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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Ferguson Marks Anniversary of Michael Brown Shooting; Donald Trump Not Backing Down on Megyn Kelly Remarks; Congressional Delegation in Israel to Discuss Iran Deal. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired August 10, 2015 - 05:00   ET

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

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN: A year to the day after Michael Brown was shot and killed by police. What led up to the confrontation, and could more violence be in store with demonstrations planned today? We have all the breaking details.

Good morning, welcome to Early Start. I'm Christine Romans. It is Monday, August 10th, it is 5:00 a.m. in the east. John Berman is off today.

Our breaking news overnight -- gunfire erupts in Ferguson, Missouri, one year after a police officer shot and killed Michael Brown. CNN reporters on the ground say there were at least three rounds of gunfire. Officials in Ferguson say two people were shot after officers came under heavy gun fire.

CNN's Sara Sidner was interviewing Ferguson's Interim Police Chief, Andre Anderson when shots rang out. Listen.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

ANDRE ANDERSON, INTERIM CHIEF OF POLICE, FERGUSON, MO: We are trying to work with the community. We are explaining to them their rights, and we just want to be as patient as possible.

UNKNOWN: Message to those who are looting.

ANDERSON: Get down. Gunfire.

UNKNOWN: Take cover.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

ROMANS: The police department says one officer was hurt by a hurled brick. A laceration to the face. Now, none were injured in the exchange of fire. I want to go to Ferguson right now.

CNN's Sara Sidner was there, interviewing the interim police chief when the shots rang out, and she can tell us what we know. We know that the suspect who they think shot at police is in the hospital in unstable condition, we're told. Gravely wounded, in surgery. Walk us through, Sara, what exactly happened there.

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We don't know exactly what happened with the shooting of the person that police engaged. What we do know is where we were standing we could hear a barrage of gunshots going off. As we were (inaudible) as the police line that was standing on west (inaudible) and trying to get about three dozen protesters to move back. We know that shooting did not happen at that police line where the protesters were standing.

We can tell you it was at least several hundred yards away where we heard gunshots ring out. It wasn't two or three. It was more like 10 or 15 or 18 gunshots that went off. And then after that, we heard another round of gun shots going off. Of course, as soon as they went off, everyone took cover. All of the police, all of the protesters scattered. The police were being told to get out of the streets and take cover, take cover, take cover. Everyone did that.

And then after that point in time, we were told by police about an hour later that someone had been shot, and it was an officer-involved shooting. But the initial shooting, we still do not know who was involved in that. From our vantage point, it wasn't the officers on the protest line standing face to face with protesters. Something happened far away from that. We are trying to get details as to exactly what sparked all this in the first place, but it was a chaotic scene. And we are hearing some details from St. Louis and the police chief there. St. Louis County Police Chief John Belmar.

CHIEF JOHN BELMAR, ST. LOUIS COUNTY POLICE: In the meantime, plain- clothed detectives were further down to the south -- to the north, I'm sorry, from where we were at the time in Ferguson and West Florissant. And they were monitoring an individual in the crowd they believed was armed.

They believe three or four of his acquaintances were armed also. And they had put a 1068 or informational bulletin out over the radio that this individual, they described him, was armed and that we should be aware of it in that area. The concern of the plain-clothes detectives also at the time was that are we going to get in the situation that we're -- perhaps shots could be fired; the skirmish line, because the officers are pretty much just standing there. Of course, they are standing behind the folks out there protesting and voicing their opinions.

So, I don't know exactly what time it was, but we ended up with a situation, and some of this was captured on local media to where several shots rang out. I'm guessing 40, 50, probably over 45 seconds. It could have been a little bit longer than that. So, that was an exchange of gunfire between two groups. These groups were on the west side of West Florissant near the Sam's Market.

At the same time, these plain clothed detectives are located one building to the south of where the actual shooting, the officer involved shooting, is going to take place.

