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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Three American Heroes Honored in France; North and South Korea Hold High-Level Talks; Joe Biden Leaning Towards 2016 Run?; Garbage Crisis Prompted Protests in Beirut; Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired August 24, 2015 - 04:29   ET

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

[04:30:03] GEORGE HOWELL, CNN ANCHOR: People are not tripping on those names now because these men did a heroic thing. They subdued a gunman who French officials say has ties to radical Islam. The trio is now speaking out about that incident for the first time. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEK SKARLATOS, AMERICAN WHO HELPED SUBDUED GUNMAN ON TRAIN: I feel our training mostly kicked in after this assailant was already subdued, frankly. When it came to medical care and things like that, and providing security and making sure there wasn't another shooter. But in the beginning it was mostly just gut instinct on survival basically.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: French President Francois Hollande says their heroism is an example of -- inspiration to all. That they saved many lives. The suspect's lawyer, though, is painting a much different picture of events that unfolded.

CNN's international correspondent Nic Robertson is live in Paris.

Let's talk about that suspect here in a moment, Nic. But first the story about these men coming together today to be honored by the French president. What was it like?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's huge for them. I mean, I talked with the British gentleman Chris Norman after he just came out after that meeting, and he was still shaking. He was trembling. He said he was so emotional about it that he couldn't believe that this is a huge honor. A huge honor the French president has given these three young American heroes.

The tributes could not be higher that the French president paid them. Spencer Stone led them in. His arm still in a sling, his hand still bandaged where that attacker sliced him with a box knife. He'd told that his thumb literally had to be stitched back on by surgeons attaching the tendons and the nerves. But he led his friends Anthony Sadler and Alek Skarlatos. He led them in to meet the French president.

The French president not only telling the world that they deserve this honor, but that they -- what they had done was an inspiration for everyone. That they had acted and put their own lives at risk. This is how Spencer Stone described literally taking down the gunman.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SPENCER STONE, FRENCH TRAIN HERO: And I turned around and I saw he had what looked to be an AK-47. And he looked like it was jammed or wasn't working. And he was trying to charge the weapon and Alek just hit me on the shoulder and said let's go. And ran down, tackled him. We hit the ground. Alek came up and grabbed the gun out of his hand while I put him in a chokehold.

It seemed like he just kept pulling more weapons left and right. Put out a handgun. Alex took that. Took out a box cutter started jabbing at him with that. We let go. All three of us started punching him while he's in the middle of us. And I was able to grab him again and choke him unconscious while Alek was hitting him in the head with the pistol of the rifle.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: Ultimate carnage is what the French president said could have happened on that train. The gunman had more than 300 bullets, he said, more than 500 people on the train. This is how he paid tribute to the three young Americans.

HOWELL: Nic, now to the suspect. French officials have suggested --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FRANCOIS HOLLAND, FRENCH PRESIDENT (Through Translator): Terrible massacre. Devastation. So I want to thank you for what you have done and it was on Friday that the whole world was able to admire your courage, your calm, your -- your sense of responsibility. This solidarity which allowed you, without weapons, unarmed, to overpower this individual who was armed to the teeth and you were ready to do anything. Your heroism should be an example for all.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: An example to all. The French president has said that they will do their best to improve securities of railways around the country. But he said what these men did should remind us all that in face of crisis, we need to act, that people traveling in transport also have a responsibility. And these men showed it to the highest degree of what is possible by standing together.

The French president could not have said anything higher in praise of these men in the words he said today -- George.

HOWELL: And Nic, very quickly here about the suspect. French officials has suggested that Khazzani has ties to radical Islam. But his attorney is painting a different picture saying that has nothing to do with what happened. What more can you tell us about that?

ROBERTSON: Sure. His attorneys saying that he says he found the weapons in a park, in a bag with a mobile phone and got on the train in Brussels. And he was just going to rob people.

Look, that doesn't wash here. He has a track record of connections of radical Islamists in Spain, and France and Belgium. He's on a European watch list. He went to Turkey in May. Came back in July. He's believed to have associated with French ISIS members there, who'd already put one young Algerian student here, pushed him to attack a church. That attack was thwarted by the French police here in April. But the concern is he's associated with a degree -- a cell of ISIS people who are trying to plot and perpetrate attacks with young radical Muslims like him here inside Europe. That is a growing and big concern -- George.

