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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

ISIS May Have Bombed MetroJet Plane; Trump Versus. Rubio; Johnny Manziel Starts Tonight Vs. Bengals. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired November 05, 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 ANCHOR: Breaking overnight, brand new information on the crash of a Russian jet in the Sinai desert.

[05:00:04] Several U.S. officials tell CNN new intelligence suggests the plane was most likely was brought down by a bomb planted by ISIS or one of its affiliates. One U.S. official tells CNN the bombers may have had assistance from inside the airport itself.

Meantime, the possibility of a bomb that brought down flight 9268 is creating concern in the United Kingdom where Sharm el-Sheikh is a popular tourist destination. Britain and Ireland both has suspended all flights to and from the airport, temporarily stranding nearly 20,000 British residents there. U.K. officials say that decision was driven by a report from officials who found problems with the security at the Sharm el-Sheikh.

For the latest I want to bring in CNN's Max Foster in London.

Max, what's the very latest?

MAX FOSTER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we're getting a real sense really of what all this is based, and that's based around all on the activity that is all around. They are not telling us what the intelligence is, which caused this major decision to cancel flights between U.K. and Sharm el-Sheikh. But we do know, there's a team on the ground, the British team on the ground there and they are focusing the airport on security.

And we've heard from British ministers today suggesting that they're not yet happy with the security and screening processes, but they are happy to get to a point possibly by tomorrow where they know what is going on with proper screenings. This is an issue of what luggage got on the plane yesterday. They got this intelligence, which made them this very big decision.

It comes at the very awkward time because the Egyptian president is visiting Downing Street today and Egyptians made it very clear that they believe the Brits were premature on this and should are waited for the formal investigation report.

But the British foreign secretary saying that they couldn't wait for that. It would have been too long. They had to act on the information they had. There are concerns about the risk to British travelers. And as you say, a huge amount of travelers going in and out of Sharm el-Sheikh every day. Three and a half thousand people were meant to return today. Their holidays has been utterly disrupted. They're stranded over there in Sharm el-Sheikh. And while flights may start again tomorrow, Thomas Cook, the biggest operator in the U.K. will not start flights for another week -- John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Interesting to see the competing national interests at work here. Max Foster, thank you so much.

Egypt insists the airport at Sharm el-Sheikh is still safe this morning.

I want to bring in senior international correspondent Ben Wedeman live in Cairo.

Ben, you've lived in the region for a long time. You have flown out of that airport dozens of times. Describe the security there.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I would describe it as relaxed under normal conditions. I think we can assume that given all the attention on that airport now, security must be very high.

But, certainly on calmer times, you did not get the feeling that security was particularly tight. It's a very popular tourist destination, and so, it doesn't have the feel for instance of some airports in the region where you are questioned repeatedly, your bags are looked at. In Sharm el-Sheikh, it's a very easy going atmosphere. Many of the flights are domestic coming from Cairo or Alexandra and therefore, security is basically minima minimal.

Now, I can't speak to what goes on behind the scenes in the bowels of the airport. But certainly, as a frequent visitor, I was never impressed with the level of security there -- John.

BERMAN: Interesting perspective. Ben Wedeman, thank you so much.

ROMANS: All right. Joining us to put this in perspective is CNN military analyst and former Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton.

Let me ask you, first of all, the intelligence here is what's so important there. We are hearing the same language from the British officials, from American officials and from sources in the Middle East. What do we know -- what do you think about the -- how solid this intelligence is?

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Christine, I would say is pretty solid, because what you've got is two nations coming together and saying very specifically there was something that happened at the airport which facilitated the movement of a potential explosive device to this aircraft. So, this MetroJet airliner was subject to the same security to airlines at Sharm el-Sheikh and really at any other airport.

And something happened that allowed for a device potentially to get onboard that aircraft. And that is what we are seeing here. We are seeing the coming together of the intelligence sources that are out there and agreement by Great Britain and the United States that that was the problem.

BERMAN: Describe to me the level of militant activity on the Sinai Peninsula. Who is there? This ISIS affiliate, how much power and influence do they have? What kind of capabilities do they have?

