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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Dashcam Video Captures Sandra Bland's Arrest; Clash Of The GOP Titans; Top Al Qaeda Operative Killed; Stocks Slide On Weak Earnings; Obama On The Daily Show; Tennessee Shooting Investigation; Citibank Ordered To Pay Customers $700 Million. Aired 5:30-6a ET
Aired July 22, 2015 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: New dash cam video revealing Sandra Bland's dramatic confrontation with police days before she was found dead on her jail cell. Was it suicide or murder? The latest on that investigation ahead.
Donald Trump taking his feud with another presidential candidate to a whole new level. President Obama revealing his next big political battle late last night on "The Daily Show."
Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans. It's 30 minutes past the hour. It's nice to see you this morning.
Let's start this morning with that chilling new dash cam video capturing the controversial arrest of Sandra Bland. Texas police claim the 28-year-old civil rights activist from Illinois hanged herself in her jail cell three days after she was pulled over and arrested during this routine traffic stop.
Bland's family doesn't buy it. They believe police are somehow responsible for her death. The dramatic new video showing just how quickly the officer's encounter with Bland spiraled out of control. We get more from CNN's Ryan Young in Waller County, Texas.
RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christine, a very active day in this investigation. People wanting to know what exactly happened to Sandra Bland. You really can break this up into two parts.
First, what happened during a traffic stop and now we are getting to see dash cam video from inside the trooper's car. You can really see how quickly this escalated after he pulled over. There was a short conversation and then this happened.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED OFFICER: Do you mind putting out your cigarette, please, if you don't mind?
SANDRA BLAND: I'm in my car. Why do I have to put out my cigarette?
UNIDENTIFIED OFFICER: You can step on out now.
BLAND: I don't have to step out of the car.
UNIDENTIFIED OFFICER: Step out of the car.
BLAND: Why am I --
UNIDENTIFIED OFFICER: Step out of the car!
BLAND: No, you don't have the right.
UNIDENTIFIED OFFICER: Step out of the car.
BLAND: You do not have the right to do that.
UNIDENTIFIED OFFICER: I do have the right. Now step out or I will remove you.
BLAND: I refuse to talk to you other than to identify myself --
UNIDENTIFIED OFFICER: Step out or I will remove you!
(END VIDEOTAPE)
YOUNG: Now that struggle happens off camera. What we do know someone arrived with a cell phone and started shooting what was going on between that officer and Miss Bland. The officer has been put on administrative leave during this investigation because we were told there were some violations involved in this traffic stop.
But, yesterday afternoon, we got a chance to go inside the jail cell, number 95, where Sandra Bland had spent the last three days before she hanged herself, according to investigators. The sheriff walked us through and showed us how someone could look through the window and see her feet dangling.
We actually saw a trash can that had the same kind of trash liner that they believe she rolled up and put around her neck. Now, the sheriff details how the hallway, as soon as you walk down it, video cameras activate and that lets everyone know someone is in that hallway.
Investigators tried to see if they could sneak under the cameras, that couldn't happen, but this investigation remains far from over -- Christine.
ROMANS: All right, Ryan, thank you for that.
To politics now where Donald Trump and Lindsey Graham escalating their war of words, one day after Graham called Trump a jackass for his comments about John McCain's military service.
The billionaire reality show front-runner fired back, not only calling Graham an idiot and a stiff, but also broadcasting the South Carolina senator's cell phone number on live television. We get more from CNN chief congressional correspondent, Dana Bash.
DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Christine, there is an old saying, politics ain't being bad, but it usually isn't a schoolyard brawl either and that is really what this Republican presidential race is right now.
You have Donald Trump, here in South Carolina, calling his fellow Republican candidate, Lindsey Graham, an idiot and stiff. After Graham called him a jackass first and then Trump did something that is kind of unbelievable.
He held up Lindsey Graham's personal cell phone number and read it on, what turned out to be, national television.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I wrote the number down. I don't know if it's the right number. Let's try it, 202 (inaudible), I don't know. Maybe -- it's three or four years ago so maybe it's an old number.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: It is something that everybody kind of looked at and said, is this really happening? And the answer is, it is happening and not necessarily that cell phone stunt, but the kind of uncensored politically incorrect Donald Trump is what is drawing crowds like we saw here in South Carolina.
