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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
The War on ISIS: U.S. Targets Jihadi John; Kurdish Forces Battle ISIS for Sinjar; Donald Trump: On the Attack. Aired 4-4:30a ET
Aired November 13, 2015 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:00:16] JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news in the war against ISIS. U.S. drone strikes targeting Jihadi John, the British man heard in the brutal beheading videos. This as ISIS launches new attacks and struggles to hold a key Iraqi town. We have the new developments in just the last few minutes.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Donald Trump unleashed. A 95-minute tirade. Stunning attacks against his closest competitor.
Good morning and welcome to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.
BERMAN: I'm John Berman. It is Friday, November 13th. It is 4:00 a.m. in the East.
And breaking overnight, the United State accelerating its battle against ISIS in an operation targeting one of its most notorious terrorist, a drone strike with this man in the crosshairs. He is known as Jihadi John, a British citizen. His real name is Mohammed Emwazi. He appeared in a brutal ISIS execution videos.
The Pentagon says it is still assessing the results of the airstrikes, but a U.S. official tell CNN that authorities are confident the strike killed Emwazi.
For the very latest, let's turn to CNN's Barbara Starr.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: The Pentagon said in a very brief late night announcement that it conducted an air strike against Jihadi John, the notorious killer of so many hostages seen in those terrible beheading videos. Now, we know that the families of the American hostages have been notified. The British government was notified. The Japanese families obviously are getting word as well of what has happened.
U.S. officials are being very clear. They believe they got him with a drone strike against the vehicle he was in in Raqqa, Syria, ISIS capital, its self-declared capital. But they are not 100 percent sure. They are looking for confirmation.
With no U.S. troops or intelligence personnel on the ground in Syria, they will have to look at social media postings, intercepted communications, any indicators out there in the public arena or any announcements that he may have died. They still believe, however, that this is a very good chance that they got him.
Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: Breaking news on another front in the battle against ISIS this morning: Kurdish Peshmerga forces trumpeting their momentum as they fight to retake the Iraqi city of Sinjar from ISIS. They say they have now entered the city from all directions and that up to 7,500 Peshmerga troops have reclaimed more than 60 square miles of territory. This with the help of more than 250 airstrikes against ISIS by the U.S.-led coalition within the last month.
Peshmerga says they are going against 600 ISIS fighters in Sinjar. But ISIS has dug in, behind landmines and booby traps and tunnels, and they won't make it easy for a victory there.
CNN international correspondent Nick Paton Walsh is imbedded with the Peshmerga. He joins us now with the latest.
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Christine, I have just come out of the city of Sinjar, and inside there is remarkable devastation wrought by the impact of coalition airstrikes, the booby traps are literally everywhere you walk. Heavy gunfire still when we were inside. Peshmerga, we saw slowly advanced about three hours ago from multiple different directions on foot, large numbers, hundreds certainly, and heavy gunfire as we came across pockets of ISIS.
Those intense exchanges moving more and more towards the east of the city. That's important to suggest that ISIS is being pushed back in that direction. In fact, the grain silos that were once thought to be still standing. It is quiet now, the city, after we just heard a substantial blast that we think was from an IED. But while it is clear, there is some is there, it is also clear that the Peshmerga has substantial numbers inside there and they will sustain their presence in the days ahead.
So, a very swift advance for Peshmerga. Questions unanswered, though, is whether or not ISIS are waiting for a different moment. But already, quickly, after 48 hours, Peshmerga moving inside that vital city which sits most importantly on the strategic highway between Mosul and Iraq and Raqqa in Syria, the key vital cities for ISIS. They will hold that road. They seem to be lots of places around Sinjar itself and that will surely spell rare these days bad news for ISIS, Christine.
[04:05:01] ROMANS: Yes, an effort to cut this ISIS in talk. You talk about the strategic importance of retaking Sinjar. Tell me a little bit about the symbolic importance, when this town was taken initially, it was devastation for the people who live there.
WALSH: That is the case, yes. They were the Yazidi population forced to flee to the mountain where I'm standing where many of them still live. In fact, it became a deep symbol because of the publicity of the plight that the Yazidis got and the brutality, the treatment got at the hands of ISIS.
It became a symbol of how low ISIS is willing to sink, the captivity that those people through, and the sexual slavery, the slavery of individuals is what they face. The key question, of course, now is how quickly can Yazidis return to that city, so little of it is in fact left there, and, of course, the little of demining missions it can carry on given the number of booby traps inside that city -- Christine.
ROMANS: All right. Nick Paton Walsh with some dramatic reporting this morning about the advances of the Peshmerga. Nick, be careful. And we'll talk to you again very, very soon, we hope. Thanks, Nick.