LEIGHTON: Well, it's a pretty -- John, it is a pretty significant group that's operating there. So, you've got -- in the Sinai Peninsula, you've got this ISIS in the Sinai as they are called.

[05:05:02] And basically what they have is an insurgency attacking Egyptian military outposts, plus also potentially the U.S. and other nations that are part of the U.N. peacekeeping mission in the Sinai.

There are other groups as well. Hamas, which is active in Gaza, has operations in the Sinai. There are also other groups that are interested in providing more autonomy for the Sinai. There's a group of Bedouins for example that is interested for the autonomy for their region of Egypt. So, with all of them there, the most virulent is probably going to be ISIS in the Sinai, followed by Hamas and then others that feed off that.

ROMANS: Really a few years after complete change of authority in Egypt. You know, its institutions have been stressed and strained. How trustworthy are the Egyptians in following through on the investigation here and tightening up the security?

LEIGHTON: Well, that's going to be a very interesting question. They clearly have great institutions in terms of the immediate operations that you see around in airport like this. But the question then becomes, how good are the intelligence services? Will the Egyptian (INAUDIBLE) which is the Egyptian intelligence service is actually a good partner of many Western intelligence services. So, they have a very good reputation. The question then is going to be, how are the police and how are the law enforcement officials charged with securing the airport going to respond to anything that happens as a result of the investigation?

So, we can probably rely on some elements of the Egyptian intelligence service, but we have to be careful of the implementation of these kinds of recommends that that come out of an assessment that says Sharm el-Sheikh is not a good place from the security standpoint.

BERMAN: You know, it is interesting. When the story first broke and plane went down, there was focus on whether it was a result of a surface-to-air ground missile that took it down. It seems it was flying too of an altitude for that. It obscures the fact it's still very possible to get a bomb, some kind of explosive device, on a plane at an airport.

What are the different types and level of sophistication right now of explosives produced by groups like ISIS that could be on airplanes? We know that al Qaeda, AQAP specifically has been trying to get bombs on planes, but this is a fairly new tactic for ISIS. LEIGHTON: Well, you have to keep in mind, John, that there are people

that belong to ISIS that have a lot of experience with explosives and bomb-making. Some of those people come from Saddam Hussein's old regime. And because of that, that skill set is something taught within ISIS right now.

So, what they are looking at is they are looking at miniaturizing bombs, they're looking at putting them in suitcases, they're looking at doing things that will actually allow for the devices to be placed on board an aircraft without them being detected. And that is really what we're seeing here. It basically undetected or a subversion of the security system.

The device gets on the plane, probably, and the explosion happens and at a pre-determined altitude. It sounds like at 30,000 feet, it sounds like a barometric pressure that resulted in altitude measurement that resulted in the bomb being detonated at that level.

BERMAN: All right. Cedric Leighton for us -- thank you so much. I appreciate it.

LEIGHTON: You bet, John.

ROMANS: Really fascinating. We'll talk to you again very much.

Nine minutes past the hour.

Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld reportedly blasted by George H.W. Bush in his new biography. What the former president thinks of his son's then administration, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:12:37] BERMAN: Candidates both Republican and Democrat now converging on New Hampshire to officially file for the state's crucial first in the nation's primary. The Republican co-frontrunner Donald Trump, he was first in line to file there when the period began. He used the occasion to go after one of his rivals, Senator Marco Rubio, on Rubio's personal finances. The senator had been moving up in the polls some and he is returning fire.

Let's get more now from Dana Bash in Nashua.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: John and Christine, it is always busy here in New Hampshire this time of year in an election year, but especially right now because it is filing time for these candidates to actually get on the ballot for the first in the nation primary.

Later today, Marco Rubio is going to sign his name and make sure that he is going to be there.

And yesterday, it was Donald Trump. Of course, as he tends to do, came with a lot of fanfare. It was a big event. And he signed it. But then he also took a couple of shots at some of the opponents who seem to be giving him more and more of a run for his money. Marco Rubio is one of them. That is where Trump decided to hit him the hardest on questions about finances from way back when Marco Rubio was in the statehouse credit card -- credit card that he used.