About 1,100 people came from within this retirement community to hear him speak. The auditorium was filled to the gills and there was an overflow room and they were really mesmerized. I have to say that he had these potential voters in the palm of their hand.
Now it, obviously, as it always is with Donald Trump, was not a traditional stump speech, it was more of a one-man show. He had some big applause lines on the issues that he has used to rise in the polls, illegal immigration, why the Obama administration can't, in his view, make good deals, whether it's on trade or Iran.
But, for the most part, it was people wanting to come and see what all of the fuss is about. Some saying that he scares them and that he is just a celebrity and they wanted to see the celebrity for themselves.
[05:35:07] But this is something that it really is apparent now, that he is tapping into a sentiment in the Republican Party, not necessarily on the issues, but on the need for somebody who says it like it is, who is a doer.
These are words that voters, themselves, used with me outside this event. So this is his first time here in the early primary state, first in the south primary state of South Carolina, and it's only a question of where he is going to go next and what he is going to say next -- Christine.
ROMANS: All right, Dana, thanks for that. Senator Graham showing a sense of humor after Trump broadcast his cell phone number. Tweeting, "probably getting a new phone, iPhone or Android?"
So Donald Trump is on top of all the polls, way on top of all the polls. Some perspective here, history shows early leads can be hard to hold. In the summer of 2007, for example, Rudy Giuliani was leading the Republican field.
He had more than 30 percent of the vote and then Fred Thompson seized the lead from him a few months later at 19 percent but neither candidate captured a single state.
In the summer of 2011, Michele Bachmann topped the GOP field with 17 percent. She plunged to 4 percent by November. As Herman Cain climbed to top at 23 percent of the voter. Once again both candidates failed to win even a single state.
Ohio Governor John Kasich becoming the 16th candidate to enter the Republican field kicking off his campaign with a rally at Ohio State University, his alma mater. He then went to a townhall event in New Hampshire where he touted his experience and can-do attitude.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOVERNOR JOHN KASICH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This is going to be fine. We just have to get people to believe again and it's not about -- you know, you come here because I'm running for president, OK? I'll do my part. But if you think we can fix this country from the top down, we're wrong. It gets fixed from the bottom up.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Kasich says his blend of physical conservatism and social welfare compassion separates him from the rest of the Republican field.
Hillary Clinton raking in the campaign cash in the sunshine state. The Democratic frontrunner raising more than $3 million so far in Florida, beating out Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio in their home state. Bush has picked up $2.6 million from Floridians so far and Rubio nearly $1 million behind the former governor.
A long time al Qaeda operative with a $7 million bounty on his head killed in Syria by a U.S. air strike. The Pentagon confirming that Musen Al Fadhli died when his car was struck July 8th.
The Kuwaiti-born Jihadist was the leader of Khorasan Group, a collection of senior al Qaeda members operating in Syria. A Defense Department official says his death will degrade and disrupt the external operations of al Qaeda.
The White House pulling out all of the stops to sell the nuclear deal with Iran. Secretary of State John Kerry and other top officials meeting focusing on Congress meeting with House and Senate members in closed briefings this afternoon.
Defense Secretary Ash Carter nearing the end of his tour to the Middle East, little or no progress reported after his stops in Israel and Jordan. The Israelis really against this deal. Carter is heading to Saudi Arabia today to meet with members of the Saudi Defense Ministry. All right, time for an EARLY START on your money. Asian and
European stocks lower so are U.S. stock futures. A lot of big names down before the bell like Apple and Microsoft. Those companies reported earnings. Wall Street wasn't happy about.
Well, that's a close up on the money story! Yesterday, the Dow dropped 181 points thanks to more disappointing earnings from IBM, Verizon and others.
Yesterday was an absolutely disastrous day for identify theft protection company, Lifelock. Shares plunged 50 percent on news the company is in trouble for failing to protect customers' data.
Again, in 2010, Lifelock was forced to refund $12 million for making false claims about its services. Lifelock then promised to do a better job protecting users' personal information like credit cards, Social Security number, and bank account numbers.
That is its business model to protect that stuff. The Federal Trade Commission says Lifelock has broken that promise. Lifelock says it will take that case to court.