BERMAN: Still more developments in the battle against ISIS. This morning, U.S. and its coalition allies stepping up air strikes on oil fields controlled by ISIS in eastern Syria. The goal is to choke off the terror group's main source of revenue. And there is new information this morning about two suicide bombings that killed more than 40 people, wounded more than 200 others in southern Beirut.
In Lebanon, one would-be bomber who survived the attack tells investigators he was sent by ISIS.
I want to bring in CNN's Ian Lee who was watching these developments.
Good morning, Ian.
IAN LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John.
And they're going to be interrogating that man, trying to find out how he was able to carry it out, how he was able to infiltrate Lebanon from Syria with the weapons and carry out this dastardly attack. We know right now that at least 43 people have been killed.
This bombing took place during rush hour when people were going home and market. The streets were crowded. Two suicide bombers blew themselves up 500 feet away from each other. One of the suicide bombers, a third man was killed in one blast before he could detonate his explosive device.
But today, Lebanon is in a state of mourning. All of the factions in the country, all the political factions, have come out and condemned this attack. But what we are seeing from ISIS is a bit of desperation. They are being squeezed from both ends in Iraq, also in Syria where Hezbollah fighters, along with Bashar al-Assad's regime fighters and back by Russia are hitting them there. But this attack definitely seems to be retaliation for Hezbollah's involvement in Syria.
BERMAN: Sectarian war playing out in that region. Ian Lee, thank you so much.
ROMANS: A dramatic morning and then last night, this. Donald Trump goes off this late night rant -- 95-minutes of insults and riffing.
BERMAN: Invective. ROMANS: Invective, Ben Carson -- we'll break it all down for you
next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[04:12:21] ROMANS: All right. Big political news overnight: Donald Trump unplugged and unrestrained against his rival. In an interview with CNN's Erin Burnett, Trump compared Ben Carson's pathological temper to the incurable sickness of a child molester.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I haven't seen it, I know it's in the book, that he's got a pathological temper or temperament. That's big problem because you don't cure that. That's like -- you know, I could say, they'd say you don't cure a child molester, you don't cure these people. You don't cure a child molester.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: That was just one among a few stunning statements from Trump overnight at a 95-minute rambling Iowa rally, he used a swear word, vowing to bomb the heck out of ISIS. But he didn't say heck.
Trump even asked if anyone in the crowd had a knife to help him demonstrate why he doubts Carson's story about trying to stab someone. He doubts it could have happened as described. Really a remarkable evening for Donald Trump.
More now from CNN's Athena Jones with the Trump campaign. She's in Iowa.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ATHENA JONES, CNN REPORTER: Good morning, John and Christine. One of the first things Trump said when he took the stage here in Ft. Dodge is that the gloves are off. And that was more than true when it comes to Ben Carson. He spent several minutes hitting Ben Carson, raising doubts some of the stories Carson has told about his violent past. Take a listen.
TRUMP: He took the knife and went after a friend and he lunged -- he lunged that knife into the stomach of his friend. But lo and behold, it hit the belt. It hit the belt. And the knife broke.
How stupid are the people of Iowa? How stupid are the people of the country to believe this crap?
JONES: So, some of the toughest and most animated remarks we've heard from Trump about Ben Carson, one of his top rivals. He also spent time slamming his other rivals both within and outside of his party, blasting Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio and calling -- saying of Hillary Clinton, that the only thing she has going for her is the woman card.
I can tell you the audience here seemed to really eat it up -- John, Christine. (END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: All right. Athena, thanks for that.
Now, the Carson campaign denied that Trump was comparing Ben Carson's temper to child molesting, saying that Trump was rambling. A top aide, Armstrong Williams, tell CNN, "Mr. Trump has resentment when he sees Dr. Carson rise. He lashes out like he did tonight."
[04:15:00] BERMAN: All right. New this morning, President Obama on Donald Trump, specifically his proposal to employ a deportation force to get some 11 million undocumented immigrants out of the country. In an interview with ABC News, the president questions the cost and the wisdom of such a move.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Imagine the images on the screen flashed around the world as we were dragging parents away from their children and putting them in what, detention centers? Nobody thinks that is realistic. But more importantly, that's not who we are as Americans.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: All right. President Obama's biggest campaign donors from 2012 are sitting on the sidelines a bit, or some of them I should say are sitting on the sidelines a bit and holding on to their cash. Four out of five people who maxed out to the president's campaign in 2012 have not yet donated to a candidate this year. This is according to "The Wall Street Journal" which says that many of the contributors are waiting, they're just sitting around waiting right now and they feel the super PAC makes them feel the campaigns and donations don't matter anymore.
It's still early in some cases. A lot of these people still have time to get in.
ROMANS: It is early. We have a year.
BERMAN: Right. But a lot of these people will donate if you are loyal, likely donate after this --
ROMANS: I get it, I get.
All right. Time for an early start on your money. Stocks lower in Europe and Asia. Here in the U.S., futures look more upbeat, could be a bunch after stocks fell yesterday.
