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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Charleston Church Shooter: Planning a Bigger Attack?; New York Prison Break: How Did the Killers Escape?; Obamacare Survives Court Challenge. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired June 26, 2015 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:19] JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking overnight: could the Charleston shooter have been planning a bigger attack? Disturbing new revelations in the case, as President Obama travels to South Carolina to honor the victims of the massacre.

Were prison guards sleeping on the job, literally? New information this morning on how two dangerous killers might have escaped.

Then the president's health care plan upheld by the Supreme Court. But this morning, the fight for Obamacare is far from over.

Good morning, everyone. Welcome to EARLY START. Happy Friday. I'm John Berman. It's June 26, 4:00 a.m. in the East. Christine Romans is off today.

Breaking overnight, new evidence that the man who has admitted to killing nine people in a Charleston church may have been planning a much larger killing spree. A Columbia police report says that during a police stop in March, officers found a part for an assault weapon plus six 40-round ammunition clips in the killer's car.

Now, the suspect, you saw him right there, told the officers he wanted to buy an AR15 assault rifle for shooting on a range but did not have the money. This information comes as the killer's family is promising to provide answers to the many questions about the attack at some point in the future, but in a statement the family says now is not the time.

Quote, "We would like to take this time to reflect on the victims and give their families time to grieve. We feel it would be inappropriate to say anything at this time other than we are truly sorry for their loss. After an appropriate time, there will be an opportunity to have questions answered but we ask that right now, care and attention and support be given to the grieving family members of the victims."

Along those lines, happening today, President Obama and the first lady fly to Charleston for the funeral of the Reverend Clementa Pinckney. The president will deliver the eulogy for the pastor of Emanuel AME Church, one of the nine people, he was one of the nine people killed in last week's attack.

National correspondent Martin Savidge is in Charleston with the latest for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John.

Today is going to be another emotional day here in Charleston. It was yesterday, of course. We had the first two funerals and last night we saw as the Reverend Clementa Pinckney was carried back to the church he led and the church in which he was murdered just over a week ago. In fact, it was a very powerful scene as you watch his casket being carried up the front step of Mother Emanuel Church.

Today, there's going to be just a whole host of dignitaries that will be attending his funeral. First and foremost, the president, the first lady, the vice president, the speaker of the house, and also Secretary Hillary Clinton, that's just naming some of the dignitaries.

The role that the president has to play, of course, he's delivering the eulogy, but he's going to be the comforter in chief. It's a role that he's had to play before, but this one and this time is very, very different. Unlike other national tragedies this one is a racially motivated massacre. He's our first black president, and race is an issue that he's not really wanted to talk about much in the early part of his administration but as we know from just this week, it became a very blunt conversation.

So, it is likely that race will be part of the eulogy. It's also possible that gun control, gun issues could be part of this eulogy as well. This is not just a city that has to heal, but it's a nation that will also be looking to the president, not just for comfort but perhaps for some insight for the issue of race, which as a nation we still grapple with today -- John.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: Indeed we do. It will be a moving day in South Carolina. Our thanks to Martin for that.

New information this morning on the help that a New York corrections officer allegedly gave to two killers that escaped from an upstate maximum security prison nearly three weeks ago. Court documents reveal Gene Palmer told detectives he unintentionally made their escape easier by providing needle nose pliers and flat head screwdriver to one of the inmates.

Now, Palmer has not spoken publicly since his arrest Wednesday, but we know something of the veteran prison guard's state of mind from earlier remarks. He interviewed public radio back in 2000.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

GENE PALMER, PRISON EMPLOYEE: With the money that they pay you, you'll go bald, you'll have high blood pressure, you'll become an alcoholic, you'll divorce and then you kill yourself.

It's a negative environment. And long-term exposure to a negative environment you become hard on issues. As in, when you see someone get cut in the face and they are bleeding and stuff. (END AUDIO CLIP)

[04:05:00] BERMAN: And that was 15 years ago.

