Return to Transcripts main page

Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Winter Storms Slams the Northeast; "Affluenza" Teen Detained in Mexico; No Charges in Tamir Rice Shooting. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired December 29, 2015 - 04:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[04:00:15] ALISON KOSIK, CNN ANCHOR: The deadly monster storm that wreaked havoc across the country slams the Northeast right now. Millions bracing for their first snowfall of the year. We are tracking the storm.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news this morning. The manhunt is over for the so-called "affluenza" teen, now detained in Mexico with his mother.

KOSIK: Protests overnight after police are cleared of shooting and killing a 12-year-old while he was playing in a park.

Good morning and welcome to EARLY START. I'm Alison Kosik.

ROMANS: Nice to see you this morning, Alison.

KOSIK: Good morning.

ROMANS: I'm Christine Romans. It is Tuesday, December 29th. It is 4:00 a.m. in the East.

Up first, a beast of a winter storm battering the nation with everything in its arsenal. Tornadoes, ice storms, flash flooding claiming dozens of lives. And there's more pain ahead. A freakishly mild December coming to an end today for the major snowstorm in the Northeast, up to a foot of snow in the forecast for parts of New England.

In Texas, they are beginning to pick up the pieces there. Nearly a dozen tornadoes touched down. The Dallas area leaving homes flattened Homes flattened and lives shattered, 11 people dead.

And Mother Nature adding insult to injury, dumping ice and snow on parts of north Texas. It has been a deadly destructive week in the Lone Star State.

We get more from CNN's Alina Machado.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALINA MACHADO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christine and Alison, weather conditions in some of the hardest hit areas here in Texas are expected to improve, offering residents a chance to clean up the mess that this tornado left behind.

This twister killed eight people here in Dallas County. The youngest victim was just a year old. Yesterday, many survivors had a chance to return to their homes for the first time and the reality of what happened really settled in.

Listen to this.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE : You see it happen on TV and you try to understand how do those people feel? Those and everything. But now, it happens to you and you have to borrow stuff to stay warm and because you have no shoes on your feet because I left the house with no shoes on my feet.

MACHADO: The focus now turns to Missouri and Illinois, where they could see significant flooding -- Alison and Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KOSIK: And, Alina, speaking of Missouri, flood warnings in effect right now across the state of Missouri. A deadly winter storm finally clearing out overnight, but not before killing at least 10 people. The Mississippi River now 7 feet above flood stage and is expected to rise another 8 feet before cresting on Thursday. Some communities under water since Saturday night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We were rescued by a boat with the fire department. But we were rescued at 9:00 this morning and stood in that water for about three hours waiting for them to get here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Wow. In southern Illinois, more rain and flooding overnight forcing hundreds of families to evacuate their homes. But the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers already above flood stage. It could be a while before they can return home.

And a very close call for the girls basketball team at Mt. Vernon High School in Mascoutah, Illinois. Their bus swept right off Highway 161 into a retention pond. Everyone was rescued. No injuries reported.

KOSIK: Take a look at this ice storm crippling parts of Central Oklahoma. It's half an inch thick. Throw in 40-mile-an-hour winds, and you got a perfect recipe for downed power lines and tree limbs. And they are breaking out the snow blowers in Omaha, close to what half foot of snow falling on parts of Nebraska Monday. But again, it is winter.

ROMANS: It is. It is, for sure.

The severe weather forcing airlines to cancel more than 2,800 flights with 4,800 more delayed. Nearly 2/3 of all cancellations are coming at Chicago's two main airports and Dallas Ft. Worth. So, check before you get in the car this morning. For more on the severe weather, we go live to the CNN Center in

Atlanta. Let's bring in meteorologist Pedram Javaheri.

Hi, Pedram.

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hey, good morning, guys.

Yes, another wild day today, and I think the severe threat when it comes to the thunderstorms and dangerous weather we saw in the way of tornadoes, that's really diminishing quickly. But the weather pattern transitioning to a wintry side for the Northeast, you can certainly feel it, you can see it outside. Icy conditions, a wintry generally speaking north of northern New Jersey and southern New York. That's where the transition begins here with the temperatures cold enough to support it.

(INAUDIBLE) out to Portland, temperatures into the teens and 20s this morning. And ice accumulation in some of these spots, could exceed a quarter of an inch to half an inch. That is certainly enough to bring down power lines and make it very, very dangerous on the roads in the morning hours.

But, New York City, again, a wintry mix in the morning hours, work your way into Boston, a mix of snow and some freezing rain. Generally, this will continue to about 7:00 to 8:00 in the morning. So, the morning rush hour for places like Boston really going to be treacherous and then it transitions to being all rain for late morning and to early afternoon and we think evening hour, rush hour, comes back with more rain in the forecast across that region.