[04:35:13] HOWELL: Heard in that news conference, the French president saying that there were some 500 people on the train and the suspect apparently had hundreds of bullets on the ready. That will of course play out in courts.

Nic Robertson, thank you so much for the reporting.

ROMANS: George, one of the really interesting details of this whole story, too, is that these three young men were originally supposed to be in the first class -- first class seats. Couldn't find their seats. Went to a different carriage. The Wi-Fi wasn't great. So then, well, we'll go back, we'll find our seats. Finally went back and found their original seats and then just moments later, this gunman entered their lives.

HOWELL: Luckily they went back there.

ROMANS: So interesting.

HOWELL: And what were you saying about the training?

ROMANS: The training, it was so funny, interesting, because Spencer Stone was asked, you know, did your training kick in.

HOWELL: Right.

ROMANS: And he said after we've already subdued the gunmen.

HOWELL: Wow.

ROMANS: It was their training that kicked in. When Spencer Stone, injured, went and put his fingers in the neck of a wounded passenger, a passenger who had been shot, and pressed until the artery stopped bleeding and saved that young -- that man's life.

HOWELL: Thankfully they were there.

ROMANS: Really -- just really, such a great story.

All right. With the tensions and the rhetoric elevated in the Korean peninsula, North and South have been holding high-level talks at the historic Truce Village inside the Demilitarized Zone. Talks are taking place against a backdrop of, well, mutual distrust.

CNN's Kyung Lah following developments. She's live in Seoul for us -- Kyung.

KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, Christine. That mutual distrust might be an understatement. It is an indication of why these talks are now stretching into -- well into 24 hours. What we are hearing from South Korea's president is that -- she wants an apology from North Korea. She wants North Korea to apologize for setting landmines in the DMZ. These mines went off and they hurt two soldiers.

She says without it, she is not going to remove what is viewed as a major insult by North Korea. These are giant speakers that South Korea set up at 11 different locations on the southern side blasting news and pop music, which the North views as propaganda. Again they view it as an insult. So this is a major stumbling block.

So while these talks are going on, talks that are difficult and long, what the South is detecting in the North is some troop movements. And these troop movements are doubling of artillery forces on the frontlines from the North. The South also saying that what they are seeing is 70 percent of the North submarines leaving their bases. The assumption is that they are being called into service.

So, Christine, this olive branch from -- between the North and the South is certainly belies what is the reality on the ground which is still a war-ready state.

ROMANS: A very dangerous situation still.

Kyung, we know you'll follow it for us. Thank you for that.

Thirty-eight minutes past the hour. Time for an EARLY START on your money this Monday morning. And investors are sprinting away from stocks this morning. Asian stocks plunging. Shanghai's benchmark index down 8.5 percent just today. European stocks are diving. U.S. stock futures pointing to a very, very ugly open for U.S. investors.

On Friday, the Dow tumbled 531 points. The biggest one-day drop -- point drop in four years. Overall, the Dow lost more than 1,000 points last week. Now the market is officially in correction territory, down more than 10 percent for the first time since 2011. Corrections, by the way, can be refreshing. We haven't seen one in several years.

Some perspectives, stocks were at record highs just this spring. There have been double-digit gains for three years. Many experts think a correction might not be a bad thing. Reverse course now instead of overheating later.

So why? What is the trigger here? Big concerns about China's economy. It is -- its growth is slowing very quickly. There is uncertainty about the Fed's interest rate hike, when it will come and what the effect will be on the American economy. And tumbling oil prices.

Frankly, George, you've got plunging oil prices, commodities plunging around the world. Quite destabilizing for countries who depend on those things to run their books but also for the energy companies that are part of your stock holdings. Those stocks have been basically collapsing.

HOWELL: It is a concerning time. I am concerned to see what happens today.

ROMANS: Stand back. Don't -- this is not the time to be figuring out whether to log in and see your 401(k). Just sit tight.

