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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Obama: Bomb Aboard Russian Plane "A Possibility"; Carson Defending His Past; Pentagon's Failed Syria Program; Police: Fox Lake Cop Tried to Put Out Hit. Aired 4:30-5a ET
Aired November 06, 2015 - 04:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:30:00] CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: But officials all the way up to the president, President Obama, are cautioning there is still some uncertainty about exactly what happened.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think there is a possibility that there was a bomb on board. And we're taking that seriously.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: British Prime Minister David Cameron went further saying it is more likely than not a terrorist bomb that doomed the Russian airliner.
Joining us now from London, CNN's Diana Magnay with the latest. When you hear David Cameron and the president of the United States, both -- using this language so early in the investigation, it suggests that the intelligence must be pretty good.
DIANA MAGNAY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's very true. I think the reason that David Cameron is going a little further than the U.S. president is because there are so many British tourists in Sharm el-Sheikh and he is concerned up to their safety. Up to 20,000 tourists stranded there. That is why he sent a delegation to check on security procedures at the airport. That is why he has come out with the statement.
It is more likely than not based on the intelligence that the U.K. intelligence committee has been assessing, likely that this plane was brought down by an explosive device.
Now, the British foreign secretary yesterday also said we know that ISIS in the Sinai Peninsula have claimed this bomb -- sorry, have claimed they brought the plane down. We cannot rule that out. And it is a significant possibility, he said that this plane was brought down by a bomb.
We don't know if the intelligence in the U.K. is going on is the same as the U.S. But I think if you look at the team of the security officials down in Sharm el-Sheikh are talking and looking very much at the baggage handling procedures. Then we can assume that officials believe that the bomb, if there was one, was somehow smuggled on through the baggage. But as I said, U.K. officials being fairly tight lipped about their intelligence, their priority being to get those tourists back home, Christine.
ROMANS: All right. Diana Magnay for us this morning -- thank you, Diana.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Happening now, thousands of British tourists who were stranded in Sharm el-Sheikh, they're now on their way home, or they're trying.
British officials had suspended all flights to and from Sharm after the Russian jet crash worried about the security or the possibility of a new terrorist attack. This morning, with extraordinary new security measures in place, airlines are being allowed to fly these tourists one way home to the United Kingdom. Egyptian officials are working with Britain on new security but rejecting U.S. and British claims that the plane was likely brought down by terrorists. Let's go to CNN's Erin McLaughlin live in Sharm el-Sheikh with the latest.
Erin, how is this departure working so far?
ERIN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, John.
Well, things seem to be going smoothly here at Sharm el-Sheikh International Airport. Planes, empty planes are flying in from the United Kingdom, picking up passengers and then flying them back home to the U.K. Hand baggage only, though -- anything that would normally need to be checked in has to be left behind. They are encouraging tourists to leave their addresses and their information and promising them they will get them that luggage back at a later date.
And this is all a result of what British security officials are saying serious concerns about the luggage in the cargo hold of the planes here at Sharm el-Sheikh International Airport. What specifically they are concerned about in the security process is not apparent. If they are worried about the cargo hold access prior to the planes taking off or worried about the security screening process of passengers' luggage is not entirely clear.
It's worth noting these additional measures are only in place for British as well as Dutch passengers. Other airlines from other countries are flying in and out without this additional security measure. No heightened security other than what I just outlined at Sharm el-Sheikh airport. That according to Egyptian officials we've been talking to. They are in the process of reviewing security with the British authorities.
BERMAN: Erin, I was reading this morning that KLM, Dutch Airline, was also instituting these measures for flights out of Cairo, which is interesting.
MCLAUGHLIN: Yes. Officials are looking at the security arrangements not just here at Sharm el-Sheikh airport, but looking at airports across Egypt. But so far, in terms of passengers here at the Sharm el-Sheikh International Airport, these additional measures are only for British passengers and they're only for Dutch passengers. [04:35:04] Everyone else, it's business as usual -- John.