For the latest on the investigation into the escape, let's bring in CNN's Alexander Field.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALEXANDER FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, the inspector general's office is doing a thorough investigation, trying to determine what kinds of protocol may have been breached to allow the prisoners to successfully complete that elaborate escape plan.

Now, investigators are looking at whether corrections officers on the honor block may have slept during their even shift. That could have potentially left David Sweat and Richard Matt unsupervised long enough to prepare for their escape.

At the same time, a second prison employee has been charged in connection with that escape. Gene Palmer is talking candidly to state police, talking about what was going on behind bars. He even talks about being involved in certain trades with the inmates.

He says that there was an exchange. He was given paintings and information about potentially illegal activity behind bars, in exchange for certain kinds of assistance, including paint and paint brushes, hamburger meat and access to an electrical box in the catwalk behind the men's cells, the same catwalks that they had to move through in order to escape from that prison.

Palmer tells police he had no idea that any of the assistance he was providing would in any way make an escape easier -- John.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: Thanks to Alexandra for that report.

CNN actually spoke to the accused corrections officer about his actions shortly before his arrest. A CNN producer interviewed Gene Palmer after -- off camera, after he gave his statement to detectives.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN PRODUCER: There was a sense of despair, sort of, what did I do? And he felt really, really bad. You could see the pain all over his face. At one point he started to cry. When he was thinking about his family and sort of what he did and what life would be like for him now, this man was a correction officer for 28 years. He was part of what he called a law enforcement team and never did he ever expect something like this to happen. And he had no intention for this to happen.

You know, I sort of felt that he really sort of that he felt betrayed -- betrayed by the prisoners, by Matt and Sweat, who we befriended at the jail, who were providing him with information and really people he felt, you know, were helping him and he was in some ways helping them and there was nothing wrong with that in his mind.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Information just keeps oncoming out.

Gene Palmer is now out on bail on $25,000 bail. He's still not speaking publicly.

A pilot and eight passengers are dead after small plane crash in Alaska. The eight were cruise ship passengers on a sightseeing tour. Authorities say the plane crashed into a cliff Thursday, some 25 miles from Ketchikan, Alaska.

It is still not known what caused the crash. Investigators are headed to the scene. The eight passengers were taking a seven-day cruise aboard the Holland America ship MS Amsterdam.

This morning, Republicans are vowing that their fight to kill Obamacare is not over even though the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that it is legal for the government to subsidize insurance for Americans who buy through the federal exchange. The ruling -- the response to the ruling at the White House can best be described as, you can see it right there, jubilant.

CNN's Michelle Kosinski has the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, John.

Well, what we have been hearing from the White House, leading up to this decision, was a lot of confident posturing, saying things like this is an easy case. It should never have been taken up, almost challenging the Supreme Court publicly.

So, then to see this sense of relief around here, the celebration after the decision, tells you that maybe they didn't think it was quite so certain things would go their way. I mean, there were after all two separate speeches written just in case. Then, you see the photos of people full on hugging; the president exuberantly slapping hands there with his chief of staff.

Also, when he went out to the Rose Garden to deliver his speech, he went immediately to legacy, saying that, you know, this is something that had been talked about for a century, debated for decades, but now, health care is the right of everyone. Listen.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The Affordable Care Act is here to stay. Some day our grand kids will ask us if there was really a time when America discriminated against people who get sick, because that is something this law has ended for good.

KOSINSKI: So, is the president going to celebrate this? The White House won't say. Does he feel vindicated? They also won't use that word, but they do say that he is pleased. You know, the White House, as usual, want to frame this in terms of

helping the middle class. The president said this is a victory for hardworking Americans. It's a good day for America. He doesn't say it's a good day for himself.

But we all know, but this is a very good day for the White House, one of their best, especially since on the very same day the president's Congress passed these extremely contentious bills that now open the door to his historic trade pact with Asia.

The White House acknowledges, though, that the battles are far from over.

[04:10:02] I mean, already Republicans are vowing to keep trying to, quote, "protect" Americans from Obamacare by repealing it. And also, as the trade deal with Asia gets to its final stages, the president could face another showdown with members of his own party.

