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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Severe Weather Strikes Central US; Latest from the Campaign Trail; China Warns Westerners of Potential Threats; Fighting in Ramadi Examined; British Family Barred from Flight to US. Aired 5:30-6a ET
Aired December 24, 2015 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN: Deadly storms barrelling through the country. At least seven people killed with dozens more injured. We are tracking the damage.
ALISON KOSIK, CNN: Donald Trump warning Hillary Clinton be careful. A war of words escalating in the race for president.
SANCHEZ: New this morning, U.S. citizens visiting China being warned about possible threats in a popular tourist area. Armed police are now on the scene. Welcome to "Early Start," I'm Boris Sanchez.
KOSIK: And I'm Alison Kosik. It's 30 minutes past the hour. At least seven people killed, dozens more injured as a line of deadly Christmas week storms stretch from the Gulf Coast to the upper Midwest, spawning rain, hail, high winds and tornadoes. Look at this twister tearing across the landscape in northern Mississippi.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(UNKNOWN): It's still coming at us.
(UNKNOWN): Look at that.
(UNKNOWN): Oh, man. I hope it is not hitting houses.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOSIK: Unfortunately, it apparently did hit houses. Major damage reported to homes, vehicles and power lines along the tornado's path.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(UNKNOWN): He actually did see it happen. He said he looked out the window and saw the grass circling and tons of -- well, it wasn't really trash, but tons of Mr. Metso's (ph) house blow into your yard all the way to the interstate which is quite a ways over that way.
KOSIK: Emergency officials in Mississippi say at least four people were killed in the state and 40 people injured. In one case, a 7- year-old boy in a car with his family died when a tornado came through.
(END VIDEO CLIP) SANCHEZ: Just north of that area, across the state line in southern Tennessee, authorities reported two people dead and two missing when an apparent tornado tore through Perry county, ripping three homes apart with the residents inside.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(UNKNOWN): We heard the wind picking up. We dashed out to the storm shelter and we had 45 seconds and it just hit. We came --we walked out of the storm shelter, everything was gone.
(UNKNOWN): What does it look like over there?
(UNKNOWN): It looks like a wasteland. There's nothing left.
(END VIDEO CLIP):
KOSIK: In Arkansas, a teenager dies after fierce winds and heavy rain uprooted a massive tree, causing it to topple over. And look at that, sliced through a portion of the home. The image says that all you can see a part of the tree trunk sticking out of the window. A neighbor down the block says the storm was so intense, she immediately took cover.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(UNKNOWN): Everything was just moving sideways and just the sound of the wind. I just -- I jumped and I ran.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOSIK: Fortunately, four other people inside the home, including an 18-month-old girl, they survived.
SANCHEZ: Meantime, Alabama hit with massive flooding. Look at this. A lake basically forming in the center of this neighborhood. Highways shutdown after nearly three feet of water fell there and large hail pounded homes. Here is one hail stone. You see the size of it in this person's hand.
KOSIK: That's amazing. This trailer ripped to shreds in Illinois. The winds so strong it came apart like a house of cards. Wide-spread damage reported throughout the state with power knocked out to thousands of people.
SANCHEZ: For the latest now, let's bring in meteorologist Pedram Javaheri.
PEDRAM JAVAHERI, METEOROLOGIST: Hey, good morning, guys. Yes, a wild Wednesday afternoon when it comes to the number of severe storm reports we saw. Some around the order of 200 plus storm-related reports and you take a look, 22 of them associated with tornadoes.
And climatologically speaking, this time of year, easily the quietest time of year with it comes to tornadic activity, about 24 on any given month. And certainly, you don't see the intensity of the storms we saw on Wednesday afternoon as well. And we'll talk to you on that momentarily.
Severe weather threat for Thursday, for your Christmas Eve, stretches for nearly 50 million people from Houston towards D.C. On a scale of 1-5, the chance for severity there is about a one compared to a three to a four yesterday.
So, at least improving conditions, but still some wild weather to speak of. And notice the temperatures shooting through the roof into the early morning hours. Seventies in Atlanta. Upper and mid-'60s across the Northeast.