Look, it's all about more signs and interest rate hikes coming before the end of the year. Dow yesterday down 250 points. The S&P 500 again down for the year. And oil prices tumbled again.
The latest sign from the Federal Reserve, New York Fed President William Dudley says the Fed is preparing for the first rate hike in almost a decade. And the American economy is set up for success. At least that's the message JPMorgan Chase's CEO Jamie Dimon gave our
Cristina Alesci.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMIE DIMON, JPMORGAN CHASE: In the long term, we have exceptional universities. We have the best military on the planet. We will for a long period of time.
We have the best businesses, medium, large and small. We have unbelievable innovation, from Steve Jobs on the factory floor. You got a great work ethic, very low corruption.
We have the greatest military barriers ever built called the Atlantic and Pacific. All of the food, water, and energy we ever want. We're in pretty good shape.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Really interesting. Earlier this week, we heard from Jack Lew, the treasury secretary, upbeat on the U.S. economy. This is Jamie Dimon, runs this huge bank, upbeat on the economy. He says to make America even better, the United States needs a tax, education, and immigration reform.
But I would encourage you to go to CNNMoney and listen to that interview. It's 20 minutes. It's awesome. He talks about a lot of different things, but mostly really frank. Talks about surviving cancer, talks about what it's like to run this bank and whether bankers need a better image in America, really an interesting interview.
BERMAN: Interesting.
All right. Racial tensions rising across the college campuses across the country. Now, the 2016 presidential candidates are weighing in. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[04:22:29] ROMANS: Sad story here. The pregnant wife of an Indianapolis pastor shot and killed in a suspected home invasion. Police say 28-year-old Amanda Blackburn's body was discovered Tuesday morning by her husband, Pastor Davey Blackburn of the Resonate Church. She died from a single gunshot wound to the head. Her 1-year-old son left unharmed in his crib.
Hours earlier, a neighbor's home was burglarized. Authorities are not saying whether the two incidents are connected. They have no suspects and no solid leads.
BERMAN: Prosecutors want former Subway pitchman Jared Fogle to spent 12 1/2 years behind bars, followed by a lifetime of supervised provision. This is the maximum punishment he faces when he is sentenced next week. Fogle has already agreed to plead guilty to the position of child pornography and traveling across state lines to engage in sex with a minor.
ROMANS: A third police expert is defending the shooting by a Cleveland police officer of 12-year-old Tamir Rice. In a new report, an expert on police use of force says Officer Timothy Loehmann had no choice but to shoot the boy, who was carrying a pellet gun that looks to responding officers like it was real. The report calls the shooting clearly objectively reasonable. It was released by prosecutors Thursday while a grand jury is currently deciding whether criminal charges should be filed against Loehmann.
BERMAN: The University of Missouri has a new interim president, 68- year-old Michael Middleton. He is one of the first black students ever to graduate from the university's law school. He has been involved with the school for 30 years and says he is ready to tackle the racial tensions that led to the resignation of the university's president and chancellor. The unrest on Missouri's campus is a pretty big topic on the campaign trail.
Listen to the Republican candidates as they weigh in.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R-FL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Freedom of speech on campuses seems to be under assault at some of the supposedly finest institutions in this country. In the case of Missouri, I'm still trying to figure out exactly what it is that got the president fired, what exactly did he do or say that was the reason why he should have resigned.
DR. BEN CARSON (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: People are so frightened of the politically correct police that they're willing to do things that are irrational to appease them.
CARLY FIORINA (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Kids were taught that, you know, if anything offends their sensibilities, that they should stand up and say, oh, don't talk to me about that. They are called trigger warnings now. This doesn't help our young people.
TRUMP: I think the two people that resigned are weak, ineffective people. I think when they resigned, they set something in motion that's going to be a disaster.
GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE (R-NJ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don't think anyone can look objectively at where we are and say we are better off than seven years ago on the issue of race in America with Barack Obama as president.
[04:25:07] In fact, I think he's made it worse.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: So, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders seem to have a different take, more sympathetic to the students at Missouri. Senator Sanders tweeted, "It's time to address structural racism on college campuses." ROMANS: All right. Twenty-five minutes after the hour. Breaking overnight: U.S. airstrikes targeting Jihadi John. The executioner in those terrible ISIS beheading videos. We are live, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: Breaking news this morning: U.S. launching new attacks -- new attacks on ISIS in Iraq and Syria. Drone strikes targeting executioner Jihadi John as ISIS launches a new deadly attack. We are breaking down all the new developments this morning.
BERMAN: All right. The gloves officially off. That's what Donald Trump says. Ninety-five minutes on the stump overnight. You do not want to miss.
ROMANS: It was something.
BERMAN: Welcome back to EARLY START, everyone. I'm John Berman.