[04:05:00] So, again, very, very treacherous across this region. Certainly, you're going to see some flight delays from New York towards Boston if you are headed out in that direction. But look at these temperatures and the brief cool-down that's in place right now. In New York, it feels like 30 degrees after, of course, making it up to the 70s, just a little bit -- a couple days before Christmas there.

You work out towards Burlington, Caribou, sitting at an ambient temperature of 3 degrees across that region, with no wind across that area. But here comes the snow showers and notice, generally speaking, about a quarter of an inch to half an inch around some of the major metro cities.

Get up to Portland, could see upwards of six to eight inches, higher amounts in northern New England as well as you continue towards that region. But the other big story with what is left of the storm is the tremendous flooding potential, looking at over 430 river gauges that are reporting some flooding across this region.

And something that's really noting, guys, is when you take a look at the 30-year averages of weather fatalities, here you go with flooding. That is -- flooding coming in with 81 fatalities per year. You compare to tornadoes, comes down to around 72 per year. Flooding is one of the top weather killers in the United States. That is worth noting with so many people now being impacted with severe weather over the next couple of days. ROMANS: All right, Pedram. Thank you for that.

JAVAHERI: Thanks.

KOSIK: And breaking overnight, authorities in Mexico detaining so- called "affluenza teen" Ethan Couch, along with his mother. They were found near the popular resort town of Puerto Vallarta. The 18-year- old Couch disappearing earlier this morning, two years after being sentenced to probation for a drunk driving crash that killed four people.

Mexico is expected to turn Couch over to U.S. marshals. He is wanted in Texas for allegedly violating his probation.

ROMANS: The Cleveland police officer who shot and killed 12-year-old Tamir Rice will not face charges. Prosecutors in the case insisting the officer who fired that fatal shot had no way of knowing Rice was carrying a pellet gun and not a real weapon.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Given the perfect storm of human error, mistakes and miscommunications by all involved that day, the evidence did not indicate criminal conduct by police.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: The grand jury decision not to file charge triggering peaceful protests overnight in Cleveland and in New York.

Let's get more this morning from CNN's Martin Savidge in Cleveland for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Christine. Good morning, Alison.

So far, reaction publicly to the announcement that there would be no indictment of these two officers has been subdued. There had been protests, but not in great numbers. I guess we really get a better read on that today as the word of this decision spreads not just here in Cleveland but, of course, across the country.

The family of Tamir Rice said that they were deeply disappointed. But beyond that, Samaria Rice, the mother of Tamir Rice, said that this has only added to her grief and that she believes that her son was murdered. And that essentially, that these officers are getting away with a crime and she also says that this was mishandled. Not just mishandled, she used the words sabotaged by the county prosecutor. In other words, that he didn't want these officers indicted and presented the case in a very slanted way.

Of course, the prosecutor would disagree with that. And independently, the grand jury said there should be no indictment of these officers. But also the prosecutor did say there was significant errors, but not

so much with the police, but police radio dispatch. In other words, the information from the caller said this might be a juvenile and the gun may not be real. Apparently, that was never transmitted to the responding officers, that the prosecuted said was a tragic and serious error -- Christine and Alison.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KOSIK: All right. Martin, thanks for that.

And breaking overnight: a close encounter with a drone with President Obama in Hawaii. The president vacationing in Hawaii when a drone begun flying adjacent to his motorcade. Secret Service agents quickly confronting the man who was operating. He was apparently unaware the president was in the area and cooperated with request to land. No charges were filed.

ROMANS: All right. Eight minutes, almost nine minutes past the hour. Time for an early start on your money this morning.

Good morning for stocks. European and Asian shares are higher, so are U.S. stock futures. Yesterday, it was a down day, a little bit of a down day for stocks. Oil prices the driver, they fell again. That was enough to put the S&P 500 down for the year.

Donald Trump says wages are too low. In a series of tweets, Trump firing back at Bernie Sanders for pointing out Trump does not want to raise the minimum wage. Trump called Sanders a liar and tweeted, "Wages in our country are too low. Good jobs are too few. People have lost faith in our leaders. We need smart and strong leadership now."

How exactly will he fix that? Trump says his stuff stance on immigration would make it easier for middle class workers. Plus, his tax plan, he says, would cut taxes for everyone, although we know it would cut taxes for the top 0.1 percent the most.

KOSIK: And still craving for the real minute details for his plan.

ROMANS: That's right.

