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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Climate Change Talks Begin in Paris; Colorado Civilian Victims Identified; Ben Carson Visits Refugee Camp in Jordan; Threat of Imminent Kabul Embassy Attack; Aired 4:30-5a ET
Aired November 30, 2015 - 04:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:31:22] ALISON KOSIK, CNN ANCHOR: Protests erupting on the streets of Paris happening as President Obama meets there with world leaders on how to stop global warming. But will there be any real breakthroughs? We're live.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: New information about the man accused in the deadly shooting spree at a Colorado Planned Parenthood, as he gets ready to face a judge this morning.
Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.
KOSIK: And I'm Alison Kosik. It's 30 minutes past the hour. Good morning to you.
And chaos on the streets of Paris ahead of potentially historic climate talks that begin there today. Police arrest hundreds following a battle that included protesters throwing shoes, bottles, even candles police say came from the Paris attack memorial. Officers responding with tear gas.
President Obama arriving Sunday in Paris for the talks. Visited the memorial at the Bataclan Theater with French President Francois Hollande laying a single flower.
And now to the business of hammering out a deal to limit greenhouse gasses. Almost 150 world leaders in town for two weeks of intense negotiations and a possible deal President Obama hopes will cement his legacy. The president just finishing a meeting with the Chinese president.
Senior White House correspondent Phil Black is in Paris with the president.
Phil, what's latest?
PHIL BLACK, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Alison, in a sense it is extraordinary that this meeting, this conference is going ahead at this scale at all given that this is the city that was struck by terrorism just two weeks ago. It is a city in lockdown. Certainly this section of the city is absolutely locked down in terms of security. And indeed the shadow of terrorism hangs over the sites you've just been discussing there. But the primary reason for the visit, well, the fight against ISIS will be discussed. Primarily it's all about the fight against climate change. And so
it's in that concept that President Obama's most important meetings with leaders of other big polluting meetings, emitters of carbon dioxide. You mentioned the Chinese president that he is meeting with him right now. The other key meetings to take place over the next day also will be that of India's president as well.
Together, if they are able to work together constructively and show leadership as the leaders of U.S. and China are credited with having done so far, then there is the optimistic belief, if you like, that there can be a strong significant deal out of the end of this two weeks of talks.
Now the leaders are all in here for the next 24 hours or so. They're going to state their intentions, declare their positions, and then there's a long hard process of negotiations between ministers and other officials over the next two weeks. And hopefully at the end of all that, there will be a deal.
A lot of big meetings as we've been talking about taking place. Another big polluter is Russia. But at this stage, the U.S. president and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, do not have plans to meet formally here. They also have a lot to talk about, Syria, you would think, and both sides, both the U.S. and Russia, have talked about the possibility that these leaders could meet somewhere on the sidelines of this conference in the coming hours -- Alison.
KOSIK: Yes. I would imagine that as important as climate change is, it's going to be pretty tough just to concentrate on climate change with what just happened in Paris and what's happening in the world these days considering terrorism.
BLACK: Yes, that's right. So you're going to hear a lot of words and see a lot of expressions as you saw with President Obama visiting the site of the attacks just last night, just after he flew in. A lot of expressions of solidarity with the French people. A lot of talk of defiance against ISIS and Islamist terrorism. But proceeding with these talks in itself is also an act of defiance certainly on the part of Paris. But also globally as well.
[04:35:07] It's a statement collectively by all the leaders that have gathered here that yes, terrorism is an issue, it is an immediate and narrow one. And they can deal with that. But it's not going to distract them from other big important issues like climate change. And for many of the officials and the leaders that have gathered here in Paris for these talks their belief is that climate change is a much bigger issue because they believe that the discussions they're having here now will determine the future of the entire front -- Alison.
KOSIK: And of course lots of sideline discussions I'm sure will happen as well during those two weeks.
Phil Black, thanks so much.
ROMANS: We're getting new information this morning about what motivated a shooting spree at a Colorado Springs' Planned Parenthood clinic. That attack killed three, wounded nine others. Suspect Robert Lewis Dear is set to have his first court appearance this afternoon via video link.
We're also learning about two more victims in the deadly attack. Ke'arre Stewart was an Iraq war veteran with two daughters. Jennifer Markovsky had a boy and a girl, a mother of two. She was a K-Mart employee originally from Hawaii. Police Officer Garrett Swasey also died in the attack.