And we talk about this time of year and how you get the severe weather events, really it doesn't matter what time of year it is. If you have the climatological conditions in place, the meteorological conditions in place, you get the surface winds in this case coming in from the south. You get up to say 4,000 feet or 5,000 feet in the atmosphere and you are talking about winds upstairs coming in from the south, southwest.
And you create the vortices or vortex of tubes of horizontal air. You think of a pencil between your hand or maybe rolling a pizza dough on a table. That is sort of the column of air rotating on a horizontal axis. If there's an up traffic to surface, you can now rotate that horizontal into a vertical and you have yourself a tornado on the ground.
That is precisely what we saw here on Thursday. And again, the threat is diminished a little bit and we still have incredible heat to tell you when it comes to today's forecast. Temperatures breaking records by more than 10 degrees by this afternoon guys.
SANCHEZ: All right. Thank you, Pedram. Big changes are coming for millions of people traveling this holiday season. AAA says about 5.8 million people are planning to fly in the next couple weeks. And they may notice new procedures at the airport screening line.
TSA agents can now order some passengers to go through the body scanners, even those who have asked for a full body patdown instead. The TSA says security conditions warrant the change on a case by case basis. It says the scanners can catch nonmetallic bombs that might miss -- that might be missed during on a patdown.
KOSIK: This morning, Hillary Clinton putting accusations of sexism directly on Donald Trump in the wake of his crass language about her 2008 primary loss and here use of the restroom. Trump again, defending those remarks late last night on Fox News.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: To me, it always meant to get beaten badly. I mean, that's what happened with Hillary Clinton. She got beaten badly. To me, that is a reference to getting beaten and pretty decisively.
When I said it, nobody in the audience thought anything about it. They clapped. They didn't view that as being a horrible thing. Then all of a sudden, I get back in and people are calling about it. And, you know, when they checked it out, some pretty quality people have been using that term over the years.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOSIK: Meantime, Clinton's campaign is ramping up it's combativeness as Trump warns against taking him on too directly with his poll numbers soaring. CNN's Sunlen Serfaty has the latest from Washington.
SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Boris and Alison.
Well, Donald Trump now has a dominating lead in the Republican field. This new CNN/ORC poll shows trump on top with 39 percent support. That is more than double his next closest opponent Ted Cruz. And Trump's lead is more definitive when measured by the depth of his support on issue after issue on handling the economy, on immigration and ISIS.
Voters all say Trump is the best candidate by a commanding margin. Now, meanwhile, Trump is still in this war of words with Hillary Clinton. Clinton, speaking out and responding directly to Trump's vulgar rhetoric about here, saying she thinks Trump has a penchant for sexism.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON, DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I really deplore the tone of his campaign and the inflammatory rhetoric that he is using to divide people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SERFATY: Now Donald trump is hitting right back, tweeting out quote, "Hillary, when you complain about a penchant for sexism, who are you referring to? I have great respect for women. Be careful." Now Clinton also notably saying she doesn't want to keep responding to Trump personally because she says he thrives on that kind of exchange.
Boris and Alison.
KOSIK: OK, going from Trump and Clinton to Ted Cruz who is turning his feud with the media over an editorial cartoon into a fund-raising opportunity. The Washington Post cartoon satirized Cruz's use of his daughters in a political ad, depicting them as monkeys. Cruz and others blasted the cartoon which the Post then removed from its website.
Well, now Cruz has sent out an e-mail to supporters, saying the cartoon proves the liberal media is desperate to attack and destroy him and his family, but he is asking for donations. Cruz was asked about that on the campaign trail.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) QUESTION: You circulated an e-mail today that had the Washington Post editorial at the top of it. Do you think that is hypocritical that you are blasting the media and then using it to raise money?