KOSIK: Donald Trump also on the attack, going after the Clintons and now, Chris Christie. What's got the Republican frontrunner all riled up?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:12:57] ROMANS: Thirteen minutes past the hour.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has cut short his family vacation to Cuba and is heading back to the city under intense pressure for going on vacation when there's so much concern in his city about his police department. Just in time for the arraignment of Officer Jason Van Dyke, he's facing six counts of first degree murder for the 2014 shooting death of Laquan McDonald. He's expected to plead not guilty later this morning.

This as the city faces another, another wrongful death lawsuit filed by the father of teenager Quintonio LeGrier. LeGrier was fatally shot by a Chicago police officer over the weekend.

More now from CNN's Rosa Flores.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Alison, Christine, sometimes it's about optics. People were wondering where is Mayor Rahm Emanuel? Well, hear this -- he cut his Cuba vacation short, returning to Chicago today.

His office sending CNN a statement saying, in part, quote, "He is cutting his family trip short so that he can continue the ongoing work of restoring accountability and trust in the Chicago police department."

Now, all this after two people were shot and killed by police over the weekend. First of all, 19-year-old Quintonio LeGrier and 55-year-old Bettie Jones. Again, they were both shot and killed by police.

When it comes to the teenager, police say that he was coming at police with a bat after a domestic disturbance. About Mrs. Jones, police saying in a statement that it was a tragic accident that she killed tragically by police. Now, the mayor also returning to Chicago on the day that Jason Van Dyke is arraigned.

Now, here's a Chicago police officer who shot and killed Laquan McDonald. He's another black teenager. You probably remember the shooting video. He's the teenager that was holding a knife and Jason Van Dyke started shooting his weapon only seconds after arriving on that scene.

Now, we should also add that his attorney, Jason Van Dyke's attorney has said that his client acted in self defense -- Alison and Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[04:15:07] KOSIK: OK, Rosa. Thanks for that.

Big cities from coast to coast gearing up for New Year's Eve celebrations and ramping up security. The NYPD expected to discuss security plans for Times Square at a briefing today. New York City officials reportedly warn Boston police about a possible terror threat, targeting first night festivities. The threat was determined to not be credible.

ROMANS: The TSA is moving closer to implementing a ten-year-old law that would require more than a driver's license for passengers in some states to clear airport security. The real ID law sets federal standards for identification which include verifying legal residency. Homeland security enforcement of the long-delayed measure could be imminent. Privacy groups oppose the law, largely because of information sharing provisions they claim make it equivalent to a national ID cards. But four states, residents of four states would not be allowed to board airplanes without a passport.

KOSIK: The music world mourning the death of heavy metal icon Lemmy Kilmister. The lead singer and bassist for Motorhead succumbed to cancer Monday. The last two years had been challenging for the legendary rocker. Kilmister had a pacemaker implanted in 2013 and suffered from a hematoma in 2014.

He got started as a roadie for Jimi Hendrix and recorded 22 albums with Motorhead. Lemmy Kilmister was 70 years old.

ROMANS: All right. Sixteen minutes past the hour.

Iraq celebrating a big win against ISIS, taking back a key city from the terrorists. But the fight may not be over, completely over yet. We're live, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:20:04] KOSIK: Welcome back.

Let's go to presidential politics now. Donald Trump on the attack in New Hampshire, taking aim once again at both Hillary Clinton and Bill Clinton. Trump tweeting overnight, "Remember that Bill Clinton was brought in to help Hillary against Obama in 2008. He was terrible, failed badly, and was called a racist."

Trump saving some of his sharpest language for a Republican rival Chris Christie and the New Hampshire newspaper giving Christie's key endorsement.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And I just have to tell you, your paper, it's not a good paper. You know it's dying. I don't think it's going to be in business more than two years.

If you endorse Christie, I don't care. I mean, that's up to him. But you don't go and try to hurt somebody that's been helping you. And that really has done a good job, OK? You can do that.

So, here, you can have it, darling. That's all it's worth. Piece of garbage.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Jeb Bush will be back campaigning in New Hampshire today. The former Florida governor stumping on his home turf Monday and it seemed to -- you know, he was energized frankly. Bush taking questions at one event and issuing a challenge to the Republican frontrunner.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEB BUSH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Donald, I'll take you on one- on-one in a debate. Anytime. Any place. You name it and I'll do it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSIK: Mother Nature getting the best of the Marco Rubio campaign. The start of Rubio's swing through Iowa was snowed out on Monday. Rubio is going to try again today, though, appearing alongside South Carolina Congressman Trey Gowdy. He's thrown his support behind Rubio who says it's a key endorsement.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R-FL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Trey Gowdy has been one of the few people in Washington that has held people accountable for wrongdoing and has held people accountable for not doing a good job. We are proud that he is helping us in this campaign. I think he is a phenomenal public servant, and as I said, we are very grateful for having the support of someone of his caliber and quality.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSIK: Another Republican candidate Chris Christie also forced to scrap his campaign schedule in Iowa because of the weather. He's going to be back at it today, holding several events.