For more, let's get to CNN's Dan Simon. He's in Colorado Springs for us.
DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christine and Alison, a law enforcement source tells CNN that just after he surrendered the suspect in this case, 57-year-old Robert Dear, made a reference to, quote, "baby parts." So that's further fueling this notion that is anti-abortion views was the motivating factor behind the attack at the Planned Parenthood. But authorities say at this point it is too early to reach a conclusion.
As for the suspect's background, a portrait is emerging that he was a loner. He certainly lived in isolation in the middle of Colorado. Before that he lived in North Carolina in a very small cabin. In terms of a criminal background, we know that he had some brushes with law enforcement, but had never been convicted. In 1997, for instance, his wife at the time accused him of domestic assault. But he was never charged.
And because there is no sort of criminal violent past associated with the suspect, that's why people like the mayor in this town say it's very hard for law enforcement to keep tabs on someone like him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN SUTHERS, COLORADO SPRINGS MAYOR: We've had examples of this in the past. This guy is kind of shaping up to be a -- like a Ted Kaczynski type character. Perhaps not quite the loner, but it's very difficult for law enforcement to deal with individuals like this who don't commit serious crimes and get themselves on the radar that way. Unless a threat is posed beforehand that they can respond to.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SIMON: Well, as authorities work to come up with a firm motive, we know that the suspect actually gave up inside the Planned Parenthood. This was after nearly six hours and also after an armored police vehicle known as a Bearcat rammed into the building. The suspect apparently thought he was cornered. He dropped his weapon and gave up -- Christine and Alison.
KOSIK: OK, Dan, thanks for that. And one question hanging over the attack, whether it will complicate the fight in Congress over Planned Parenthood. That battle began when an anti-abortion group began releasing video that claimed Planned Parenthood profits from the sale of fetal tissue. Hard line conservatives are pushing for a government shutdown if federal funding for the group is not cut off. On Saturday, Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer called for five
congressional investigations of the group to be shutdown. She says it's time to stop the demonizing and witch hunts.
The head of the Colorado clinic suggested the fiery anti-abortion political rhetoric played a part in the attack.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VICKI COWART, PRESIDENT, ROCKY MOUNTAIN PLANNED PARENTHOOD: We've experienced so much hateful language, hateful speech, such a negative environment has been created around the work that Planned Parenthood does, around the idea of safe and legal abortion. And we've seen that across the country from all sorts of speakers in the last few months.
I can't believe that this isn't contributing to some folks mentally unwell or not. Thinking that it's OK to target Planned Parenthood.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Many of the 2016 Republican candidates now speaking out against the attack, but they are also maintaining their strong opposition to Planned Parenthood and they are rejecting that notion that you heard there that anti-abortion rhetoric played any part in this violence.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CARLY FIORINA (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: What I would say to anyone who tries to link this terrible tragedy to anyone who opposes abortion or opposes the sale of body parts is this is typical left-wing tactics.
MIKE HUCKABEE (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: What he did is domestic terrorism. And what he did is absolutely abominable. Especially to those of us in the pro-life movement. Because there's nothing about any of us that would condone or in any way look the other way at something like this.
[04:40:03] DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This is an extremist and this was a man who obviously -- and they said prior to this that he was mentally disturbed. So he's a mentally disturbed person. There's no question about that.
DR. BEN CARSON (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Let's get away from the rhetoric and talk about the real problem. The real problem is that we have become coarse and hateful toward each another.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Democrats Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders were the first presidential candidates to respond to the attacks, offering condolences, supporting Planned Parenthood, and defending abortion rights.
KOSIK: Breaking overnight, the University of Chicago cancelling Monday classes after an online threat of gun violence. The university president says he learned of the threat from FBI counterterrorism officials who say the individual mentioned a specific area and time. The campus quad at 10:00 a.m. Monday morning. Students in campus housing are being asked to stay indoors today as much as possible.
ROMANS: Time for an EARLY START on your money. European stocks, let's look at them now, mostly up. Making up for early -- earlier losses. U.S. stock futures have now followed suit. They're up a little bit, too. Retailers expecting a record-breaking cyber Monday today. Sales likely to top $3 billion for the first time this year as cyber Monday, an industry, by the way, that was made up by retailers to get you to spend more money after Black Friday.
