christine, from U.S. officials is that the administration is considering sending 500 more troops to Iraq, in addition to the more than 3,000 who are already there. Now those, many of them will be focused on training Iraqis.

Now what the breakdown of -- the purpose of these troops will be still is unclear, how many will be doing training and, of course, other purposes like security, air support, medical support, that is not clear yet.

What we do know also, according to officials, what is being considered is expanding the number of locations where training is taking place, potentially as you mentioned, having some -- another base in Anbar Province potentially.

That is where ISIS has a lot of control, the majority of that province under ISIS control where we saw some major setbacks recently for Iraqis forces against ISIS taking the capital of Anbar, Ramadi in recent weeks.

Another thing being considered by the U.S. administration also is directly training Sunni tribes. Not arming them but also training them. We are hearing a final decision will be happening soon and will be announced soon.

Of course, really underscoring the urgency here for the need to do more in this fight against ISIS more than ten months now into this campaign against the group in Iraq and we still see a very capable terror organization here.

[05:45:06] That is still able to carry out deadly attacks and still able to go on the offensive and capture more territory in Iraq, despite these air strikes, despite the offensives that we are seeing being carried out by the Iraqi forces backed by coalition air strikes -- Christine.

ROMANS: All right, thank you so much for that, Jomana Karadsheh, in Amman on that potential shift in strategy for the U.S. against ISIS.

Let's take a look what is coming up on "NEW DAY" this morning. Chris Cuomo joins me now. Hi, Chris.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR, "NEW DAY": Hi, Christine. How are you doing? We know that authorities are looking closely at this female prison worker. She was supposed to be the get-away driver for these two killers. How did that happen? Why did she let that happen? We'll tell you that part.

Plus we are going to talk to the people who know the prison system well as well officials, who have tracked down other well-known fugitives.

And the big story, of course, that is going on down in Texas, the police officer that was caught on cell phone video pulling a gun, you know, when those two kids came at him and what he did to this 14- year-old. He resigned.

We will talk about the teen who threw the party as well as the teen who shot the video and get their take on why they think this all happened because part of the continuing conversation, as you know -- Christine.

ROMANS: Absolutely. Chris, looking forward to that and join you on the set pretty soon.

Now the pope set to meet with Russia's president as the battle rages on in Ukraine, could that meeting between the world leaders end with any kind of a peace plan? We are live next.

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[05:50:15]

ROMANS: A big meeting today at the Vatican, Pope Francis hosting Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Holy Sea trying to build relations with Moscow even if Putin and his government face increasing isolation on the world stage.

CNN senior international correspondent, Nic Robertson is at the Vatican with more. Nic, just earlier this week, you had the G7 meeting, not too long ago, it would have been G8. There would have been Russia excluded from that meeting. For him to appear with the pope, it I guess burnishes his position on the world stage.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It certainly burnishes his position back in Russia and that is critical to President Putin. He doesn't want to seem to be diminished in any way despite the fact that he is.

But there are things in this to gain for the pope as well. The pope, his message is always of peace. We are expecting Ukraine and the plight of Christians in the Middle East to be on the agenda here between the two of them.

The pope, so far, is actually, you know, been criticized by Catholics, there are 45 million of them in Ukraine, for not being more outspoken against President Putin and against the kremlin for their positions and actions in Ukraine and in Crimea, annexing Crimea.

What they have been saying is that recently when the pope talked about Ukraine, he talked about it in terms of (inaudible), they say that is not strong enough.

So there will be a hope among Ukraine's Catholics, at least, that the pope will take a tougher line with President Putin, but the pope likes to maintain neutrality so he can be a sort of a builder of bridges to make peace, if you will.

Adding to that, you know, the pope wants to unite Christians not the Catholics with the orthodox faith and right now President Putin carries a lot of weight with many of those 225 million orthodox Christians.

And then add on that, of course, the pope wanting to do more to help Christians in the Middle East, he'll look to President Putin for help on that as well.

So it will be a finally balanced meeting, but of course, it plays into President Putin's domestic agenda to look like he is still a real player on the international stage -- Christine.

ROMANS: All right, Nic, thanks so much for that. It looks like a beautiful day there in front of the Vatican in St. Peters Square.

Breaking overnight, South Korea's president postponing her upcoming visit to Washington to deal with the MERS outbreak in her country. Her government is under fire for allowing the outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome to become the largest outside of the Saudi Arabia.

The president office says she plans to reschedule the visit to Washington soon. One hundred eight MERS cases confirmed, nine people have died there and there are thousands under quarantine right now.

All right, this ad may look innocent enough, right? Not everyone see it that way. The vicious fight raging online and the millions of dollars caught in the middle next.

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[05:57:01] ROMANS: Welcome back. I'm Christine Romans. Let's get an EARLY START on your money this Wednesday morning. Asian shares are down after one of the world's major equity indexes says Chinese stocks are not yet ready to be included.

European stocks and U.S. stock futures looking brighter, they are up right now. The sell-off in bonds continues. This has been a big story, folks, the yield on the ten-year treasury note is almost 2.5 percent this morning, the highest since September. It's telling us that investors think the fed will raise interest rates sooner rather than later.

All right, who do Americans love working for? Google's Larry Page. A brand new report finds that CEO had a 97 percent approval rating from employees who submitted feedback anonymously. They said they like his vision and how quickly he responded to questions. Also topping the list, Nike's Mark Parker and Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg.

There is an angry debate raging online about this Wells Fargo ad. In April, Wells Fargo became the first American bank to feature a gay relationship in its ads.

Now Christian Evangelists, Franklin Graham pulling his organization's millions of dollars out of that bank in protest over that ad. The group has already started moving its money to another bank, BB&T instead. What is Wells Fargo saying, it stands behind this ad campaign and Wells Fargo says it supports the LGBT community.

All right, a new tip in the search for two escaped killers, that is new lead we are following this morning. "NEW DAY" picks it up right now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are they closing in on two escaped murderers?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Investigators are questioning Joyce Mitchell. She may have been the ride for these two fugitives, but apparently she changed her mind.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She's not the kind of person that is going to risk her life or other people's lives.

ROMANS: The police officer at the center of that pool party melee is stepping down.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He shoved me in the grass and started pulling back on my braids.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The policies are training, our practice do not support his actions.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are clearing the floor.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is a bomb threat that was called in.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The president was in the oval office while this was going on.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can't imagine the president was left undisturbed.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CUOMO: Good morning. Welcome to your NEW DAY. It is Tuesday, June 10th, 6:00 in the east.

We have a major development this morning in the New York prison break. Sources telling CNN a female prison employee apparently plan to help the felons after they escaped, but she says she changed her mind at the last minute.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: So authorities are still on the trail of these escaped killers. They are on the loose for four days and believed to be on foot. Police descending on a town 40 miles south of the maximum security prison after a possible sighting. Police combing through farms and fields and looking for the fugitives.

Let's begin our coverage with CNN's Polo Sandoval. He is live in Dannamora, New York with more. Good morning, Polo.

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Alisyn. This morning, the search and the manhunt expected to press on this time, though, with two possible breaks of the case.