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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Terror Arrests Across Europe; Pakistan Blast Kills At Least 69; Syrian Government Takes Back Ancient City from ISIS; Sanders Wins 3 Western States; Cruz and Trump Feud Gets Personal; New Video Showed Terrorist Brothers Partying in Brussels Nightclub. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired March 28, 2016 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:12] CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: New terror raids and arrests across Europe as investigators hunt for the two surviving Brussels bombers. Protests erupt in the city as tensions over terror rise. We are live with brand new information this morning.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN ANCHOR: Dozens dead, hundreds wounded as terrorists target Christians in a crowded park on Easter Sunday. We're live with who is behind the deadly attack.

ROMANS: ISIS pushed out of a key historic Syrian city. Is the terror caliphate losing valuable ground now? We're live breaking down the new developments this morning.

Good morning. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.

KOSIK: Good morning. I'm Alison Kosik. It's Monday, March 28th. It's 4:00 a.m. in the East.

And this morning new terror arrests across Europe. Many of them connected to the Brussels and Paris attacks suggesting the ISIS terror network is much bigger, more widespread and in more city than we knew. The manhunt expanding for two Brussels bombing suspects who were still on the run. And tension rising in Belgium. Far-right protesters storming the memorial site for Brussels victims, clashing with riot police who pushed them back with water cannons.

And we're learning more about the four Americans killed in the Brussels attacks, including Justin and Stephanie Shults. Their families got condolence calls from President Obama on Sunday.

CNN's Michael Holmes is in Brussels for us with the latest on the investigation and who was arrested where and what led authorities to them.

Good morning, Michael.

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Yes. Alison, yes, you make a good point. I mean, it's hard to keep up now with who is getting picked up and where. A number of countries now involved in Europe in arrests.

I can tell you right here in Brussels on Sunday, there were 13 new raids. Here alone, more people taken into custody to be questioned as part of the investigations into the attacks. One case in particular after a tip-off from French investigators, we saw the arrest of a 32- year-old French citizen in the Netherlands on Sunday. He was picked up in Rotterdam in the Netherlands.

Now that arrest tied to the arrest of another man we've reported on before, Reda Kriket, who was picked up last week in France. He was described as being in the advanced stages of planning a terror attack in France. And of course this was after in Algerian was picked up in Italy over the weekend accused of making false documents for some of those involved in the Belgium attacks and also Paris. All of this, as you said, showing the breadth and the complexity of this web of ISIS operatives or sympathizers, all part of this sort of Europe wide cell or network.

You mentioned on Sunday those ugly scenes of those nationalists who turned up at the Place de la Bourse behind me here, that memorial that's been there all week. The group chanting things like, "This is our home." They confronted Muslim women in the crowd. You saw some of them making Nazi salutes. And in some cases we saw them walking on the flowers there at that memorial.

Now riot police were on the scene quickly. They actually knew these guys were on the way. Eventually water cannons was used at one point. So we did see it all diffuse. But, you know, emblematic perhaps of what we've seen surround Europe of late that growing right-wing both socially and politically, those people who oppose, sometimes fiercely, the migrant and refugee populations in their communities.

And let's also remember, we did see similar protests after the Paris attacks last year. All very worrying, Alison.

KOSIK: And those protests over the weekend there in Brussels disturbing, though, to say the least.

Michael Holmes reporting from Brussels, thanks very much.

CNN is going to take you inside the inner circle of Paris attack suspects, Salah Abdeslam, and his suicide bomber brother Brahim. New video showing them partying in a Brussels nightclub just months before the attacks. What their friends are telling CNN. That's coming in just 20 minutes.

ROMANS: All right. A splinter group of the Pakistani Taliban claiming responsibility this morning for a suicide blast that killed at least 69 people. Many of them women and children. A spokesman for the group says it intentionally targeted Christians in a park in the city of Lahore gathered there to celebrate Easter.

For the latest, let's bring in CNN's Ravi Agrawal live for us this morning from New Delhi. Good morning.