HOWELL: Now on to politics. There is more speculation this morning that Vice President Joe Biden may be leaning toward a run for the White House. It follows reports that Biden met this weekend with a key Democrat to talk about it.

We get more from CNN's Athena Jones from Washington.

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, George and Christine. This is probably the biggest political story of the weekend, certainly on the Democratic side. My colleague Jeff Zeleny broke this story.

We've learned that this meeting took place at the vice president's request and lasted about two hours. And we're told that during the meeting, the vice president said he was seriously thinking about making another run for the White House. This would be his third bid for the presidency. He asked Senator Warren for her thoughts on that. They talked about economic policy, they talked about foreign policy.

[04:40:16] This is significant because of course Senator Warren is something of a liberal icon. She has a lot of fans, fans who have been pushing her to make her own bid for the White House in 2016. She's declined to do that. She's going to be sitting this out and she hasn't endorsed any candidates. So an interesting tidbit to learn about over the weekend, this meeting between the two of them.

But Senator Warren is not the only big name Democrat the vice president has met with. Democratic candidate Jim Webb, the former senator from Virginia, talked about his own meeting with the vice president on "STATE OF THE UNION." Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIM WEBB (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I met with Joe Biden for an hour one-on-one last month. I have great regard for Joe Biden. And I think his family and him personally have shown a tremendous amount of dignity over the past several months that have gained the respect of the whole country.

Private meetings are best left that way. And I wouldn't get into another individual's potential campaign. But it doesn't surprise me that he's sitting and talking to someone who has a strong economic affairs and issues.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JONES: So there you have it, the meeting with Senator Warren part of a series of meetings. Now we know the vice president has told his associates that he plans to make a decision about whether he's going to mount this third run in about the next month. His advisers have told him that he has to decide by October 1st. So that's the time period we're looking at. We should know by early October what the vice president has decided.

Back to you, guys.

ROMANS: All right. Athena Jones, the plot thickens there on the Democratic side.

On the Republican side, Donald Trump says he's willing to take donations to his presidential campaign but not from lobbyists who expect something in return. And Trump kept up the attack on Jeb Bush, questioning whether Bush has what it takes to be president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don't mind Jeb Bush. I think he's a nice person. I just don't think he has the energy. You need energy to this job. You need -- you can't be soft. And we need -- we're a country that's in trouble. We need a person with a lot of smarts, a lot of cunning and a lot of energy. And Jeb doesn't have that. I think he's a very nice person. If he became president, good luck. It's another Bush. It's going to be the same old story.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Jeb Bush heads to the Texas-Mexico border today to talk immigration and border security with officials in McAllen, Texas. Bush getting support from Hispanic Republican who admit his use of the term anchor babies is offensive but they don't see it as a major setback for the Bush campaign.

HOWELL: We're talking trash next. Police and protesters clash in Lebanon over garbage cleanup. The army now being called in to keep the peace. We are live on the ground next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:46:36] HOWELL: Welcome back. Violence raging in Beirut. Lebanese army units are being deployed in response to clashes between police and protesters angry over uncollected garbage in the city streets. Police fired tear gas and water cannons on the crowds. More than 400 people were injured in the weekend of violence.

Our senior international correspondent Nick Paton Walsh is live on the ground there, following it all in Beirut.

Nick, good to have you with us. What's the latest there?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: As you said, over 400 injured now said the Lebanese Red Cross and the military who came out last night about midnight, very much stamping their authority around the capital here, bringing an end it seemed pretty quickly to the clashes between the police and protesters that enraged for about six hours. They are now actually less in evidence on the streets around behind me, a sense of clean up and almost daily life trying to get back to normal here.

The protesters had on social media debated whether or not they should call people back out into the streets. At the same time, 6:00 today. Well, they've now called that protest off indefinitely. There is some social media backlash against them.

You mentioned this being about trash. Well, that's really just the tip of the iceberg. It was about the dysfunctionality of government here, about years of corruption, about a parliament unable to decide who they wanted to be president, and that's their job, for them deciding to renew their own terms because they couldn't pass new election laws.

A real sense of dysfunction just in the political elite but also out of -- to put down into basic services like electricity, water, trash collection. It got too much for many. They came on the streets peacefully initially, were met by a tough police response. That marked large numbers on the streets last night. A small minority seemed more interested in clashing with the police than continuing a peaceful protest and that spiraled into what we saw last night.