It's growing in importance because it's kind of sucking the life out of Black Friday. Black Friday is shrinking here in importance because really the whole month of November, people are looking online to get their best sales.
Amazon releasing a new video showing its drone delivery plans. It features TV host Jeremy Clarkson and imagines a family in the near future receiving a replacement soccer shoe via drone to replace the one their bulldog chewed up. The timeline 30 minutes video is the first in years showing new flight footage and drone designs. Amazon is looking for public support as it tries to overcome regulatory hurdles.
KOSIK: It's official. The future is here. With a picture like that.
Ben Carson sharing what he learned while visiting a Syrian refugee camp. What he is now saying about the crisis next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[04:46:19] ROMANS: Get back to the campaign grind for the men and women who would-be president following the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. One Republican hopeful Ben Carson has been brushing up on his foreign policy learning firsthand about the plight of Syrian refugees while visiting a camp in Jordan.
We get more from CNN's Sunlen Serfaty.
SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alison and Christine. Well, Ben Carson's trip to Jordan over the weekend comes at an important time for him as a candidate. He has been in a period of intense scrutiny over his foreign policy credentials. So certainly a big part of the strategy of him visiting. He's trying to beef up his experience, his knowledge of the region.
And he spoke about over the weekend about those conversations that he had with the Syrian refugees at that refugee camp in Jordan. And it seems like this is the key takeaway of his trip. Here's what he said he concluded after speaking to the refugees.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CARSON: Their true desire is to be resettled in Syria. But, you know, they're satisfied to be in the refugee camps if the refugee camps are adequately funded. Recognize that in these camps, they have schools, they have recreational facilities that are really quite nice, and they are putting in all kinds of things that make life more tolerable.
Would it be better to integrate them into the society? Yes, I certainly talked to some people about that. But, you know, you have to make progress as you go.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SERFATY: Donald Trump, meanwhile, he is still on the defense for the second weekend in a row over claims that he made that Muslim-Americans were celebrating in New Jersey after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. And over the weekend again, he did not back down. Here's what he said on "Meet the Press."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Many, many people have seen it. So I believe that -- I have a very good memory, Chuck. I'll tell you, I have a very good memory. I saw it somewhere on television many years ago and I never forgot it. And it was on television, too.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SERFATY: His opponent, Chris Christie, meanwhile picked up a key and much-need endorsement over the weekend from the New Hampshire Union leader. The publisher of that influential newspaper saying that Chris Christie is right for these dangerous times. This is a big get for Christie. He has in large part pinned much of his White House hopes on New Hampshire. He visits there again today -- Alison and Christine.
KOSIK: OK, Sunlen, thanks very much.
Happening today in Baltimore, jury selection gets underway in the trial of William Porter. He is the first of the six Baltimore police officers charged in the death of Freddie Gray to stand trial. Gray died one week after his arrest back in April. Prosecutors say he suffered a spinal cord injury as he was being driven in a police van. Gray's death sparked two weeks of rioting in the city.
ROMANS: The Chicago police officer charged with the first-degree murder in the death of Laquan McDonald will be in court today. Jason Van Dyke, he has been held without bail since his recent arrest. Before that he was on desk duty. The teenager was shot 16 times. The shooting captured on dash cam video. The officer's attorney claimed the shooting was justified because Van Dyke feared for his life. The judge is expected to use the video to determine whether he should be granted bail.
KOSIK: Breaking overnight. A bus packed with college students overturned Sunday night in Richmond, Virginia. Authorities say 35 people were injured, one critically. They say 50 people were on board, mostly students from Virginia Tech, Bradford and the University of Virginia. The bus flipped over on a parkway ramp. The driver has been charged with reckless driving. Just what caused the crash is being investigated.
[04:50:04] ROMANS: All right. Roads crumbling, airports jammed, our infrastructure failing. Hillary Clinton has a new plan to fix this big problem, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KOSIK: Welcome back. We are following breaking news from Afghanistan. U.S. officials citing credible reports of an imminent terror attack happening in Kabul -- happening in Kabul City. The report says it could happen in the next 48 hours. According to an embassy statement, there are no additional details regarding the targets, the timing or the method of the planned attack. Embassy officials are strongly urging American citizens to exercise extreme caution if they're moving around the city.