Keep in mind, five days from now, or four days from now, is the deadline for the Iran nuclear deal and that is going to bring a set of fireworks all its own -- John.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: Yes, it doesn't get any easier.

Michelle Kosinski at the White House, thanks so much.

The Supreme Court is set to hand down for rulings this morning. Four major cases remain, including drugs use and execution, the cost of cleaning up power plant emissions, the use of nonpartisan panels in congressional redistricting, and really the big one, highly anticipated decision on whether same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry. Again, that's 10:00 Eastern Time this morning, another day on the docket on Monday.

Secretary of State John Kerry heads to Vienna today for the final stretch of nuclear talks. The goal: to reach an agreement that limits Iran's nuclear program in exchange for lifting international sanctions. Now, the deadline is June 30th, though that could slip. This comes as former advisers to the president released an open letter this week strongly warning against a bad deal.

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest responded, he says the president will not sign a deal that falls short.

Secretary Kerry found himself in a bit of tough spot before leaving the State Department, releasing a list of human rights violations of countries across the globe. And Iran was prominently on that list for violations, including restricting rights to free speech, unlawful detention, even torture. Some believe the ongoing negotiations show Iran's desire to join the mainstream international community, but the State Department says Iran's human rights practices do not demonstrate that.

U.S. intelligence officials are investigating whether Chinese hackers were behind the theft of millions of personnel records from the federal government. National Intelligence Director James Clapper says China is the leading suspect right now. It's unclear how many people have been affected by the hack, but investigators believe as many as 18 million Social Security numbers could have been compromised. Beijing has repeatedly denied being involved.

Breaking overnight, new developments concerning Hillary Clinton's e- mails. The State Department now says it's received 15 Libya-related e-mails that Hillary Clinton did not hand over from the personal account she used while she was secretary of state.

The e e-mails are between Clinton and long time confident friend Sidney Blumenthal. They reportedly predate the Benghazi terror attack and include few words actually written by Clinton herself. The omitted e-mails may spur John Boehner to subpoena the server, which is in Clinton's home.

Time now for an early start on your money. Alison Kosik is here with that.

Good morning.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN MONEY CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

And I am seeing some concern about what's happening with Greece creeping into the markets. European and Asian stocks are lower right now. U.S. futures are following their lead.

Yesterday, we saw stocks fall after another day of Greece debt talks ending without a deal. It was the second day in a row of red arrows for the Dow, which lost 75 points. The NASDAQ and S&P 500 also fell almost half a percent.

But there was a bright spot in the market. Health care stocks jumped after the Supreme Court upheld subsidies in the Affordable Care Act. It was the only sector in the S&P to end the day positive, gaining half a percent. Hospitals were the biggest winners because more of their customers will have insurance, which should make hospitals more profitable.

We saw shares of some hospital operators, John, jumping 9 percent to 12 percent. Not only did the Obama administration win, Americans won and so did investors.

BERMAN: The insurance companies, they always seem to make money no matter what.

Alison Kosik, thanks so much.

Donald Trump facing a big backlash over controversial comments he made on immigration and Mexico. What he said that has Univision dropping the Miss USA pageant and cutting ties with everything Trump, that's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [04:17:08] BERMAN: Newly minted presidential candidate Donald Trump is threatening to sue the Spanish language TV network Univision for dropping coverage of the Miss USA pageant, which Trump co-owns. Univision says it is responding to harsh words from Trump about Mexican immigrants in his campaign kickoff speech.

This is what some of Trump said earlier this month.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: They are bringing drugs, they are bringing crime, they are rapists and some I assume are good people. But I speak to border guards and they tell us what we're getting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: On Thursday, Trump spoke to Erin Burnett about the lawsuit and what he calls his love for the Mexican people.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP (via telephone): They have a huge legal ability. You know, we're going to be suing them any way because Univision has been, in my opinion, given instructions from Mexico to get me, not to stop so much with the border, but to stop talking about trade with Mexico and other countries, but to stop talking about trade with Mexico, because Mexico is ripping us off so badly. And again, I love Mexican people. Their tremendous spirit, tremendous -- I have great affection for the Mexican people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: He has great affection for the Mexican people.