President Obama making the final appearance on "The Daily Show" with Jon Stewart and used it to promote his nuclear deal with Iran, insisting a potentially catastrophic problem has been taken off the table. The president crowing about his recent Obamacare and free trade victories and he insists he is not done yet.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: So the way I'm feeling right now is I have got 18 months and a bunch of other things that we want to get done. Some of them, we got started early. Climate change is a good example.
We doubled fuel efficiency started on cars and increased solar power by 20 times. Now we have got a Paris conference on climate change coming up later this year, and if we can get China and India and some of the other big countries to take a look at what we have already done, and finally get something global, that would start addressing what is going to be --
JON STEWART, HOST, "THE DAILY SHOW": You're fixing everything? Last 18 months, fixing everything?
PRESIDENT OBAMA: That's my goal. Yes, basically.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[05:40:07] ROMANS: The president likes to say that the last quarter of the basketball game is often the most exciting. He is in his last quarter. The president is lamenting the fact that Stewart is leaving "The Daily Show" before he leaves the White House even joking about issuing an executive order commanding Stewart to stay. He joked that executive order was tied up in the courts. All right, was the Tennessee gunman who murdered five U.S.
service members radicalized? Disturbing new information about what investigators found on his computer and cell phone next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: This morning, flags at the U.S. capitol and the White House are flying at half-staff in honor of the five military service members gunned down in Chattanooga last week. Federal authorities investigating the shooting will hold a news conference today as we learn more about the gunman, Mohammad Abdulazeez and his drug use and his depression, and now his family connections in the Middle East.
New evidence also suggested he may have been radicalized by a militant cleric. We get more this morning from CNN's Gary Tuchman.
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Christine, we know that Mohammad Abdulazeez, the gunman, went to Jordan last year and that U.S. authorities are investigating that trip.
We are being told by a family representative that his parents wanted him to go to Jordan because of the downward spiral his life had taken in Tennessee with severe depression and drug addiction. They hoped he would get his life in order living with relatives for a time in Jordan.
[05:45:04] One of those relatives was an uncle. We have now learned that uncle has been detained by Jordanian authorities. A lawyer for that uncle says he is not free to go. He is being questioned and detained four days.
He has not been arrested. It is not being considered, at this point, that he is being investigated for any crime, just that he is being questioned by Jordanian authorities who are not commenting about the interrogation that is taking place.
Also, we want to tell you about the possibility that this gunman received any outside advice from any people who wanted him to become a domestic terrorist. The parents deny that. They do say that in his weak moments, though, he got into, quote, "evil ideology."
They say he had some writings back in 2013 after he was fired from a job at an Ohio nuclear power plant because he failed the drug testing. In those writings, he talked about Anwar Awlaki who was a U.S. born cleric from Yemen, who is a leader of al Qaeda, a notorious leader, a senior recruiter.
According to the family representative, quote, "some of his writings had an affinity for him and also some of the writings made sense to him." But we are told by the parents through this spokesman he did not mention any other names.
He did not mention any organizations in these writings including al Qaeda, but either way that is certainly being investigated by U.S. authorities. Christine, back to you. ROMANS: Gary Tuchman, certainly a complicated picture emerging. Let's take a look at what's coming up on NEW DAY. Alisyn Camerota joins us this morning. Hi, Alyson.
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR, "NEW DAY": Hi, Christine. Great to see you. We will have much more on that dash cam video that shows the arrest of a young woman who later died in a Texas jail cell. The video appears to be edited. What does that tell us about how the police have handled this?
Also Donald Trump causing more controversy so what will GOP leaders do about him? We will talk to them about their plan.
Plus, Director Judd Apatow will be here. He has become a very vocal critic of Bill Cosby. He's even done a recent stand-up routine about it. Why has he taken on Cosby so strongly? We are also going to talk to him about his new film "Trainwreck." I saw it last night and boy, do we have a lot to talk about so all of that will be on the show when I see at the top of the hour.
ROMANS: Are you giving it two thumbs up? What is your rating system?
CAMEROTA: It was a full barrel of popcorn.
ROMANS: Good. I hear she is amazing, funny, and a great writer, so I can't wait to see it. Thank you so much.
A terror plan foiled. Two arrested in what could have been a catastrophic attack on U.S. soldiers. What we are learning this morning, ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:51:18]
ROMANS: British prosecutors have charged a man and his uncle with trying to join ISIS in Syria. Authorities say the 24-year-old nephew was also plotting a hit and run style attack on U.S. military personnel based in the U.K.