Here's what Donald Trump said about that.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Marco Rubio has a disaster on his finances. He has a disaster on his credit cards. When you check his credit cards, take a look at what he's done with the Republican Party when he had access. What he had to put back in and whether or not something should have happened.

BASH: As for Rubio, he insists this is a non-issue, that he is going to release the credit card statements from back when he was in the statehouse to prove that he did not use the Republican Party's credit card or money. He paid everything that he spent on his personal expenses himself. And he had this to say to me in response to Donald Trump.

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R-FL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: That's Donald being Donald. He doesn't -- whenever there is a bad poll, he kind of gets weird and does these sorts of thing. He doesn't know what he is talking about.

The bottom line, people need to understand is this was an American Express card. If there were personal expenses on there, I paid them directly to American Express at the time. If there were political, the Republican Party paid them.

BASH: And there's a pretty good reason for Donald Trump to be setting his sights on Marco Rubio more than he has in the past, particularly here in New Hampshire because Rubio is climbing pretty big in the polls here.

[05:15:04] He went from just 2 percent a couple months ago to 11 percent which puts him third.

And New Hampshire is such a key place for so many of these players. Donald Trump really wants to remain on top and continues to push the others down. It is still a long three or four months until the first in the nation primary here -- John and Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: All right. Thanks, Dana.

Former President George H.W. Bush is reportedly blasting key figures in his son's administration, specifically Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld. The comments are part of a new biography being published next week. According to "The New York Times", the elder Bush says that as vice president, Cheney built his own empire and asserted too much hard line influence in the White House. As for the Defense Secretary Rumsfeld, Bush 41 says he was arrogant and served the president badly. "New York Times" says the book's author John Meacham asked both Cheney and Rumsfeld for comment. Cheney admitted he was much harder line after 9/11 than before. Rumsfeld declined to comment.

ROMANS: All right. Time for an early start on your money.

Shanghai shares soared 2 percent today. That officially puts China stocks up 20 percent from the August low. That's an official bull market. In the U.S., a morning after the bombshell from Janet Yellen who said an interest rate hike is a live possibility. The Feds has not raised rates in almost a decade. Concerns about the global economy is still lingering.

But Yellen told Congress she sees improvements in the job market and in the consumer spending, plus, cheap oil prices driving down inflation are only temporary. Her comments make tomorrow's jobs report even more important.

John, I think that three big stories I'm watching here today, the Fed liftoff, when will it be. Facebook shares soaring before the bell, on great numbers, particularly in mobile and Whole Food shares tumbling. That stock down 40 percent so far this year. Watch it this morning. It had a tough quarter.

BERMAN: Organic comes at a price.

All right. Are you ready for Johnny Football? Johnny Manziel gets to start for the Browns tonight as they kick off week nine of the NFL season against the undefeated Cincinnati Bengals. Coy Wire has the bleacher report, next.

ROMANS: It's been a tough year for American Apparel. Weak sales, bankruptcy, a drawn out legal fight with its former CEO.

CNNMoney's Cristina Alesci goes inside American Apparel and talks to the new woman in charge.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CRISTINA ALESCI, CNNMONEY (voice-over): American Apparel's appeal has always been sex. Porn stars selling sweatshirts. That was the vision of CEO Dov Charney when he was running the show. He was dethroned and disgraced for allegations of sexual misconduct and now, Charney is under a restraining order from the very company he founded.

Enter Paula Schneider. She was brought in to right the ship.

PAULA SCHNEIDER, AMERICAN APPAREL CEO: This was a company with a Wild West infrastructure.

ALESCI: It wasn't just the company's image that was tarnished. Dov Charney almost ran the business into the ground.

SCHNEIDER: We are counting down our style count of what we're making by about 30 percent. And in doing so, and you follow that through the line and you need less people and you have to right size your business force. So, that's where we are now. ALESCI: She is the antidote to Charney's flashy sexuality. She has

decades of retail experience, working at brands like BCBG, Laundry by Shelli Segal, and Warnaco Swimwear group.

Now, Schneider has her work cut out for her at American apparel.

The most visible change has been in the company's advertising, which includes moms in its campaigns.

