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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Manhunt for Escaped Killers: New Breakthrough; Tamir Rice Shooting: Will Officers Be Charged?; The War on ISIS: U.S. Expands Presence in Iraq; Warriors Strike Back, Even Up Series 2-2. Aired 5- 5:30a ET
Aired June 12, 2015 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:00:00] CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: A new breakthrough this morning in the manhunt for two killers who escaped from prison -- tracking dogs picking up the prisoners' scent. Could investigators be close to capturing the men?
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: A stunning new development in the case of a child who had a pellet gun and shot and killed by police. What a judge is now recommending.
ROMANS: New U.S. military bases could soon be opening up throughout Iraq. Details on this new White House strategy to take down ISIS. We are live.
Good morning. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.
BERMAN: I'm John Berman. Great to see you. It is Friday, June 12th, 5:00 a.m. in the East.
And we have information on the hunt, the manhunt for two dangerous killers who escaped from a maximum security prison in Upstate New York. The latest potential breakthrough is this: investigators are focused on the wooded area three miles from the maximum security prison where Richard Matt and David Sweat escaped. Police now believed that search dogs have picked up the scent of these men.
They set up a large perimeter around the region. Inside that perimeter, life is on hold for so many people. They're on lockdown, told not to leave their homes. One law enforcement official is warning that the longer the search goes on, the more likely it is the killers will commit a crime, a new crime.
Let's get more now from CNN's Miguel Marquez.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: John and Christine, the search is still very much on here, just east of the prison where these two individuals escape. We are about four miles from the encampment that the officials found. They say that the scent dogs are searching the area behind us. We're about four miles from there.
This roadblock has been tight now that night has fallen. People in this neighborhood are paranoid, even afraid to leave their own homes. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I didn't sleep last night. I got home in time
before they blocked the road off, but shortly after I got home, they closed both ends of the Trudeau Road and they wouldn't let my sons come home last night.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I feel like I'm going crazy being indoors. I feel like a prisoner in my home because I've got all the doors locked. They closed the windows. I have ladders outside. So, I imagine things and I look out the window often. Everywhere I drive to work, I'm scanning to see if I see any unusual activity.
MARQUEZ: Officials say they have thrown everything at this. Some 600 leads have come through that they're trying to figure out which are the best quality leads. They have some 500 searchers here on the scene. There was a helicopter up earlier. And they expect to search until they find them -- John and Christine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BERMAN: All right. Our thanks to Miguel for that. New details this morning about the female prison worker who may have helped the two convicted killers escape. . It turns out that corrections officials received an anonymous complaint about Joyce Mitchell over her relationship with one of the inmates. She was not disciplined. Mitchell has told investigators that inmate Richard Matt made her, quote, "feel special".
She is now cooperating with investigators up until last night she did not have an attorney present. She was answering all sort of questions. At this point, she has not been charged herself with any crime. Not yet at least.
ROMANS: All right. There is probable cause to charge two police officers in the fatal shooting of 12-year-old Tamir Rice last fall. That's according to a Cleveland municipal court judge. Community leaders had asked the judge to intervene, insisting they don't trust prosecutors, but his ruling is largely symbolic.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL MALONEY, ATTORNEY FOR OFFICER FRANK GAMBACK: It's important to realize we are in no different spot than we were 24 hours ago or 10 hours ago. The prosecutors still have to make this decision.
RACHELLE SMITH, COMMUNITY ORGANIZER: It was great to see people using the tools that are available to them in the system and taking them and using them to find justice, no matter how small the steps are.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: A grand jury will ultimately decide whether the officers are charged.
Tamir Rice was playing with a fake gun, a pellet gun actually when he was shot dead just seconds after officers arrived on the scene. BERMAN: The U.S. is looking at a new strategy to fight ISIS in Iraq.
Joint Chiefs Chairman Martin Dempsey says the best way to battle the terrorists is to expand the U.S. footprint in the region. New small bases scattered throughout Iraq, putting hundreds of U.S. troops in each one, a sort lily pad strategy to train the Iraqi forces.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN KIRBY, STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESPERSON: The key component is to improve the Iraqi security forces, improve their capabilities and their confidence on the battlefield.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: Some of the proposed locations in Iraq for these small bases, these lily pad bases, would be Baghdad, Tikrit, Kirkuk and near Mosul. Of course, Mosul is under ISIS control right now.
Let's get the latest from Ian Lee.
Ian, what exactly does the strategy entail? What does it mean for U.S. troops? What's a lily pad base?
IAN LEE, CNN REPORTER: What these are, are areas of operation and security in these conflict zones.