SEN. TED CRUZ, R-TEXAS, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Listen, I appreciate that number one, the media yesterday decides the right thing to do is to target my girls, to attack a 5-year-old and 7-year- old, and now coming back and turning yet another attack. Thank you for that sentiment. But let me suggest a simple rule that everyone ought to follow. Leave the kids alone.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Ben Carson has fallen to 10 percent in the latest CNN/ORC poll, tied for third with Marco Rubio. Carson's plunge from second place has sparked reports like one in yesterday's Washington Post, of a big campaign shakeup including budget and staff cuts. But Carson told CNN's Don Lemon last night that no such cuts are planned.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. BEN CARSON, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We are constantly looking at everything and we will continue to look at everything. No one is ever 100 percent guaranteed that they are always going to be there. And as the organization grows and as our responsibilities grow, some things may have to change. We may have to add some people. We may have to change some people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Carson says expenses is dropping now his campaign is past that costly start-up phase.
KOSIK: Breaking news this morning. Armed police on the scene of a popular tourist area in China. The U.S. Embassy warning Americans about possible threats. That's coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: There is worrying news for westerners in China. The British, American and now French embassies in Beijing warning they have information about possible threats against westerners visiting a popular shopping district in the capital around Christmas. Joining us now live with the latest, CNN's Alexandra Field.
Alex, we know Beijing has stationed armed forces around this shopping center. What do we know about these threats?
FIELD: Yes, look, the embassies are not revealing what kind of information or what kind of intelligence they have. They are just putting it out there, a warning to their citizens and their government employees that there could be possible threats against westerners, specifically in Sanlitun, which is a very popular, rather upscale shopping area.
At the same time, the embassies have put out this warning to their people. You have got Beijing's public security office also issuing a warning, going through social media to raise their threat level up to yellow.
The state run news agency, Xinhua, reports that that is the second on the scale of four alert levels. So it is at the second from the bottom, but what it means is that people can expect to see security guards in supermarkets and malls across Beijing.
And they are also seeing a heavier concentration of armed police officers specifically in Sanlitun, which was mentioned by the Beijing public security office when they put out the message that they would be raising the alert level to yellow.
They did not, however, specify the fact that warnings had gone out at the same time from embassies who were saying that there were possible threats against westerners. All they said was that the alert level was raised because of the abundance of holiday shoppers in the area and because of all the activities going on at this time of year, Boris.
SANCHEZ: Interesting to note the difference in the two alerts. Alexandra Field, thank you.
KOSIK: Happening now, the battle to retake Ramadi from ISIS. Iraqi forces say they are within a mile of the ISIS held government compound in the strategic city which is 70 miles from Baghdad. But, a military spokesperson says progress is slow as specialists dismantle thousands of improvised explosive devices, one by one.
CNN's Robyn Kriel is following events for us from London and joins us live with the latest.
Robyn, we are talking about the Iraqi military pushing closer to Ramadi but so many challenges remain to actually getting there and putting their flag down and really taking it back.
ROBYN KRIEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, yes, Alison.
I guess the concern is that this could become another case as was the case with Tikrit where the Iraqi military became bogged down and it wasn't until the U.S.-led coalition air strikes began in earnest that they were fully able to take Tikrit amid heavy losses.
Now we know the U.S.-led coalition air strikes have been occurring ever since the morning when the Iraqi forces crossed over a temporary bridge that the U.S. have helped build and crossed into the Humayrah district and launched that raid very early Tuesday morning taking, we understand, ISIS fairly by surprise.
Because of this, they have been able to continue quite effectively. They have also had a real stranglehold over the city of Ramadi ever since November ,trying to choke off various point supply lines for ISIS to get their weapons.
But the question is now, what will these 250 to 300 ISIS fighters do in the interim? Will they execute citizens? Will they use them as human shields? There are a number of citizens trapped inside, up to 10,000, according to officials.
KOSIK: All right Robyn Kriel, thank you so much for the latest on that.
SANCHEZ: Western security officials sounding the alarm over ISIS' ability to forge perfect Iraqi and Syrian passports. Wall Street Journal reports the terrorist group likely obtained the equipment and blank passports when it took control of major cities in Syria and Iraq. At least one of the Paris attackers had been registered as a refugee in Greece, using a fake Syrian passport.
KOSIK: Time for An Early Start on your money. Markets in Asia closed mostly lower while European shares are mixed. We are looking at Dow futures pointing in the red for this holiday shortened trading session today. U.S. firms are gearing up for the lifting of sanctions on Iran and it is not just oil companies that are interested in doing business there.
