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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Prison Break: New Details on the Killers' Planned Escape; U.S. Airstrike Targets 2013 Terror Attack Mastermind; The Race for President; NBA Finals: Warriors Take 3-2 Series Lead. Aired 5-5:30a ET
Aired June 15, 2015 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:00:13] CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now: New York's governor launching a new investigation into just how two dangerous killers manage to break out of prison. This morning, the search is widening for those men as the woman accused of helping them escape, she prepares to face a judge. Stunning new details ahead.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Terrorists targeted. A new U.S. military airstrike goes after an al Qaeda linked terror chief responsible for a major attack that killed dozens, including three Americans.
ROMANS: Jeb Bush set to formally and finally announce he is running for president. As Hillary Clinton comes out against President Obama on a controversial piece of legislation. We're breaking it all down ahead.
BERMAN: He's going to run? After all, he's going to run?
ROMANS: He's going to run. He's going to run.
BERMAN: Shocking.
ROMANS: Good morning. I'm Christine Romans. It is Monday, the day Jeb Bush is going to finally announce he is going to run.
BERMAN: And I'm John Berman. It is 5:00 a.m. in the East. Great to see you today.
New this morning: Governor Cuomo is set to announce a formal state investigation into every aspect he says of the brazen prison break in Upstate New York.
Two brutal killers are on the loose now for a tenth day. Hundreds of police officers acting on hundreds of tips are now looking in a wooded area near the prison where David Sweat and Richard Matt escaped.
Joyce Mitchell, the female prison worker, who allegedly helped break them out, she is now pleading not guilty to felony charges. She is due in court in less than four hours, a big day in this case.
Let's go for more now from CNN's Miguel Marquez.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John and Christine, what you're looking at is the Clinton correctional facility. That's where these two individuals escaped from the area just in front of you, in front between me and the facility is the area of the most intense search. You can see just how dense that forest is and how vast this area is. Despite the vastness of it, that area between here and the correctional facility is the greatest area interest to law enforcement. Some 800 law enforcement officers following up on some 700 tips, and it is intense at times.
Hundreds of law enforcement officers lining the roads here and then moving into the dense forest, maybe 15 to 20 feet apart at most, looking for anything that may be out of place. They are going back and forth to homes over and over to see if anything has changed, if anything has moved, if residents report anything or especially empty homes if anything appears to be broken into.
Helicopters up at night have been trying to capture a glimpse on these individuals on infrared, as well, but because it is so thick out there, the forest and the weather has been poor in recent days, as well. That has been hard to use. Authorities concentrating on this area, because really, they have no other clues, no other sense of where these two individuals may be -- John, Christine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: All right. Miguel Marquez, thank you for that, Miguel.
All right. A U.S. air strike in Libya over the weekend likely killed a top militant linked to al Qaeda. Two American F-15 fighter jets took part of that mission, and according to Libyan government officials, a wanted terrorist with a long history of deadly attacks was taken out.
Let's get the latest from CNN's Jomana Karadsheh live in Amman, Jordan.
Good morning.
JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Christine.
Here is what we know: According to U.S. officials, at 8:00 p.m. Eastern on Saturday, an air strike that was a single strike by a manned aircraft took place in Libya. They say that no U.S. ground forces were involved in the operation, but that aerial intelligence were tracking the target at the time of the operation. The intended target of the raid, according to U.S. officials, was Mokhtar Belmokhtar, one of the most wanted, most elusive key members of al Qaeda in North Africa, Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, who has been wanted for more than a decade by the U.S. and France.
But the U.S. is not confirming that he was killed in this operation. They are saying that at this point, they are assessing the results of the operation. The Libyan government for its part overnight releasing a statement
saying that Mokhtar Belmokhtar was killed in the U.S. airstrike that took place after consultations between the Libyan government and the United States. But the Libyans are not offering any proof or verification of how they now that Mokhtar Belmokhtar was killed in the operation. We have heard claims in the past several times that Belmokhtar was killed only to come out not being true. So, we'll have to see what evidence there is that he was killed.
According to Libyan officials, also several members of a terrorist organization based in eastern Libya were killed in the strike. They say they want to see of this cooperation with the United States and the international community, going after terrorist organizations that are operating on Libyan soil.