[05:05:02] What they're going to be doing is training Sunni tribal fighters and Iraqi security forces on everything from communications, to shooting, and how to move on the battlefield, especially urban environments. That is important when they try to retake Ramadi and Fallujah.
But other key things they will work on as well is command and control, resupplying and logistics. Now, these three things were key in contributing to the fall of Ramadi. But what U.S. troops won't be doing, they're not going to be going to the frontlines and fighting. They're not going to be calling in the air strikes. But they hope that these outposts are able to call in air strikes and help the Iraqis call in air strikes quicker, John.
BERMAN: All right. Ian Lee for us in covering what's going on, this new U.S. plan of putting troops on the ground in select location. Thanks, Ian.
ROMANS: All right. Here in the U.S., the deal is the trade deal the president wants. President Obama making last minute unscheduled stop last night at the Washington Nationals ballpark. He was there to catch a congressional baseball game or to lobby Democrats to back him in today's critical trade bill vote in the House.
Senior White House correspondent Jim Acosta tells us it is the Democrats who could wind up scuttling his signature deal.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: John and Christine, the White House is going to be waking up with some big worries over whether its trade agenda can survive the next 24 hours on Capitol Hill. Lawmakers are set to vote on two major pieces of trade legislation. One that funds a program that helps workers who lose their jobs to outsourcing. The other that grants the president so- called fast track authority to negotiate trade deals.
In a furious scramble for votes, the president called House Speaker John Boehner and deployed top administration officials such as White House chief of staff Denis McDonough to Capitol Hill to twist the arms of House Democrats who were opposed to the president's agenda.
White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest talked about that effort on Thursday. Here's what he had to say.
JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: That fact is that everybody from the president on down, including many members of his team here at the White House and his economic team across the administration, are making an aggressive case to members of Congress about why they should support this.
ACOSTA: These trade votes in the Congress are a key test to the president's influence on Capitol Hill. A defeat could potentially block the president from finalizing a Trans Pacific trade deal he has sought for years, one the White House firmly believes is crucial to keeping the U.S. competitive with China -- John and Christine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: Yes, Jim.
The administration says this deal critical for American exporters. Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker told me American business deserve fair access to those rapidly growing middle classes in Asia.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PENNY PRITZKER, COMMERCE SECRETARY: For the first time, labor standards are enforceable within these trade agreements and resources are being set aside to increase the amount of enforcement that we're doing. By raising labor standards for our trading partners, we are making the American worker more competitive globally.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: So, she is making the case that because there are these new labor standards in this that, that they will be able to make sure that, you know, the American worker is not left in an unfair advantage. Of course, many people say the U.S. is not enforcing labor provisions in prior trade deals and exporters and manufacturers win, but middle class workers will lose. And that is the concern of those Democrats for holding out.
You know, this last minute for workers in the United States who might be outsourced, some kind of help for them. To critics of the deal, that is the confirmation that Americans will lose their jobs.
BERMAN: Interesting to see what plays out today on Capitol.
The cyberattack on federal government computer systems may be far worse than the Obama administration acknowledged. Officials initially said that just over 4 million current and former employees were affected. A government workers union now says hackers stole personal data and Social Security numbers from every federal employee and retiree and as many as 1 million former government workers. It is believed China is behind that attack. Officials, of course, in Beijing denied any involvement.
ROMANS: All right. Big news in media. Major shakeups for the top of companies.
Rupert Murdoch stepping down as CEO of 21st Century Fox. The 84-year- old, one of the world's most influential media executive. Murdoch has built an empire, including 21st Century Film Studio, the Fox broadcast network, the News Channel.
And questions this morning about his sons James and Lachlan will fill his shoes. James will be CEO. Lachlan will be share the chairman role with his father, a big power-sharing deal really among the three.
And, at Twitter, CEO Dick Costolo is out. Twitter struggling to add new members. That's so important. Struggling to generate revenue from ads. Many investors have been calling for Costolo to step down for the past year and the stock is up before the bell.
Twitter chairman and co-founder Jack Dorsey will be the interim CEO, while the board looks for a new leader.
Look, a lot of people in the media, a lot of people used Twitter, but the growth is what is so incredibly important, because there are a lot of -- a lot of these social media sites and news-sharing sites, they're growing much more rapidly.
[05:10:03] BERMAN: They're not growing their revenue much more rapidly, which is also a problem for Twitter.
ROMANS: All right. Ten minutes past the hour.