An individual they are tracking crosses the street. He gets all the way to the shoulder. They think at the time he probably gathers himself and he's going to go across the street. They turn out in an SUV, it's an unmarked SUV, but it has interior red and blue lights that are illuminated when they come out. The suspect engages them with gunfire almost at the grill of the car, strike the hood. I don't know if you have seen pictures of it yet, three or four times, strike the windshield I think four or five times. The plain clothes detectives return fire from the inside of the van. But they don't know if they hit him or not, they don't really know.

The suspect ran to the east on the north side of the building, he turned back around as the detectives got out of the car. Shots were fired again. He ran around behind the building down to the south. That's a fenced area back there, so there was really nowhere to go at that point. He engaged the officers at the time. There were four officers who in that van. All four fired at the suspect and the suspect fell there. Suspect is in a local hospital, he is in critical, unstable condition in surgery.

SIDNER: So you are hearing the details there. Chief Belmar explained there were indeed different shootings that happened, one between two groups, and one where officers engaged a suspect they believe to have a gun.

We are now hearing also from them, obviously they are talking about the fact they did indeed strike someone, and that they believe he had a .9-millimeter on him. He has been taken to the hospital in unstable and critical and unstable condition. We also know that an officer was injured separately of the shooting. Not hit by any gun fire, but hit with a brick. It is a female officer has been injured. And we are waiting to hear more details about anyone else who may have been hurt during this really, really intense time where two shootings happened one right after the other.

Christine.

ROMANS: One after the other. And again, Chief Belmar very concerned. He said that the reason they had those undercover plain clothes officers there watching the crowd. They were very concerned about the line of unformed officers who were just sitting targets if someone had an illegal gun. He said that gun was recovered from the shooting was a stolen gun. Listen to him -- you know, I was struck by something he said in the press conference, where he said something has to change.

It's been a year. They have been doing all kinds of reforms in the city, but if you have criminal elements, he needs more help from the community to try to stop that. Listen to what he said specifically about a small group of people who do not want to preserve the peace.

Listen.

BELMAR: While this is a tragedy for the family of this man and certainly for the officers involved, it is truly a tragedy, there is a small group of people out there that are intent on making sure we don't have peace that prevails. I don't know how else to say that. But that's just the bottom line on this. And that's unfortunate. Because with the folks that were in the street with -- last night, listen, a lot of emotions. I get it. But this is something different. We can't sustain this as a community as we move forward.

We have other individuals out there who are armed right now, they're part of this group. We need the public's help. We can't do it by ourselves, we have to have the community helping us, and working with us to identify this and make this stop.

ROMANS: He says, Sara, basically they are still close to another tragedy there. It's still a volatile situation one year later.

SIDNER: Look, it hasn't been. I can tell you that yes, there is still an uncomfortable unsettling feeling here, because people who believe the city has not changed enough. There have been changes. There is a new interim police chief. First black chief ever police chief of the Ferguson police department. There is a new interim city council -- city manager, first black man to manage the city.

And there are two new city council members who were voted in; both of them are black. So now, city government is starting to reflect the population, which is 67 percent African-American in this city. There have been changes, but some people are saying the frustration and those changes have not gotten down to the grassroots problems here, which is both racially tinged, and also people feeling like they were harassed by police.

That being said, this has been a fairly peaceful week. There hasn't been anything like this. I have been here for the week as people got ready to commemorate Michael Brown's death. And there are also residents here that are talking about the fact that, look, they're sad about what happened to a young man who died so early and who was killed. But they also point to the fact that the officer was exonerated, both by a grand jury who decided not to indict him in the shooting, and the Department of Justice who looked into it to see if there were civil rights violations. And they found none.

He was, in essence, cleared of any wrongdoing in this case. There are still people here that do not believe that, and still very angry about the decision made by both the grand jury -- more the grand jury than the DOJ. There are elements in the crowds that really have no intention of being protesters. They are there to take advantage of the protests. And we saw that today. There was looting at a couple of businesses, the windows were broken into. The business people who are here stayed here throughout all this, reopened their stores. Unboarded their stores. Fixed their windows from the last couple of times. And now again, some of them are being hit again.