[05:05:03] Belmokhtar, Christine, was well-known for several attacks, hostage takings. But perhaps the most notorious attack was in 2013, in January of that year, a siege, a three-day bloody siege of a gas facility in eastern Algeria, close to the Libyan border that killed 38 people, including three Americans. Most of those killed were foreign oil workers.
Now, if he was killed, indeed, in this strike, this would be a major achievement, a major intelligence achievement, but also really underscores the dangerous situation in Libya where various extremist groups are exploiting the lawlessness and chaos there to establish a foothold and plan and carry out attacks from Libya, Christine.
ROMANS: Fascinating story, indeed. Jomana Karadsheh for us Amman -- thank you.
BERMAN: Happening now, a new battleground in Syria. Kurdish fighters and ISIS militants are now battling for control of a town of the northern part of that country, despite sending thousands of Syrian refugees pouring across the border into Turkey. It is such a dicey situation already.
CNN senior international correspondent Arwa Damon joining us now from the Syria/Turkey border.
Good morning, Arwa.
ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.
This is a crisis that is already sent about upward of 15,000 refugees coming across. But it has not been an easy journey for many of them. If you remember the dramatic images of refugees packed up against the border fence here, so desperate to get through that at one point, they actually pushed the fence forward. The Turks yesterday letting them across, thousands of them gathered on the other side waiting for that border to reopen.
Now, we are right next to the official border crossing between the Syrian town of Tal Abyad and Akcakale here on the Turkish side.
However, according to a number of people who crossed already, they are saying ISIS fighters are preventing them from coming through the official border crossing. Those thousands that have gathered had to swing around, according to one man, managing to escape because he said the ISIS fighters were pre-occupied and therefore were unable to prevent families from fleeing.
Now, they are waiting once again for the Turk authorities to allow them through.
As for life under ISIS, this is where it gets complicated for so many of these individuals. Some have been displaced already and actually found it safer and easier to live under ISIS domination. Others said, look, we could either choose to live under ISIS or we could choose to live as refugees. And, frankly, we prefer to live in security even if we had to abide by their rules. They said many of them up until recently, it was fairly easy movement.
But as these forces began closing in on Tal Abyad, that is when ISIS preventing people from allowing to flee. We heard this on a number of different occasions, ISIS using civilians as human shields. A lot of people also still gathered on this side of the border, either waiting to be taken on to refugee camps or the vast majority of them still have family on the other side, that they're waiting and hoping will be allowed to cross today.
BERMAN: Caught in the middle of conflict for so long.
Arwa Damon on the Syria-Turkey border -- thanks so much.
This morning, the Obama administration is fighting to save its trade agenda after legislation giving president's fast track authority was derailed on the House on Friday. Dozens of Democrats voted against it, really the vast majority of Democrats voted against it.
Campaigning in Iowa, Hillary Clinton took a step toward siding with those Democrats who blocked the landmark trade bill.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: In order to get a deal that meets these high standards, the president should listen to and work with his allies in Congress, starting with Nancy Pelosi, who have expressed their concerns about the impact that a weak agreement would have on our workers to make sure we get the best, strongest deal possible, and if we don't get it, there should be no deal.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: The former secretary told the audience that no president would be a tougher negotiator with trade partners or Republicans in Congress than she will.
ROMANS: And, of course, the president and the White House says this is a tough deal. They say they are tough -- these are kinds of things they are concerned about, wages in the U.S., competition for American jobs, they have provisions in there to protect. But Democrats don't believe it. All right. Jeb Bush makes it official. The former Florida governor
will join the Republican race for president with the announcement at Miami-Dade College. The Bush campaign releasing a video of testimonials from Floridians on the good work Jeb Bush did as their governor. Bush will hit the ground running heading to New Hampshire and Iowa following that announcement.
BERMAN: Some new sharp elbows in the presidential race. South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham says that his fellow Republican Senator Rand Paul is the only GOP candidate who would be worse he says than Hillary Clinton on foreign policy.
[05:10:06] Senator Graham is also responding to some who are questioning why he's single.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I am single like many other people. If you've got a good marriage, God bless you. If you're single, there is nothing wrong with you. The last time I checked, there was nothing in the Constitution or White House that said single people need not apply.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: James Buchanan is the only president who never married, by the way. Grover Cleveland was a bachelor until he got to the White House, married there. But Lindsey Graham is right. I mean, there's nothing in the Constitution that says you have to be married.