RAVI AGRAWAL, CNN INDIA BUREAU CHIEF: Good morning. The group that has claimed responsibility for this attack is calling itself Jamat-ul- Ahrar, and this is a group that recently split away from the Pakistani Taliban. And that's at the heart of this problem. The debate at the heart of the Taliban over how to attack Pakistanis and when to attack them.

[04:05:03] And this particular group is clearly on the more extreme side of that debate because it picked Easter Sunday, a holiday for a minority group in Pakistan, Christians form just 2 percent of Pakistan's population. And it also attacked -- it staged an attack near a playground. So a number of the victims are children and women. And that is why Pakistanis on Monday morning are absolutely horrified by the scope and scale of this attack as they continue to count the bodies and the number of wounded.

Now the attack took place Sunday at 6:45 p.m. And it was -- it took place in the city of Lahore, which is bordering India. And this city is a major city for Pakistanis. It's part of the state of -- of Pinjab of which 60 percent of Pakistanis call home. And it is also the city from which Pakistan's prime minister, Nawaz Shariff, is from. So this is really a message to the Pakistani people, to the Pakistani government that this group can attack anywhere and at anytime.

So a really tragic day for Pakistanis as they count the costs and as they wait for response from the government as to how they're going to fight back.

ROMANS: Targeting a park near a playground on Easter Sunday.

All right, Ravi Agrawal, thank you for that.

KOSIK: The ancient city of Palmyra is back under the control of the Syria government. ISIS occupied Palmyra and its priceless ruins for most of the past year, but government troops say the extremists have been driven out. A strategic triumph for Syrian President Bashar al- Assad.

The U.N. praising the liberation of Palmyra while calling on Assad to preserve and restore it.

CNN's Arwa Damon tracking the latest developments live from Istanbul.

So we know the significance of Palmyra coming back to the Syrian government, away from ISIS forces. But the question is, how long can Syrian forces actually hold on to Palmyra?

ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That is one of the key questions here and the other thing that all of this really underscores is just how useful Russian support has been to the Syrian government. Something that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is not shying away from stating, saying the government's ability to retake Palmyra proves that Russia is a much more dependable ally than the United States. And also, according to him, goes to show that Russia and the Syrian regime strategy is much more effective than that of the U.S. coalition and its allies.

Russian jets reportedly striking hundreds of targets which is one of the key things that then allowed Assad's regime to retake this key area. The city itself. But also the ruins declared a UNESCO heritage site and ones that have seen some destruction at the hands of ISIS that went in and blew up some millennia old temples as well as centuries old ruin.

Now this is an area that is very strategically located to a certain degree since it lies along the route that leads to the ISIS stronghold of Deir ez-Zor. But this is not necessarily mean nor should we deceive ourselves into thinking that ISIS is on the run or on its back foot. It still controls plenty of territory, plenty of key areas and significant cities, both in Syria and in Iraq.

Symbolically speaking, though, this is a big morale boost for Assad regime, for the Russians, and it sends that message once again as we have been saying that Russia, according to the Syrians at least, is proving to be a much more effective ally than the United States. And this is something that is going to resonate with the groups that the U.S. is trying to support on the ground because many of them have been critical of the U.S.' support, saying that America is not doing enough and it's actually allowing them to lose territory to the Assad regime.

So it's still a phenomenally complicated battle field. This does not, again, as I was saying mean that ISIS is on its way to being defeated. But yes, for the Assad regime, it is a strategic and symbolic victory.

KOSIK: And certainly a big first step. CNN's Arwa Damon, thanks so much for your report.

ROMANS: Syrian militia groups, some armed by the Pentagon, others armed by the CIA, are now fighting each other. And critics say that highlights how little control U.S. intelligence officials have over the factions they are financing and training. According to the "Los Angeles Times" the fighting between the U.S.-backed groups has intensified over the past few months in northern Aleppo.