CNN senior international correspondent, Frederik Pleitgen is live in London. How far did this plot get?
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Christine. Yes, the British authorities here said that the arrests were part of an ongoing investigation.
Apparently, there was a plot that was already hatched out. As you said, this man, Ahmad Kahn and his uncle wanted to travel to Syria. Before that, apparently, Kahn wanted to commit terror attacks against U.S. service members stationed here in Britain.
Now he is a delivery driver here in the area outside of London and, apparently, he was already scoping out military bases that have U.S. soldiers on them.
In the charges that were read out, it was said that apparently he was planning what they call a car accident style attack, which could mean that he might have wanted to hit a U.S. service member with a car and then use a knife to kill him.
Now, there was also talk of possibly a suicide vest also being used. Apparently, he also downloaded instructions to build what is called a pressure cooker bomb that was supposed to be deposited in a backpack.
One of the other details that have been released is apparently he was also on an on online chat site where an anonymous person offered him the addresses of British soldiers here in the United kingdom, but he turned that down saying that he wanted to kill Americans instead.
The court date for these two people for the trial to begin is August 10th and needless to say, Christine, they are not getting out a bail before that.
ROMANS: All right, Fred Pleitgen, thank you for that, Fred, this morning in London.
Apple reporting huge iPhone demand, soaring revenue and a stunning $200 billion in cash so why are Apple shares sinking right now, that's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:56:47] ROMANS: I'm Christine Romans. Let's get an EARLY START on your money this morning. Stock futures are lower, disappointing earnings from some big names including Apple. Apple shares down 5 percent before the open.
Look, it was a remarkable quarter for Apple, but not remarkable enough. Apple revenue almost 50 billion and 47.5 million iPhones sold and up 60 percent from a year ago.
But investors are accustomed to Apple's blow-out quarters and expecting even bigger sales. Apple making so much money so quickly, it now has $203 billion in cash. Shares trading at 5 percent discount this morning.
Citibank paying a price for deceptive marketing techniques, Citi ordered to pay $700 million to 8.8 million customers. Between 2003 and 2012, Citi enrolled customers in credit monitoring services and some other programs, promising to defer payments in the event of financial hardship.
But the government says Citi overstated the benefits and misrepresented fees. The bank says it is cooperating and has closed down all programs associated with that overcharging.
The government gives the AT&T-DirecTV merger a green light. The FCC ready to approve the $49 billion merger with a few conditions. Essentially AT&T can't give its own video services a leg up over video streaming competition like Netflix and Hulu. The Justice Department also gave the merger its blessing.
New dash cam video revealing Sandra Bland's dramatic confrontation with police. How this thing spiraled out of control and then days later she was found dead in her jail cell days. "NEW DAY" picks up that story now.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: New dash cam video intended to give answers is now raising more questions.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The video appears to have several discrepancies.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Slam me, knock my head, I have epilepsy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What exactly happened to Miss Bland?
ROMANS: Donald Trump firing back at Lindsey Graham.
SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM: He is becoming a jackass.
TRUMP: He called me a jackass. Let's try it. He won't fix anything, but at least he'll talk to you.
GRAHAM: This is the beginning of the end of Donald Trump.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST, "THE SITUATION ROOM": Growing evidence that the Chattanooga gunman was influenced by one of al Qaeda's most notorious figures.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I believe that brainwashed him. He was sort of perfect prey.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Welcome to your NEW DAY. It's Wednesday, July 22nd, 6:00 in the east.
Up first, did police alter dash cam video in the arrest of Sandra Bland? We are going to show you the video, its anomalies and then you decide. Remember, this was just a routine traffic stop and quickly escalated into a heated conversation and landing Bland behind bars. Three days later, she was found dead in her cell.
CAMEROTA: Now police say she committed suicide, hanging herself with a plastic bag, but her family has their doubts. They are demanding an independent autopsy and investigation into her death.
CNN's Ed Lavandera is live in Hempstead, Texas with all of the developments this morning. Good morning, Ed.
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alisyn. Well, the family of Sandra Bland and investigators looking at this video trying to see if it puts together anymore clues or information as to why Sandra Bland ended up dead here in Texas.