Graham, of course, also says being single doesn't mean he's defective. He suggests that he could have some kind of rotating first lady, if he wins the presidency, starting with his sister.
ROMANS: He is very close with his sister.
BERMAN: Very close.
ROMANS: All right. With Jeb Bush entering the race, his economy will be facing scrutiny, namely his tax record. He's Florida governor from '99 to 2007. Bush signed a lot of tax cuts and tax break expansions. One of the biggest, a reduction and then repeal of the state's tax on personal assets, like investments. He also rolled back a school property tax, and a property tax break for veterans.
Bush isn't shying away from two controversial stances. His endorsement of Common Core national education standards and immigration overhaul, both of those things, John, are things that are at odds with the core of his party, but he is holding firm on both of those.
And Hillary Clinton is taking the populist approach. In her first campaign speech, she tore into Wall Street, tore into Wall Street. She hammered companies for making record profits and their CEOs for making record pay, while the typical worker wage has barely budged. Clinton also said she supports the right to paid sick days, paid family leave, and raising the minimum wage. She came out strongly, casting herself as an economic populist.
BERMAN: Eleven minutes after the hour right now.
New fears of shark attacks in North Carolina this morning. Two teenagers are hospitalized after separate shark encounters 90 minutes apart on the same stretch of beach. Authorities in Oak Island say both victims lost limbs. The 13-year-old girl lost her left arm and leg, and she was bitten by a shark. A short later, it was a 16-year- old boy.
ROMANS: Oh my.
BERMAN: A witness spoke to CNN affiliate WWAY.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JASON HUNTER, WITNESS: The head was about that big I think the kid said and estimated six to eight foot, no seven to eight. Blood in the water coming over with the whitewash. The kid was in shock. He was still coherent and lost and took (INAUDIBLE) off.
REPORTER: You saw that?
HUNTER: I saw what was left of what he had.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: Officials say the beaches in Oak Island will be open today, but they are urging people not to get into the water.
ROMANS: Oh my goodness.
BERMAN: All right. New details this morning about what motivated a man to open fire on Dallas police headquarters.
ROMANS: Plus, an NAACP local president accused of pretending to be black postponing a meeting to address the controversy as her brothers explained what she told them to say, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:16:04] BERMAN: New details this morning about what motivated a man to open fire on police headquarters in Dallas, Texas. Family members say that James Boulware blamed police for losing custody of the son. Authorities say he purchased an armored van on eBay, packed it with explosives and planned to kill as many police officers as he could.
Let's get more from CNN's Sara Sidner.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John and Christine, we are now learning more about James Boulware, the man who shot up the Dallas police headquarters as well as had his van -- his armored van blown up because there were explosives inside. He died at the hands of a Dallas police sniper.
His mother and father had spoken to us about him, talking about how they were worried about him, how he was extremely angry particularly at police, but also at his own family members, his mother in particular because of a custody battle.
JANINE HAMMOND, MOTHER OF JAMES BOULWARE: The charges were dropped in January, January 7th or 8th of 2013. And so, he got his guns back from the Paris police department and that's when I really began to be afraid.
SIDNER: His father talked to us about the fact that James was actually at his house three hours before he carried out the attack on Dallas police. He said that his son was very angry, he knew that. But he also said his son told him that he would be back just a few days from now. That never happened.
JIM BOULWARE, FATHER OF JAMES BOULWARE: He left from here. He mowed my yard yesterday, edged it. Told me he's going to be back in 10 days to mow it again.
SIDNER: Did you have any idea when he left?
BOULWARE: No. No. I knew he was angry at police. He blamed them for taking his son. I tried to tell him the police didn't do it. The police were doing their job. They enforce the laws.
SIDNER: We know that the ATF, the FBI and the police did show up at his father's home because that was his last whereabouts. They did check to see if there was anything in the home and the father did allow them to search that home.
We also know that police have given some new information saying that 14 of the officers have been put on routine administrative leave after this incident. And they are saying they do not believe there was anyone else involved or apart of this particular attack -- John, Christine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: All right. Sara Sidner, thank you for that, Sara.
Police in Columbus, Ohio, still have no motive for a quadruple homicide this weekend. A 16-year-old teenager is now in custody charged with the shooting deaths of four people and five counts of kidnapping. Now, police say, when officers arrived to the scene, they found an injured woman outside of the house before murder victims were discovered inside.