BERMAN: Hmm, interesting. It has to be complicated for the people there.
Erin McLaughlin, thanks so much.
ROMANS: All right. This morning, Russian officials are urging U.S. and Britain to wait for the results of the crash investigation before concluding it was terrorism. A Russian aviation official says investigators working in Egypt will check plane wreckage for traces of explosives. This as two victims of the disaster were the first laid to rest in Russia.
International diplomatic editor Nic Robertson has the latest from St. Petersburg.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Christine, John, good morning.
We are outside a cemetery on the edges of St. Petersburg. There will be a funeral here in the next few hours. One of several funerals today across Russia as the dead from that flight begin to be buried.
What we are finding, families are asking a lot of questions. They got frustrations now, they tell us. They're not getting answers. One family told us yesterday that a group of families were told in a brutal, they felt, and hard way by the regional governor that they wouldn't be able to get bodies for burial. That the best that they could hope for was some kind of identification of body pieces. The families are finding the story brutal.
They are frustrated that they're not getting straight answers from the Russian government about why this crash took place. There's a concern it may be terrorism. There's a concern among families that the government just doesn't want to say what they call the hard truth about this.
Russia, in the meantime, says the investigation is going to take some time to complete, possibly months. They say they will not comment on the speculations and they are calling the speculation of a bomb was put aboard the flight. And perhaps, the best indication of the way that the Russian government feels about those reports so far is the fact that they haven't cancelled flights to Sharm el-Sheikh, flights from Russia are stilling going to Sharm el-Sheikh. So, at the moment, the Russian government is saying, wait for the investigation to be completed. And that could take sometime, meanwhile, for those families, the pain of burying their loved ones, and the pain of not knowing why, how if you like, precisely they died -- John, Christine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: All right. Nic Robertson, thank you. BERMAN: All right. The TSA, the U.S. considering increasing security
measures at overseas airports, where it can. We'll have details, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BERMAN: In the wake of the crash of the Russian jetliner on the Sinai Peninsula, U.S. officials now say they may alter airport security measures. Some of those changes if they occur, would likely happen at U.S. airports. But the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee Mike McCaul says the TSA is looking at enhancing screening at what he called hot spot airports overseas.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. MIKE MCCAUL (R-TX), HOMELAND SECURITY COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN: I talk to Secretary Johnson. He is looking at TSA procedures, particularly overseas. And I think it's important to tell the American people that any flight coming outside the United States, a direct flight into the U.S. would go through a more heighten screening procedure than what's at -- in Egypt.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: The chairman notes beefing up security overseas requires the cooperation of the host country and sometimes that gets complicated
ROMANS: A Pentagon plan to train moderate Syrian rebels to fight ISIS appears to have been a costly failure. According to "USA Today", the Defense Department spent $384 million on the program. That's $2 million per trainee before officials pulled the plug last month. They planned to have 3,000 trained and equipped Syrian this year, and 5,000 each year after that.
BERMAN: The White House now admitting a two state Palestinian solution in Israel will not be possible before President Obama leaves office. The concession came at a conference call to brief reporters on Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu's visit to Washington next week. It also comes on the heels of the prime minister suspending the appointment of a new spokesman, a man who would accuse President Obama of being anti-Semitic.
ROMANS: Time for an early start on your money this morning.
U.S. stock futures waiting until 8:30 this morning. That's when the jobs report comes out. That's right. You can see futures there right now down just a little bit.
Facebook shares surged 4.8 percent yesterday to a record high. Its revenue in the third quarter wowed investors, along with the mobile growth. Big day for Facebook. The company now worth $300 billion, the seventh most valuable company in the S&P 500.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg has a lot on his plate. Yesterday, he posted about his extensive philanthropic efforts in education. Zuckerberg and his wife have an education foundation to support underserved children in San Francisco. They give money to schools that promote personalized learning and they're starting at K through 12 school.