A Virginia teen on the record about his role as a recruiter for ISIS. New developments, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: A Virginia teenager is pleading guilty to terrorism charges. Seventeen-year-old Ali Shukri Amin facing up to 15 years behind bars, admitting to a judge he helped his friend get to Syria to join ISIS. And he was also the secret voice behind a pro-ISIS Twitter account. Let's get more from CNN senior Washington correspondent Joe Johns.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: John and Christine, Ali Shukri Amin tweeted, blogged, promoted and recruited ISIS followers all over the Internet for about eight months with the big reveal came on Thursday, as the FBI said the face behind that enormous online presence was actually a teenager from northern Virginia. A teenager they had been investigating for helping ISIS sympathizers with their financing, pleading guilty now to giving material support to ISIS after the FBI tracked him down, recruiting for the terror group.
Authorities said he dropped out of the Manassas, Virginia high school, in February, was the blogger for jihad, the brains behind a controversial now suspended Twitter handle known as @amreekiwitness, which promoted itself as dedicated to raising awareness about the upcoming conquest of the Americas.
Prosecutors say Amin was instrumental in helping an 18-year-old from the D.C. suburbs actually travel to Syria to join ISIS. The Justice Department has filed charges against that other individual too, but he is believed to be overseas.
Amin was also helping ISIS sympathizers financially by teaching them about the virtual currency known as bitcoin. That included directing people how to use bitcoin and how to use bitcoin anonymously. Amin's lawyer says his client's fervor and support for ISIS was all about opposing the regime of Syrian dictator Bashar al Assad.
[05:15:08] Amin joins a growing rank of promising young Muslims in America who have been lured into radical Islam online -- John and Christine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BERMAN: All right. Joe Johns, thanks for that.
New this morning, the FBI arrested a third suspect in connection with a terror plot allegedly targeting police officers. Nicholas Rovinski will be arraigned today in federal court in Boston. Agents searched his Rhode Island home as part of their investigation into an alleged beheading plot by Usaama Rahim. Rahim was shot and killed last week after allegedly lunging at police and FBI agents with a knife as they tried to question him.
ROMANS: Gruesome, gruesome new details from the quadruple murder on the Washington, D.C. mansion. Three family members and their maid were killed.
It turns out the father endured horrific torture. A law enforcement official told CNN Savvas Savapoulos was strangled, beaten, stabbed and burned and had trauma to the back of his head. A search warrant and accompanying affidavit revealing a baseball bat with what appeared to be blood on it was found in one of the rooms.
BERMAN: A black university of Virginia student who was beaten and bloodied during an arrest last March will appear in court this morning where prosecutors are expected to drop charges against him. Authorities said Martese Johnson acted agitated and belligerent after being turned away from a bar in March. The 20-year-old needed 10 stitches to his head and face. The arrest sparked a public uproar and a state police investigation. ROMANS: Politics now. Jeb Bush is on the third and final leg of his
European tour. He is in Estonia, talking transatlantic security with representatives of the Baltic States. The Bush trip meant to showcase his foreign policy chops ahead of the formal announcement Monday that he is -- did you know he will run for president?
BERMAN: I had no idea. I thought he was still thinking about it.
ROMANS: No, the announcement comes Monday.
All right. Half a dozen Republican candidates and presumptive candidates set to make their pitch to donors this weekend. They're all going to Utah for Mitt Romney's third annual retreat. Lindsey Graham, Marco Rubio, Carly Fiorina, John Kasich, Scott Walker, Chris Christie, they are all set to attend. Many of those people want to become a president.
BERMAN: Party with the Romneys.
ROMANS: They are going to go skeet shooting, horseback riding and they're going to take a hot air balloon ride.
BERMAN: And there's going to be a pinata, at the end, all of the people will get to whack the pinata, get to get candy, which is a nice.
Rick Santorum, he's out on the campaign trail. He's been saying some very interesting things. A lot of people once considered him a rock solid social conservative. He once compared homosexuality to bestiality.
But listen to what he told CNN's Erin Burnett when she asked if he would accept an endorsement from Caitlyn Jenner.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICK SANTORUM (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If Caitlyn Jenner wanted to endorse me, would I accept the endorsement? The answer is, if that's the way she feels about my candidacy, sure. Never ask anyone why they're voting for you because you probably won't like the answer.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: Santorum also discussed climate change saying he is more open to the idea that humans are a contributing factor.
ROMANS: Hillary Clinton will hold the first major rally since entering the presidential race on New York's Roosevelt Island tomorrow. She is expected to share a seldom told story about her mother Dorothy Rodham who was abandoned by her parents in the depression era. It's all part of the former secretary of state attempt to position herself as a fighter for America's middle class.