BERMAN: A Cleveland police officer who gunned down Tamir Rice says he felt like he had no choice. That is according to a just release sheriff's report. Officer Timothy Loehmann claimed the 12-year-old reached for a gun before he opened fire. That gun was a pellet gun. The report notes that Loehmann appeared distraught following the shooting last November. ROMANS: Now, the uproar over the NAACP leader from Spokane,
Washington, who was actually white is forcing the postponement of today's scheduled chapter meeting. A message from the group's Facebook page says the meeting is postponed due to the need to continue discussion with regional leaders, that's a quote. The move is coming under fire from NAACP board members, and there are plans for a silent protest against Rachel Dolezal tonight outside the NAACP building.
Dolezal's adoptive brothers now speaking out about the issue.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It started out with the hair and then she would have, you know, probably a little darker tan. Then it was very progressive.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She took me aside and told me to make sure that no one found out where she was actually from and she was going to change her identity, for me not to blow her cover.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[05:20:01] ROMANS: So far, the NAACP is standing by Dolezal, saying racial identity does not disqualify someone from NAACP leadership.
BERMAN: Dinosaurs are alive and well. "Jurassic World", which is the fourth film in the dinosaur franchise that brought in $204.6 million in its debut that weekend. The second highest opening in the U.S. globally, "Jurassic World" earned a record $511.8 million.
ROMANS: Wow. That is a big opening, right?
BERMAN: It would be the first film ever to break a half billion dollars in its first weekend of release.
ROMANS: Who said digital being able to have everything digitally and on demand would be the end to movies?
BERMAN: The part of it I think is the pent up demand for a big movie this summer, because there really hasn't been much yet.
ROMANS: And something just so novel about dinosaur coming -- oh, wait. There's been a bunch of them --
BERMAN: Exactly.
All right. Game five of the NBA finals. LeBron James, Steph Curry, this was an epic battle of superstars. Wait until you see the point totals these two guys put up? So who won? The Cavs. The Warriors. Andy Scholes with the answers in the bleacher report, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BERMAN: It was an epic performance by LeBron James, but it was not enough. The Warriors still beat the Cavs in game five of the NBA finals. And now, Golden State just one win away from the title.
ROMANS: Andy Scholes has more in this morning's bleacher report.
Hey, Andy.
ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning, guys.
So, this series, what can you say? It's been great. We had another awesome game last game. LeBron James and Steph Curry going toe-to-toe in game 5.
[05:25:01] And LeBron coming through with another triple double. He had 40 points, 14 rebounds and 11 assists. This three right here in the fourth gave Cleveland a one point lead.
But Steph Curry was in MVP form on this one. He was just hitting ridiculous step back threes. Hit seven from downtown on his way to 37 points. The Warriors win game five, 104-91. They are now one win away from a title.
But LeBron says he is still confident because?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LEBRON JAMES, CLEVELAND CAVALIERS: I feel confident because I'm the best player in the world. That's simple.
STEPH CURRY, GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS: We fought hard all year and put ourselves to go to Cleveland and hope to close it out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHOLES: Game six is back in Cleveland tomorrow night. Tip-off is 9:00 Eastern.
All right. Dodgers and Padres tied at two in the bottom of the ninth yesterday. And the Padres' Justin Upton thinks he hit a game winning home run, and to walk-off double. But Chuck Pederson makes the running catch, slams into the wall, saves the game for L.A. Dodgers going to win this game 4-2 in 12 innings.
Chicago Blackhawks can win the Stanley Cup tonight as they host the Lightning in game six of the series. If the Blackhawks win, it will be the third Stanley Cup in the past six years. No one has done that since the Red Wings in the '90s to early 2000s. The Blackhawks won their previous championship, they clinched on the road.
So, guys, the fans in Chicago hoping to celebrate at home tonight. And they are paying big bucks for tickets to this game. Standing room only, just to get into the arena going for $750.
ROMANS: Wow, worth every penny if you live in Chicago.
BERMAN: Four in the Romans household.
Thanks, Andy. ROMANS: All right. Thanks, Andy.
SCHOLES: All right.
ROMANS: Stunning details on just how police say a prison worker helped two dangerous killers escape as the search for the wanted felons widens. A new investigation is launched next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