The Wall Street Journal reports HP, Apple and General Electric are exploring getting into the Iranian market. Sanctions could be lifted as early as January and could represent a huge opportunity for American businesses. Iran's tech market alone could be worth $13 billion within four years.
Hyatt is the latest hotel investigating a data breach. The company says it found malware on it's computer payment system. It is unclear how many customers may have been affected. Last month, Starwood and Hilton reported similar malware infections. If you stayed at those hotels, I'd say check your bills.
SANCHEZ: Yes, change your passwords too. That's probably a good idea.
KOSIK: That too.
SANCHEZ: Let's see what is coming up on "New Day," Alisyn Camerota joining us now.
Merry Christmas Eve, Alisyn.
CAMEROTA: Thank you and to you as well.
KOSIK: Good morning.
CAMEROTA: Great to see you guys.
So of course we will be following those deadly storms that are striking the south. There are incredible survival stories to share. We will have the damage assessments and the climbing death toll. Also, what is in store for the next few days.
Also, this morning, Chris brings us an in-depth interview with presidential candidate Bernie Sanders. The self described socialist opening up about our new polls, his campaign, his plans for the White House and of course, Donald trump. So you don't want to miss that and so much more when we see you at the top of the hour. KOSIK: We won't miss it Alisyn.
SANCHEZ: We won't thank you.
CAMEROTA: Thanks so much guys.
KOSIK: Did you finish your Christmas shopping?
SANCHEZ: Almost, almost. Just one last thing to get as I head out today.
KOSIK: All right, so I'm going to give you some ideas after the break on where you can go if you are a procrastinator. An Early Start on your money is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: A British Muslim man says he as his family were barred to board a plane bound for the U.S. because of their religion. Mohammad Tariq Mahmood was headed to Disneyland with his two kids and several other relatives. They were all waiting at the gate at Gatwick, London airport when he was informed they would not be allowed to board the plane on orders of U.S. Homeland Security. For the latest, let's bring in CNN's anchor and correspondent Richard Quest live for us in London.
Richard, good morning to you. We've heard a report that a relative of the family had an e-mail linked that was linked to a suspicious Facebook group. What do we know about that?
QUEST: Well, we don't know much about this. There is a Facebook page and on that Facebook page there are comments supporting Al Qaida and there is an e-mail address attached to that. The problem is, it seems to be the wrong address for the family and nobody seems to know exactly what any connection, if at all, there may be.
The family basically says it is not their Facebook page it's not their address and they're not sure how the two would ever come to be connected in the first place. What you are getting here is a situation where the families say they have no idea why they were barred from boarding the plane and the U.S. so far, is not providing any information. Not surprisingly, the family is concerned and are angry.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MOHAMMAD TARIQ MAHMOOD: I wanted them to give me an explanation. We are not a threat to anybody. We are working class. We run a business. We help everybody else. I've got a place where it's a multicultural society as it comes and I treat everybody same. And for me to be treated like that, I feel most uncomfortable and most devastated because I'm just like a normal person.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: So the British member of parliament that represents the family's district is now involved. The Prime Minister David Cameron has now getting involved. And I understand that the U.S. embassy in London is preparing to answer questions or at least answer inquiries from the British government.
And as for the family, they're $15,000 out of pocket because the airline won't refund the money. They don't know if and when they will ever be allowed to travel to the United States. They don't know the reason why they were refused travel and Boris, they say -- the embassy says if they turn up at the embassy, they can apply for a visa.
SANCHEZ: A difficult situation for that family. I look forward to seeing what the U.S. says kept them from coming here. Richard Quest in London, thank you.
KOSIK: There is word this morning that U.S. immigration agents are preparing to carry out a series of raids aimed at deporting hundreds of families who have crossed the border illegally since the beginning of last year. The Washington Post is reporting that those familiar with the operation, say it will only target adults and children who have already been ordered removed from the country by an immigration judge. The raids could start as soon as early January.
SANCHEZ: Fifteen people have been arrested following a Black Lives Matter rally in Minneapolis. This was the scene at the Mall of America yesterday. Demonstrators forced the largest mall to briefly shutdown. Meantime, hundreds of demonstrators blocked access to a terminal at Minneapolis-St. Paul international airport.