Quite remarkable scene of anarchy in the very heart of Beirut, in the heart of Lebanon's government here. Now the army are out. There seemed to be a calming in the situation. We have to see whether that translates to in terms of the political solution to this.

HOWELL: From these images, we get the sense that people are frustrated, just fed up and it seems the trash was the last straw.

Nick Paton Walsh, live for us in Beirut. Nick, thank you so much.

ROMANS: All right. An NFL Hall of Famer now backtracking after some very bad advice he gave to a group of rookies. What did Chris Carter say that has him in hot water?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:47:38] ROMANS: Indy race car driver Justin Wilson fighting for his life this morning after he was struck in the head by a debris from a car that crashed in front of him during Sunday's event at Pocono Race Way. It sent Wilson's car crashing into a wall. The 37-year-old driver was airlifted to a hospital. Officials say he is in a coma. He is in critical condition.

HOWELL: Certainly wish him well as he recovers.

An apology from NFL Hall of Famer Chris Carter. ESPN and the NFL condemning comments made by the former wide receiver on a video from a 2014 Rookie Symposium. Carter who works as an analyst for ESPN captured on camera advising first year players to have a, quote, "fall guy" in their crew in case they get in trouble.

Now Carter is backing away from those comments, tweeting the follow, quote, "Seeing that video has made me realized how I was wrong -- how wrong I was. I was brought there to educate young people and instead I gave them very bad advice. Every person should take responsibility for his own actions. I'm sorry and truly regret what I said."

ROMANS: The comments are unfortunate but he really stood up there quickly and said guys, don't do it. And I was wrong.

HOWELL: He did. And that's good.

ROMANS: And sometimes people equivocate in their apologies or taking back their -- what they said. He did not.

HOWELL: Yes.

ROMANS: Two for the price of one at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. The giant panda Mei Xiang giving birth to a pair of beautiful baby cubs Saturday night. Zookeepers had no idea a second baby was on the way, scrambling to assist Mei when she went back into labor four hours after delivering her first cub.

This is only the third time giant panda twins have been born in the United States. So far mom and her babies are said to be doing fine.

HOWELL: Look at that.

ROMANS: You know, and they're switching off. The experts are going in there, taking one of the babies and putting it in the incubator and measuring it and watching it and letting mom bond with the other one back and forth. So interesting. They really don't look like pandas in the beginning, do they?

(LAUGHTER)

HOWELL: Not really. Now we're switching from cute to scary.

ROMANS: Yes. There is nothing cute about this scary stock market. It is pretty scary up there. Don't touch that 401(k) just yet. I'm going to give you a reason not to panic. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:58:41] ROMANS: All right. Welcome back. This Monday morning a brutal, scary day for stocks around the world, folks. Asian shares plunging, European shares, U.S. stock futures are diving. On Friday, the Dow tumbled 531 points. The biggest one-day drop in four years.

The market is officially in correction territory down more than 10 percent for the first time since 2011. Ten percent off of its peak. Some of the market darlings are in their own personal bear markets, having lost at least 20 percent from their highs. Look at Apple, Exxon and Wal-Mart, among them, down sharply.

Investors are fleeing riskier assets like stocks and commodities, rushing into safer investments like bonds. Seeing that commodities right now. Copper, aluminum, zinc all plunging this morning. And of course oil. Oil is now below $40 a barrel for the first since 2009. That was when we had the financial crisis.

That's because China, the world's second largest economy, is flailing. Meanwhile global supply is booming.

So with chaos in the market, what should you do now? Now is not the time to scramble to find your 401(k) login this morning. Be advised, don't panic. Examine your long-term goals. Don't react to every scary headline.

Remember, if you've been in stocks the past few years, you are riding huge gains. That's some perspective on that chart there for you. A pullback can be normal, even healthy for the market.

Two ways you could feel the market chaos immediately. Bond yields are falling. That will push mortgage rates lower. And gas prices will likely to fall to $2 a gallon very soon.

All right. Top of the hour, EARLY START continues right now.