Zuckerberg wrote, "We care deeply about doing everything we can so all children not just ours can grow up and achieve their full potential."
BERMAN: College drop-out, that guy.
ROMANS: I know. But, you know, he's not your average college drop- out. He's a college dropout with very, very good idea. So, you know, he is trying to help kids reach potential.
Facebook shareholders felt like they were reaching potential yesterday.
BERMAN: Yes. I think so.
All right. The Republican presidential stage, it's shrinking. We will tell you which candidates are cut out from the main stage, which candidates are cut out all together.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[04:47:29] BERMAN: The stage is set for next week's Republican presidential debate. It is a tinier stage.
Fox Business Network has unveiled the lineup, eight candidates will take part in the primetime Republican debate. That's two fewer than last time. Donald Trump, Ben Carson, Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, Jeb Bush, Carly Fiorina, John Kasich, and Rand Paul.
Guess who is missing? Chris Christie and Mike Huckabee. They are not in the main event. They are doing the undercard with Bobby Jindal and Rick Santorum. But who is missing from that? George Pataki and Lindsey Graham.
Lindsey Graham, by the way, who performed very, very well in each of the last two undercard debates, he will not be invited. It is due to the polling. The way Fox Business did this, they looked at the last four polls.
You got to have 2.5 percent average to get in the main debate. You had to register at least 1 percent in one of the other four polls to get the undercard. But you got to wonder, I mean, why not have six people instead of four there? It is not a numbers game there.
ROMANS: It's really interesting to watch these numbers. And see how you have -- you have people who are sitting senators and sitting governors who have all of the executive experience who are really trying hard.
BERMAN: And Lindsey Graham is out every day campaigning. I mean, he is out there every day campaigning.
ROMANS: Right.
All right. Ben Carson is also out there campaigning. He's defending a story he's told about his past. Carson wrote in his 1990 autobiography that he was violent as a teenager and once tried stab someone before he found God.
CNN, however, unable to corroborate key stories in Carson's autobiography. People who knew him tell CNN Carson was a quiet and studious kid. They say he was not violent. Carson who has never revealed who he tried stab is still not answering that question.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. BEN CARSON (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It was a close relative in my family. I really don't want to get into the details of who that person was. Also, I want to point out how silly the CNN investigation is because when I would have flashes of temper, it would only be the people who were directly involved. It won't be something that everybody else would know.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Carson said he would let the American people decide if he is, quote, "a pathological liar."
We get more this morning from CNN's Sunlen Serfaty.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John and Christine.
Well, Dr. Ben Carson is on the defense, really pushing back against CNN's investigation, looking into his own claims of what he said about his own violent childhood, really trying to brush aside all those questions, casting them as almost comical in his words.
[04:50:00] Now, here in Florida, he told reporters not to expect any of his childhood friends to corroborate his accounts. Here's what he told us when we caught with him leaving a book signing in Miami.
CARSON: I want everybody to know about private incidents like that. I was generally a nice person. It is I had a very bad temper. So, unless you were the victim of that temper, why would you know? Just because you happened to know me? That doesn't make any sense.
SERFATY: And Carson in the past has identified two of his victims as only Jerry and Bob, only revealing their first names. But for the first time, he is now saying those were actually fictitious names made up to protect them. He says it's not up to him to reveal their identity. And if they want to come forward and speak about these violent incidents, it's up to them.
But, of course, John and Christine, they have not come forward yet.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: All right. Sunlen, thanks for that.
Donald Trump not missing a chance for the dig at his closest Republican rival. He weighed into the question narrative about Ben Carson's childhood with this tweet, "The Carson story is either a total fabrication or if true, even worse, trying to hit his mother over the head with a hammer or stabbing a friend."
BERMAN: All right. Hillary Clinton on a fund raising swing in California. She made an appearance on "Jimmy Kimmel Live." The Democratic frontrunner told him if she ran against her husband, the former president would be toast.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think he is good at it. I would be fascinated if he were eligible to run again. The Constitution says he's not. He would run again.