Officials say there were some flight delayed, but no cancellations. The organizers say the rally's goal was to bring attention to the fatal shooting of Jamar Clark by Minneapolis police. One Black Lives Matter leader tells the Star Tribune newspaper that the mall protest was actually a decoy for the real demonstration at the airport.
Meantime, protesters in Chicago hoping to disrupt holiday shopping. They're gathering at the magnificent mile calling for Mayor Rahm Emanuel to step down. They demonstrated at the same location on black Friday. The protesters want Emanuel out of office over his year long fight against releasing dash cam video of Officer Jason Van Dyke gunning down Laquan McDonald.
KOSIK: Let's get An Early Start on your money.
U.S. futures are pointing to a lower open for today's short trading session. The market closes at 1 P.M., eastern time, today. The market actually, has rallied over the past three days mostly, as we've watched oil prices stabilize. Crude is trading above $37 a barrel this morning. And the buying in stocks has put the S&P back in the plus column for the year, but the Dow is on track for it's first negative year since 2008.
Daily Fantasy sports fans could be shutout in Illinois. The state's attorney general says the contests are illegal gambling. And that means the two sites that dominate the market, those are Fan Duel and Draft Kings, they are going to need to stop accepting bets in the state. Draft Kings says it's going to be fighting the order in court. A similar battle is underway in New York where the state's attorney general also has moved to ban the games.
Good news if you procrastinate to shop for Christmas. There is still time to get those last minute Christmas gifts. Wal-Mart stores, they're open until 8:00 tonight. Target stores open until 10:00 or 11:00. Toys R Us is closing its doors at 9:00.
And you can shop at Best Buy until 6:00. This year, the holiday shopping season got off to kind of a slow start, but retail analysts are still predicting that overall holiday sales are going to wind up being higher than last years. I don't want to be out there fighting the crowds tonight. I would rather give an IOU.
SANCHEZ: You better not forget to get the milk and cookies for Santa. You may get a lump of coal.
KOSIK: There's a Santa?
SANCHEZ: Deadly storms across the U.S. "New Day" starts right now.
(UNKNOWN): Storms are moving way too fast to really manage.
(UNKNOWN): Everything was just moving sideways. And I jumped and I ran.
(UNKNOWN): We made it out just in time. We didn't have a minute to get out of that house.
(UNKNOWN): Christmas is all about love. We are going to love through this.
SANCHEZ: Among Democrats, Hillary Clinton, she's at 50 percent. Bernie Sanders, 34 percent.
SANDERS: Trump is trying to play on fears. At the end of the day, I believe that our approach will win.
(UNKNOWN): Is America ready for someone like Donald trump and not ready for someone like you?
We're not a threat it anybody.
A British Muslim family denied boarding for a flight to California.
U.S. official have categorically denied that religion was behind it.
(UNKNOWN): For me to be treated like that, I feel most uncomfortable.
(UNKNOWN): The family says they have not been told why.
ANNOUNCER: This is "New Day," with Chris Cuomo, Alisyn Camerota and Michaela Pereira.
CUOMO: Good morning. Welcome to your "New Day." it is Thursday, December 24th, Christmas Eve. 6:00 in the East right now. Mick is off. And we do have very heavy news to start the show. The death toll climbing this morning. The threat not over. Severe weather hammering parts of the South and Midwest.
At this point, we do know at least seven people have lost their lives including a 7-year-old boy. There is heavy rain, there are fierce winds and giant hail pounding several different states. You've got tornadoes confirmed in Mississippi and Tennessee.
CAMEROTA: The storm carving a trail of destruction ripping home to shreds, leaving many homeless just as families get ready to celebrate Christmas. So let's get right to CNN meteorologist Chad Myers for the very latest. What are you seeing today, Chad?
MYERS: Alisyn, you know, we do get tornadoes in the United States in December. In fact, on average, about 23 or 24, but not long-track, major tornadoes like we saw yesterday. One of these storms maybe 140 miles long on the ground. The Weather Service will be out to look at that today.