ROMANS: There we go.

The Hawkeye State popular with the Democrats as well. Bernie Sanders returns there today for the start of three-day campaign swing through Iowa. Sanders was up late Monday night, holding a rally at a high school in Las Vegas. Hillary Clinton will be in New Hampshire today for her final campaign appearance of the year, holding a town hall this afternoon in Portsmouth, and weather permitting, a second one tonight in northern New Hampshire.

KOSIK: New this morning, two people arrested in Belgium. Police suspect they were planning terrorist attacks in Brussels during the holidays, this week, targeting tourist areas. Authorities aren't releasing details about the suspects or their nationalities. One of them is charged with acting as a leader and recruiter for a terrorist group, and the other is charged with participating in terror activities. Police recovering military style uniforms and ISIS propaganda materials from the suspects.

ROMANS: Iraq's military claims it has now liberated Ramadi. ISIS fighters are still positioned on the outskirts of this city. But a series of ground missions by Iraqi forces backed by U.S. airstrikes have driven the terrorists out of this key government complex in the heart of Ramadi.

I want to bring in CNN's Nima Elbagir, tracking developments live from Baghdad.

And you've been watching -- you've been watching the Iraqi military, Iraqi officials say for sometime that they would stage a recovery, retake this city, the city that was lost back in May. Now they are saying they have secured the government center in the middle of the city. Does that mean this battle for Ramadi is over, Nima?

NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We want to show you some images that show the Iraqi counterterror agency forces heading towards that central administrative district. These are, of course, U.S. trained troops.

Just to give you a sense, there is just as much at stake for the U.S. and their strategy in this war against ISIS as there is for the Iraqi government. The U.S. officials have been much more cautiously optimistic that Iraqi officials are congratulating Iraq only on its continuing successes in Ramadi. Not yet quite there in terms of being ready to call it fully liberated.

Iraqi officials tell us as far as they're concerned, though, the military operation is now over. This now is about securing the town, purging the remaining pockets of ISIS fighters. This isn't just a symbolic victory, of course, as much as it is reflective of that turnabout post the fall of Ramadi in May on the part of both the U.S. strategy for the fight against ISIS and the Iraqi strategy.

This is also hugely strategic, because this will be the first time if and when it is finally deemed to be fully cleared that Iraqi armed forces, that Iraqi troops have taken a major town without the help of those Iranian backed tribal forces, those Shiite forces. This is a shift back to what we saw back in 2006, the bringing in of the Sunni tribes.

[04:25:00] They are expected to try and hold, they are expected to be given the opportunity to hold Ramadi once it is fully cleared.

We are just hearing this morning from the international organization of migration, Christine, that Iraq has had the fastest and highest rate of civilian displacement of any country in the world, even Syria. So, this news, it's going to be so welcome for so many families here, Christine.

ROMANS: All right. Nima Elbagir for us, monitoring all of this for us from Baghdad -- thanks, Nima.

KOSIK: The State Department taking credit for bringing peace to Syria in 2015, even though the country is still embroiled in a bloody civil war. Spokesman John Kirby writing a recap of the State Department's wins for the year, lists Syria among them. He also claims the U.S. is winning the fight against ISIS. Among the other State Department wins listed by Kirby, reestablishing ties with Cuba and clinching the Iran nuclear deal.

ROMANS: A key provision of the Iran deal ahs been fulfilled by the Iranians. They shipped thousands of pounds of enriched uranium to Russia on Monday, a key commitment before international sanctions can be lifted. Secretary of State Kerry calling the development a significant milestone toward full implementation of the deal.

KOSIK: A Chinese official who approved the dumping of the construction debris that caused the landslide has committed suicide. A report in the "South China Morning Post" say he jumped to his death from a building. The landslide at a dump site in Shenzhen killed seven people, with more than 70 others still missing.

ROMANS: Just a reminder, the rapid development, industrial development in China -- they had so many manmade disasters there, industrial disasters. That's a real problem.

KOSIK: Yes.

ROMANS: All right. The monster storm that has crippled parts of the South and Midwest, moving to the Northeast, folks. Millions bracing for snow and ice. We are tracking your severe weather, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: The Northeast now in the path of the deadly winter storm that devastated the South and Midwest. Millions bracing this morning for snow and ice. We are tracking the storm.

KOSIK: Breaking news this morning: busted. After weeks on the run, the affluenza teen detained in Mexico with his mother.