JIMMY KIMMEL, COMEDIAN: He would run again?
CLINTON: Yes, I don't want you to tell anybody that. If he could, he would.
If I were going to run against him, would I win? Yes.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: You got to wonder what the research file would be for the Hillary Clinton campaign.
Hillary Clinton not sure exactly what Bill Clinton's title would be if she won. She speculated first dude, first mate, first gentleman, endless possibilities.
ROMANS: If he were to be the first gentleman, a lot of free labor for American taxpayers. Would he be able to --
(CROSSTALK)
BERMAN: Serious issues.
ROMANS: Would he be able to do his foundation?
All right. Hey, parents, is your kids' mascot the Braves, the Chiefs, the Indians? One company is offering a free mascot makeover. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[04:56:14] BERMAN: New developments in the story of Fox Lake Police Officer Joe Gliniewicz. Police say before he staged his suicide to make it a murder, Gliniewicz was looking to hire a motorcycle gang to kill the Fox Lake city administrator. Holy cow.
For more on this developing story, CNN correspondent Rosa Flores.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John and Christine, CNN sources confirming that Lieutenant Gliniewicz widow and his son are being investigated for possible involvement in the embezzlement of thousands of dollars. Now, remember those deleted text messages that were released by authorities when they made the shocking announcement that Lieutenant Gliniewicz was not murdered, but that he committed suicide.
CNN sources confirming the individuals that Lieutenant Gliniewicz was exchanging the text messages with were his widow and his son. That individual number one was the widow and individual number two was his son. But perhaps the most shocking revelation is that authorities now believe that Lieutenant Gliniewicz was thinking, exploring the possibility of killing a village administrator. Again, all of this is still under investigation, but that village administrator addressed these allegations.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's very unsettling. Again, you know, my concern is my family. It's quite unbelievable and almost surreal, I would say.
FLORES: Oh, but there is more. CNN's sources confirming that authorities found cocaine inside Lieutenant Gliniewicz desk after his death. Now, the big question to administrators was, was that cocaine going to be used to plant on this village administrator as well? Because there are allegations about that also.
That village administrator also addressed that concern only by saying she did not know if that cocaine was going to be planted on her desk. Again, a lot of disturbing revelations -- John, Christine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: Rosa, what a story. Thank you for that this morning.
Let's get an early start on your money this Friday morning.
Big morning for investors for investors and Fed watchers. The October jobs report, here is what CNN money predicts, 181,000 jobs added. That would be up from September's 142,000. The unemployment rate is expected to dip to 5.1 percent.
An improving job market critical, critical to the Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen says a December rate hike is a live possibility, her words. The chatter this morning, anything above $150,00 to keep those hopes alive, or those fears alive, depending on which side of the fence you're on.
BERMAN: Yes.
ROMANS: All right. Toyota is investing a billion bucks in artificial intelligence, creating a new company, the Toyota Research Institute. The offices in Silicon Valley and Cambridge, Massachusetts, it is about self driving cars down the line. Everyone is getting that game. But near term, near term, also, it's about technology to help drivers avoid crashes, you know, like automated brakes. The company hopes to decrease the time it takes to get new features from the lab into its cars.
If your school has a native American mascot, Adidas will help change that. The company will give money and design resources with any schools with a name like the Indians, the Chiefs, the Braves. Adidas says 2,000 high schools has used names that can be offensive to native Americans.
It's part of a growing trend to change the names. The most famous example, of course, is the Washington Redskins. The NFL team has refused to change its name.
BERMAN: Interesting business. The student gets their name in the school as replacement.
ROMANS: It does. Interesting, right?
BERMAN: In its own way.
EARLY START continues right now.
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BERMAN: New information this morning on why investigators believe terrorists are likely behind the deadly Russian plane crash.