[04:55:07] For the latest on this, let's bring in reporter Sune Engel Rasmussen. He's joining us from Kabul.
So you think about the security situation there. U.S. embassy officials have already been told not to travel on the roads because of the vulnerability in doing that. And instead to travel via helicopter. How does this threat differ?
SUNE ENGEL RASMUSSEN, REPORTER: Well, this threat differs in the sense that it's more specific perhaps than is normally the case with embassy warnings. But that being said, the U.S. embassy and U.N. agencies across the city have been living on a near lockdown for several months. So in that sense it's nothing new that the foreigners in the city could be targeted up in an attack.
But it is pretty rare that the embassy comes out and says they have reports of an imminent attack as they phrased it here. We don't know, as you said, who is supposedly behind or was planning this attack, or who it should be targeting or if it is even targeting foreigners. If they're just worried the foreigners might be caught up as collateral damage and in effect or where in the city exactly it's supposed to happen.
KOSIK: Are you sensing the mood there as being more on edge because of this latest warning?
RASMUSSEN: No, I think this warning is mainly meant for American citizens and other foreigners in the city. Afghans have been living in this country and where the security has deteriorated dramatically for the past year, a year and a half. So in that sense the mood in the city hasn't changed. And most foreigners, U.N. workers and staff at the embassies, as you said in your into, don't actually travel the streets that much as it is. So perhaps the mood is different at the embassy, where I'm not at the moment. But in the city, the mood is pretty much the same.
KOSIK: All right. Sune Engel Rasmussen, thanks so much for that update. If anything changes, we will come back to you. ROMANS: All right. Almost top of the hour. Let's get an EARLY START
on your money this morning. U.S. stock futures up. And today is expected to be a big day for retailers. This is Cyber Monday, online sales predicted to top $3 billion for the first time. It's a spike especially considering the term Cyber Monday was only born a decade ago. Of course the retailers invented it to try to get you to spend more money.
KOSIK: And it's working.
ROMANS: And it's working. Black Friday's importance is shrinking at the same time. More shoppers are going online. More shoppers are shopping all month long. It's really sort of black November.
Hillary Clinton promising to fix America's failing infrastructure. She was in Boston yesterday surrounded by union support. She said as president she would increase federal investment and infrastructure by $275 billion over the next five years. That would include a $25 billion national infrastructure bank which would use government dollars to attract private investment.
Clinton says the spending would be paid for with business tax reform. Her plan includes universal broadband by 2020 and more focus on a clean energy grid.
Bill Gates throwing his billions behind clean energy. The Microsoft co-founder will announce the breakthrough energy coalition in Paris right alongside President Obama and French President Francois Hollande today. The fund is backed by a whole bunch of big names. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Alibaba's Jack Ma, Virgin's Richard Branson, plus several national governments. The goal to invest in new promising ideas in large scale clean energy production.
KOSIK: Using their money for a good cause.
ROMANS: Yes. We'll hear more about that later this morning, I'm sure.
KOSIK: All right. EARLY START continues right now.
Protests breaking out as world leaders convene in Paris. Historic negotiations over how to fight climate change. We're live.
ROMANS: The man accused in a deadly shootout inside a Planned Parenthood facing a judge in just hours as we get new information about what may have triggered that attack.
Good morning. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.
KOSIK: And I'm Alison Kosik. It's Monday, November 30th. It's 5:00 a.m. in the East.
Chaos on the streets of Paris. Ahead of potentially historic climate talks that begin there today. Police arrest hundreds following a battle that included protesters throwing shoes, bottles, even candles police say came from the Paris attack memorial. Officers responding with teargas.
President Obama arriving Sunday in Paris for the talks. Visited the memorial at the Bataclan Theater with French President Francois Hollande laying a single flower.
And now to the business of hammering out a deal to limit greenhouse gasses. Nearly 150 world leaders in town for two weeks of intense negotiations and a possible deal President Obama hopes will cement his legacy. The president meeting just a short time ago with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Senior White House correspondent Jim Acosta is in Paris with the president.
Jim, I'd imagine, it's hard to concentrate just on climate change, as important as that issue is, knowing what that city has been through.
[05:00:06] JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right. And we're expecting these world leaders gather for this climate summit, Alison, to observe a moment of silence in memory of the victims of the Paris attacks. And it was a somber --
(END)