Very frustrating for the residents who love this city. Residents that will admit something has to change, but enjoy being here and are not leaving. It is a very frustrating thing for those people who live here and have to deal with all this.

ROMANS: Yes, I think frustrating is exactly the right word. Sara Sidner, thank you so much for that. I know you have a lot of reporting to do still. Appreciate you taking the time and walking us through what happened last night.

Again, the streets are quiet right now in Ferguson, but a very rough night. Thanks.

To the other big story this morning, nearly 60 members of the House in Israel today discussing the Iran nuclear deal with Israeli and Palestinian officials. Israeli Prime minister Netanyahu will be among the leaders meeting with the delegation. This as President Obama sits down with CNN exclusively. President says there is more on the line than just nuclear arms control in the Middle East.

CNN's Oren Liebermann for us this morning, live in Jerusalem. Good morning, Oren.

OREN LIEBERMAN: CNN CORRESPONDENT Good morning, Christine. Half of that big delegation, 22 Democrats, met with Prime Minister Netanyahu yesterday. The Iran deal came up, it was discussed, of course, Prime Minister Netanyahu has been, perhaps, the most outspoken critic of this deal, lobbying against it from the beginning, lobbying against the framework deal, and final agreement, and now he has set his sights on Congress.

He knows he has the Republicans for the most part on his side in terms of voting against this deal when it comes up in mid-September, and now he is trying to see if he can win over any Democrats.

Of course, he won over a big name when Senator Chuck Schumer announced that he would vote against the deal. Now he has a golden opportunity for him to lobby some of these 22 Democrats, many of whom, or least some of whom are considered swing votes on the deal. He met with them yesterday. They are scheduled to leave tonight. And then those Republicans come in.

And of course, this has been more of what we have seen playing out, this public back and forth between Obama and Netanyahu here. President Obama sat down with CNN's Fareed Zakaria, said that what is good for America should be good for Israel, and also talked about how this is all about or at least partly about America's ability to shape foreign policy, and to shape foreign agenda. Lobbying and saying this would be a good deal for Israel, just as it is a good deal for America, trying to win over some of the Democrats and make sure he has those Democrats in his pocket.

So, this is a critical moment here, with five weeks to go. Prime Minister Netanyahu has these 58 Congress members here, as he tries to win some of them over. President Obama tries to make sure he has as many votes as possible.

Christine.

ROMANS: All right, now the sales job goes. Thank you so much for that, Oren Lieberman for us in Jerusalem.

Time for an Early Start on your money. Here is a look at world markets, world stock markets this morning. Asian shares mostly higher. Weak data on Chinese exports and producer prices, boosting hopes of government stimulus there. European shares a little less rosy; you've got negotiations wrapping up over the new Greek bailout deal. U.S. stock futures are up.

But the trend here -- wow, turns out stocks do go down, folks. Dow closed 45 points lower on Friday; that added to a seven day losing streak, the longest in four years. The Dow now down 2.5 percent for the year. Also, watching commodities

this morning, big moves there. Oil prices are still falling. Crude oil trading under $44 a barrel, very close to a low for the year. Weakening demand in China gets the blame this morning. as there is a supply boom around the world.

All right, 14 minutes past the hour. Donald Trump standing his ground. He says comments about a debate moderator are being taken out of context. The GOP field doesn't think so, and are sharply critical of their fellow Republican. More on the race for the White House, next.

Donald Trump is not backing down this morning from his controversial insult aimed at Fox News Debate Moderator Megyn Kelly.

Listen to what he told CNN on Friday night.

DONALD TRUMP, GOP PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: She gets out and she starts asking me all sorts of ridiculous questions. You know, you could see there was blood coming out of her eyes. Blood coming out of her wherever, but she was, in my opinion, she was off base.

ROMANS: So many of Trump's opponents claim that the billionaire was suggesting that Kelly had been menstruating. Trump says, only a sick person -- his words -- only a sick person would think that is what he meant. He said she was just mad and bleeding from the eyes. But as criticism mounts, some political strategists say this may be what turns the tide against Trump. CNN's Sunlen Serfaty has more from Washington.