Donald Trump says Univision is reneging what he called an ironclad contract. Both co-hosts of the Spanish language Miss USA telecast have now dropped out.

So, is Chris Christie the next candidate to jump into the presidential candidate race? Or not? The New Jersey governor is disputing reports that he plans to announce his candidacy next week. In a radio interview Thursday, Christie said he has absolutely not made a final decision about running. Christie says he cannot be held to account for every bit of speculation by the press, but that announcement could be Tuesday at 11:00. So, stay tuned.

A new CNN/WMUR poll with some eye-opening numbers on the current state of the race on the Republican side. Jeb Bush is leading with 16 percent, followed by Donald Trump in New Hampshire at 11 percent. Then, comes Rand Paul at 9 percent, Scott Walker at 8, and Carly Fiorina and Marco Rubio each at 6 percent. That's a bit of a jump for Carly Fiorina.

On the Democratic side in New Hampshire, the surprise is not that Hillary Clinton is ahead but her lead is now in the single digits, actually within the margin of error. It's an 8-point advantage over Bernie Sanders, 43 percent to 35 percent.

It is day two for the defense case in the trial of Colorado movie theater gunman James Holmes. A psychiatrist testified Thursday that Holmes was severely mentally ill and unable to tell right from wrong when he opened fire inside an Aurora movie theater in 2012, killing 12 people and wounding 70. Attorneys for Holmes claim he was legally insane at the time of the shooting. Prosecutors have asked for the death penalty.

Boston marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is waking up this morning in a federal prison in Florence, Colorado.

[04:20:00] Tsarnaev was transferred there after a federal judge in Boston formally sentenced him to death for killing three people and injuring 264 in the marathon attack. Tsarnaev will remain at the Colorado facility until the appeals in his case are exhausted. That could be sometime.

Uber drivers attacked, tires slashed, celebrities caught in the cross fire. What is causing the violence in the streets? That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: This is getting really ugly. Taxi drivers in France are vowing to continue protests against the online ride service Uber. Angry drivers turned the streets of Paris really into chaos on Thursday, blocking roads and attacking drivers they thought were working for Uber.

Courtney Love was among the passengers caught in president crossfire. She tweeted, "They ambushed our car and are holding our driver hostage. They are beating the cars with metal bats. This is France? I'm safer in Baghdad," she says.

CNN's Jim Bittermann is live in Paris with the latest.

Jim, this is really serious.

JIM BITTERMAN, CNN SENIOR EUROPEAN CORRESPONDENT: John, it was yesterday, that's for sure. And she wasn't the only one, Courtney Love. Thousands of other people who were trying to get to their planes yesterday were prevented from doing so.

Basically, though, the today the situation is a whole lot calmer. There's still some hard liners holding out at one big intersection here in Paris and places in Lille and Marseille. But for the most part, it's calmed down somewhat, after the words of the president of the France and the interior minister last night.

[04:25:03] Both of them condemned UberPop. This is the low cost alternative to Uber which allows just anybody with a driver's license and a car to be an Uber driver. And it's UberPop that has been found in violation of the law, according to a court. UberPop has appealed that decision.

But even while it's under appeal, the interior minister says he's going to go after the UberPop drivers, he's going to arrest them, impound their cars and he's also going to go after the administration of UberPop if they urge, as they have had overnight, if they urge their drivers to continue driving.

So, it looks like the government has gotten ahead of this thing now. It's hard to say, however, the drivers, some of the drivers that are holding out are pretty tough guts as we say.

BERMAN: Yes, all too late for Courtney Love. Jim Bittermann for us in Paris, thanks so much.

Troubling new information this morning about the Charleston church shooter. Was he planning an even bigger attack? There are signs perhaps he was. We have new details after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)