This as the Pentagon announces a top ISIS commander has been killed in an airstrike in eastern Syria by U.S. Special Operations Forces. Abd al-Rahman Mustafa al-Qaduli was considered the terror group's top financier.

KOSIK: Dozens of world leaders will meet in Washington with President Obama later this week with the goal of wiping out ISIS. The fourth and final Nuclear Security Summit beginning Thursday with a special session on preventing ISIS from obtaining chemical or radiological weapons.

[04:10:05] The president also plans to meet separately with China's President Xi and will hold trilateral talks with the leaders of South Korea and Japan.

ROMANS: All right. Ten minutes past the hour Republican presidential frontrunners blaming each other for a nasty tabloid story. This race getting even dirtier over the weekend. That's next.

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ROMANS: Good morning. New in the race for president. This morning Democratic contender Bernie Sanders challenging frontrunner Hillary Clinton to a debate in New York before the state's primary on April 19th. Sanders telling NBC's "Meet the Press" he's a little bit concerned Clinton won't debate him because she's far ahead in the race for delegates. This despite Sanders' sweep of western caucuses over the weekend.

Today, Hillary Clinton begins a two-day push in Wisconsin. The next state to hold a primary. That's on April 5th. Sanders campaigns there tomorrow.

Meantime, the mudslinging in the Republican race is getting dirtier.

CNN's Chris Frates has the very latest for us this morning from Washington.

[04:15:04] CHRIS FRATES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, Alison and Christine. Bernie Sanders swept Hillary Clinton by wide margins on Saturday, beating the Democratic frontrunner in Washington, Hawaii and Alaska. And those were really must-win states for Sanders. And it gives him enough momentum and delegates to keep him in the hunt for president. But remember, those delegates are awarded proportionately. So despite losing, Clinton still was able to put points on the board.

So to figure out where things stand now, let's go to the numbers. Going into Saturday's contests, Sanders trail Clinton by about 300 pledged delegates. And even with these sweeping wins yesterday, Sanders still lags Clinton by about 240 delegates. So he was only able to make up about 60 delegates with his wins on Saturday.

Now there are still some unaccounted for delegates that will likely go into Sanders' column. But he won't make any huge gains so going forward, Sanders will need to continue to put up really big wins. He has to win 75 percent of the delegates left to clinch the nomination. 75 percent is a really high bar. Clinton, for her part, she needs to win just 35 percent of the delegates remaining to become the nominee.

Now this weekend on the GOP side, the race is largely quiet because candidates were taking a break from campaigning for Easter. But the feud between Donald Trump and Ted Cruz, well. that's gotten increasingly personal with the candidates' wives being dragged into the fight. And Ted Cruz has been blaming Donald Trump for planting a supermarket tabloid story about him. And that's a Trump -- that's charge that Trump has denied.

Alison, Christine, back to you, guys.

KOSIK: All right, Chris Frates. Thanks for that.

And speaking of that tabloid story, Trump is not condemning the "National Enquirer" story or saying whether he believes it's true. He calls Cruz's suggestion that the story was planted by the Trump campaign disgraceful. But the Texas senator is not backing down.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TED CRUZ (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This story is garbage. It is tabloid smear. And it came from Donald Trump and his henchmen. You know, the only person quoted on the record there is Roger Stone, the chief political adviser to Donald Trump and this is the kind of lie and sleaze --

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: They did have a parting of ways. They did have a parting of ways. So we don't know exactly what the relationship is. But yes, he has been linked with Mr. Trump.

CRUZ: But, Shannon, they haven't had a parting of ways. Roger Stone remains the henchman, the hatchet man, the enforcer for Donald Trump. He's pushing these attacks and by the way he's been pushing them for many, many months online. These are complete made-up lies. They're garbage.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don't care. I mean, really I don't care. "The National Enquirer" did a story. It was their story. It wasn't my story. It was about Ted Cruz. I have no idea whether it was right or not. They actually have a very good record of being right. But I have absolutely no idea. Frankly I said I hope it's not right.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSIK: And Trump is also threatening to sue over the delegate distribution from the Louisiana primary, tweeting, "Just to show you how unfair Republican politics can be, I won the state of Louisiana and get less delegates than Cruz. Lawsuit coming."