SCHNEIDER: We are not stopping with sexy. We're just adding other things into the mix. Again, as a millennial consumer isn't just about one thing. We are incredibly inclusive. So, you know, we may have -- they used before, they've used transgender models, they've used -- and we will continue with being an inclusive brand that is sexy.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:22:14] BERMAN: The sad day. The community mourns the loss of the high school football player who died after being hit during his team's playoff game on Tuesday.

ROMANS: Coy Wire has more in this morning's bleacher report.

Hey, Coy.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Christine and John. This is the eighth high school football related death in 2015. Luke Schemm, a senior at Wallace County High in Sharon Springs, Kansas, scored on the two-point play on Tuesday night and ran to the side line and then suddenly collapsed. Luke was driven to the hospital before being flown 215 miles west to a medical center in Colorado where he was placed on life support, but was then declared brain dead. Luke's teammates got in a bus and went to Denver to support his family yesterday.

His father David spoke of his son's fighting spirit.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID SCHEMM, LUKE'S FATHER: He approached sports with that same passion and giving your all like Luke always had. You take on risk. We are glad our children don't hold back, but put themselves out fully. Life without risk is no life at all.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: Luke Schemm was 17 years old.

To the NFL, Johnny Manziel will be at the helm for the Browns as they took on the Bengals tonight. Manziel gets the second start of the season. He led Cleveland to the win in week two, but tonight, it is welcome to the jungle. The Bengals, they are tough at home. Trust me, I know. They are perfect 7-0 on the season. All right. In the NBA, Clippers and Warriors in the battle of

undefeated. The reigning new league MVP Steph Curry once again getting it done. Knocking down clutch threes and finishing with a total of 31. Golden State pulls away late. Warriors win, 112-108.

How about LeBron and the Cavs hosting the Knicks? King James is on record as not being a fan of those short sleeves. He looks like John Berman after the Patriots score a touchdown. He goes Incredible Hulk on the sleeves, ripping them on the shreds. It must have helped guys, because the Cavs outscored New York 26-17 in the fourth quarter. Cleveland wins 96-86.

ROMANS: Berman knows what it feels like. He is busting out of his suit. It's like strange back here.

BERMAN: I know how he feels.

LeBron James can wear his shirt however he wants. He is LeBron James. The NBA cannot tell him how to do it. And they are crazy if they try.

WIRE: He is out dressing for purpose. That is the fifth uniform in as many games, guys. Crazy.

ROMANS: Coy Wire, so nice to see you.

WIRE: You too.

ROMANS: Twenty-five minutes past the hour. U.S. intelligence now believes is may have planted a bomb on a Russian jetliner killing 224 onboard. We've got the very latest team coverage next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:28:28] ROMANS: Did terrorists bring down a Russian plane with 224 people on board? New U.S. intelligence suggesting ISIS could be behind this tragedy. Team coverage breaking down what we are learning new this morning begins right now.

Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.

BERMAN: I'm John Berman. About 29 minutes past the hour.

Breaking overnight: new information on the crash of the Russian jet in the Sinai Desert. It happened shortly after it took off from Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh headed for St. Petersburg. Several officials tell CNN intelligence suggests the plane was mostly likely brought down by a bomb planted by ISIS or one of its affiliates.

One U.S. official says the bombers may have had assistance from inside the airport itself. The possibility that a bomb brought down the plane is causing concern in Britain where Sharm el-Sheikh is a very popular tourist destination, some 20,000 British subjects are in the region right now. Britain and Ireland suspended all flights to and from the airport there which strands all of the people who may want to get out.

For the latest, let's bring in CNN's Max Foster live in London.

Max, this is a series of high stakes meetings in London today.

FOSTER: Yes, tension is rising. I have to say, I'm here at 10 Downing Street, Egyptian pro-al Sisi, President al Sisi demonstrators, and also anti-al Sisi demonstrators as well are blocking off the entrance here. They cleared that now.

But we've got the president coming here to Downing Street today. It was a long planned visit, but it's going to be tense, because tourism is important to the Egyptian economy and this lifeline of British tourists has been cut by Downing Street.