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christine, Donald Trump again not backing down, sticking to his guns, refusing to apologize, saying there is really nothing he believes he needs to apologize for. He says his comments were misinterpreted. Here is how he explained on what he was trying to say on State of the Union with Jake Tapper.

TRUMP: No, I said blood was pouring for whatever, because I wanted to finish the sentence, because I went on to something -- I wanted to get off of the whole thing and get back on to subject of jobs, or whatever we were talking to about right after that. So, I even say anything, because I didn't finish the thought. I was going to say nose and/or ears, because that's a very common statement, blood pour out of somebody's nose -- it's a statement showing anger. She had great anger when she was questioning me.

SERFATY: And this gives an opening for many of the Republican candidates, most notably Carly Fiorina as the only woman in the Republican field to come out and speak up against this. And she talked about times in her past in the corporate world that she had to put up with the same sort of insinuations herself. She called Trump's comment completely, "inappropriate and offensive."

CARLY FIORINA, GOP PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think presidential campaigns test character under pressure and over time. And so, it is a moderator's job to ask tough questions. All of those moderators asked tough questions of everyone. And so, there's no excuse for personally attacking one of the moderators for asking a set of questions he did not like.

SERFATY: Trump, meanwhile, fired back on Sunday afternoon at Fiorina, taunting her a bit with this tweet, writing quote, "I just realized if you listen to Carly Fiorina for more than ten minutes straight, you develop a massive headache. She has zero chance." And this comes as there's been some broader turmoil in the Trump campaign. Another shakeup, the second one in two weeks, cutting ties with one of his top advisers, Roger Stone.

Now, Stone said he quit. The Trump campaign, though, they say they fired him. Now, regardless, Stone saying he is leaving, in part, because of Trump's behavior like this.

Christine.

ROMANS: All right, Sunlen Serfaty, thank you so much for that.

Are you ready for some football? The Minnesota Vikings and the Pittsburg Steelers squaring off in the hall of fame game in Canton. Coy Wire this Monday morning with the details from the Bleacher Report, next.

It's only the preseason, but football is back. Coy Wire has more on last night's hall of fame game in this morning's Bleacher Report.

Hey, Coy.

COY WIRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. It has been 190 days since we had football at the Super Bowl, and now we won't have a Sunday without it until Valentine's Day of 2016. The Steelers and Vikings kicked off the preseason in Canton, Ohio last night. And if you are looking for some of the big names stars, you probably were disappointed.

Minnesota Running Back, Adrian Peterson, Pittsburg Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, both watched from the sidelines. But the pads were still popping and there was plenty of action. Vikings back up, Quarterback Mike Kafka threw a touchdown pass to Mycole Pruitt, and Running Back Joe Banyard ran in for another score. The Purple People Eaters chewed up the Steelers, 14-3. The preseason action continues on Thursday. And Christine, that includes your Chicago Bears hosting the Dolphins.

Now, in NASCAR action, Joey Logano led only one lap at yesterday's race at Watkins Glen, but it was the one that mattered most He took the lead and the checkered flag when Kevin Harvick ran out of gas on the final turn. It was a pretty good weekend for Logano; he also won the Xfinity Series Race on Saturday.

And you have to see this from the race yesterday, too -- Denny Hamlin's hood popped up and covered his windshield. But unlike Tommy Boy and Richard, he could still see, so he kept driving.

Hamlin drove a couple of laps until safety officials made him stop and cut it off. His crew put a replacement hood on. They had to duct tape it; he finished the race 27th. But he gets an a for effort. There's your quick sports respite from the rest of it.

Christine, back to you.

ROMANS: They really had to duct tape it? That's awesome.

WIRE: They really did. Do what you have got to do.

ROMANS: Do what you have got to do. All right, thanks, Coy. Nice to see you. And there will be football every Sunday until Valentine's Day, and we can all sleep at night now. Thank you.

All right, 26 minutes past the hour. Shots fired in Ferguson. Violence erupting one year after Michael Brown was gunned down. Police giving a briefing overnight. Hear what officials have to say next.