The Republican frontrunner is also a new grandpa. Congratulations to him and to his daughter there. Donald Trump, Jr. tweeting this photo of his sister Ivanka congratulating her on the birth of their third child. A little boy named Theodore.

On Tuesday night, the final three Republican candidates will be in Milwaukee for a CNN town hall moderated by Anderson Cooper. Live at 8:00 p.m. Eastern only right here on CNN.

ROMANS: All right. Bright and early Monday morning. Time for an EARLY START on your money.

Dow futures right now are higher after that long holiday weekend. Oil prices are higher. Markets in Europe are closed and Asia closed mixed.

There's no way to predict where the stock market will go over the next four years but investigators think Hillary Clinton will be better for stocks than Donald Trump. 25 percent say Clinton would be the best candidate for their investments. That's according to a brand new survey by TD Ameritrade. 20 percent say Trump. 19 percent don't know which potential candidate would be best for stocks.

The rest were split between the other candidates. Now experts say Clinton may have the edge because she's more predictable compared with the uncertainty that would come with a Trump presidency.

Historically Democrats, if you are wondering, have been better for the stock market performance. But experts say it's more luck than better policy. The S&P 500 gains an average of 9.7 percent annually under Democrats since 1945 compared with 6.7 percent under Republican president.

KOSIK: Yes. The worry is that Trump is just so unpredictable. Of course uncertainty is not what Wall Street like.

ROMANS: Right. That's right.

KOSIK: A CNN exclusive new video revealing the lives of notorious terrorist brothers behind the Paris attacks. What kind of led to their radicalization? Hear what friends had to say next.

[04:19:45]

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ROMANS: An exclusive look now inside the lives of six suspected terrorists implicated in the Paris terror attacks. And CNN has obtained video of the extremists partying at Brussels nightclubs, participating in illegal poker games, smoking pot, eight months before executing their deadly plot.

I want to go live to Brussels and bring in CNN's Nina Dos Santos. And it's just creepy and eerie to see the pictures of these guys knowing what was in store later, Nina.

NINA DOS SANTOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, this is a unique insight, Christine, into the lives that these two attackers had before they fell in the grips of ISIS. Two of their friends speaking under the condition of anonymity agreed to share their stories with me here at CNN. And this is what they had to say about the brothers before they started to change.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (Through Translator): Salah took care of himself. He's very neat. Someone who is funny. That you're going to have a laugh with. A bit of a ladies' man.

[04:25:06] It wasn't unusual for him to have a drink or two. But he didn't go out and get drunk.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (Through Translator): Brahim was a lot more intelligent. He was also better behaved.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DOS SANTOS: Well, Christine, soon after those pictures were taken in that -- Christine, soon after those pictures were taken inside that nightclub, those two friends say that the Abdeslam brothers started to change. They became more withdrawn. They started going to the mosques, particularly Brahim and Brahim stopped drinking before Salah Abdeslam. But they also still say they had no idea that they would go on to perpetuate the attacks that they have been accused of. But what this also speaks to is concerning questions for the Belgian authorities about what exactly they knew about this cell that was operating on a street cafe, in a residential neighborhood in Molenbeek in Brussels. I've been there myself. It's a very sleepy suburb of the town. And

these individuals say that they know -- knew six of the Paris attackers, one of whom is still on the run as a fugitive including two suicide bombers. And despite the fact that these individuals have repeatedly been in and out of jail and had various brushes with the law, they say the police have never interviewed them about what they know about the Paris attackers.

ROMANS: Fascinating. Just fascinating video and insight. Thanks so much for that, Nina Dos Santos for us this morning in Brussels.

KOSIK: Arrests across four countries in Europe as the terror network widens. Could it be much larger than previously known? That's next.

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