My prediction is every one of these candidates, no matter what the political stripes, is going to champion themselves -- BERMAN: Because you cannot say you are born in a log cabin. Honestly, it's the same thing. You can't say that. So, you say, you know, I'm part of the middle class.
ROMANS: You're right.
BERMAN: Wow, I'm going to mark this moment.
ROMANS: 5:18.
BERMAN: 5:18:32 in the morning.
A stormy Friday on tap for millions of Americans. Let's bring in meteorologist Derek Van Dam.
DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, John and Christine, we have a steamy weekend for the eastern half of the United States.
This is the set up. We have a ridge of high pressure that is just off the East Coast. This is drawing in very hot and humid weather.
Take a look at the four-day forecast for the Big Apple. We should reach 85 today, middle and upper 80s through the weekend as well. More of the same from Philadelphia, although you will break the 90- degree mark today and perhaps into Saturday.
Now, factor in the humidity levels and this is what it feels like on your skin, 96 for the nation's capital. Lexington, Kentucky, 92. Nashville at 93 degrees.
Other concerns with all of this heat is the quality of our air. Pittsburgh, Baltimore and Philadelphia all have air quality alerts, on top of that with extreme heat advisories for Baltimore and Philadelphia. So, the City of Brotherly Love is looking to be steamy and hazy as well.
The cold front will sweep eastward, triggering a few thunderstorms over the eastern parts of the U.S., some of which could be strong and severe just east of Detroit, Buffalo, to Pittsburgh and Cincinnati has a possible of rain today as well.
Back to you.
BERMAN: All right. Derek Van Dam, thanks so much.
[05:20:01] Game four in the NBA finals, Cavs and Warriors. Man, was this good. LeBron James looking to put his team up big, three games to one. Would it happen or would Steph Curry and the Warriors thunder back to tie the series?
We will have that answer soon for you when Andy Scholes in the bleacher report, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: Golden State Warriors responding with a win over the Cavs in game four of the NBA finals. The series now tied at 2 as it shifts back to the Bay.
BERMAN: Andy Scholes is here with the bleacher report.
Hey, Andy.
ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, guys.
You know, LeBron and the Cavs hoping to get one game closer to winning Cleveland its first championship in 51 years. But the Warriors had other ideas. Golden State changing things up for this one, going with a small lineup from the start.
Second quarter, Andrew Bogut, coming up, and he fouls LeBron. LeBron goes flying into the cameraman, ends up with a pretty good gash on the side of his head. You know what makes any injury better? A kiss from mom. LeBron's mom coming over the bench during the game to check on LeBron to check.
LeBron played through the game. Catches an alley-hoop from Matthew Dellavedova. But the Warriors would outscore the Cleveland by 15 in the fourth, by a good night for MVP Steph Curry. They easily win this one, 103-82 is the final. The series now tied at 2 as it shifts back to the Bay Area.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LEBRON JAMES, CLEVELAND CAVALIERS: If I told my teammates six months ago or whenever the case may be if it is 2-2 and we had an opportunity 2-2 in the finals and go on the road, would you take it?
[05:25:07] You know, with three games left, I think all of them would accept that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHOLES: The U.S. women's team faces Sweden and former coach Pia Sundhage tonight in their second World Cup match. Sundhage gave the Americans some bulletin board material when "The New York Times" published an interview with her, where she had not so nice words for some of her former players. Sundhage calling Hope Solo the most challenging player she ever coached, especially when it comes to trouble. She also said she wouldn't start all-time goal scorer Abby Wambach if she was still coaching the U.S. team.
She tried to back off the comments yesterday, but backing off it, she called Hope Solo a piece of work. The Americans will have extra motivation.
I want to make you aware. There was a wardrobe malfunction concerning LeBron before last night's Cavs-Warriors game. The camera was on him while he was adjusting his shorts. If you want to check that out, of course, you can go to the Google and type that in. It has everyone talking this morning.
BERMAN: I was going to say, what search terms would you use, Andy, if you were doing the search for that? SCHOLES: LeBron, pre-game, shorts. Type that in.
(LAUGHTER)
BERMAN: Right.
Andy Scholes, thanks so much. Great to have you with us.
ROMANS: Not safe for work. Do not go to the office and Google.
BERMAN: Google what?
ROMANS: LeBron James wardrobe malfunction.
BERMAN: All right. Twenty-six minutes after the hour.
The manhunt for two killers escaped from prison. It has been refocused. There is new information this morning. Police dogs picking up the inmates' scent.
Also, new information about the woman who may have helped the men escape. How much help? Details next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
