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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Third Night of Protests in Charlotte; Tulsa Cop Charged with Manslaughter; Yahoo: 500 Million User Accounts Breached. Aired 4-4:30a ET
Aired September 23, 2016 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:00:16] CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Hundreds of protesters breaking curfew in Charlotte, marching throughout the night, as the family of Keith Lamont Scott speaks out, saying video they have reviewed of his shooting he was not acting aggressively.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. This morning, the Tulsa police officer that shot an unarmed black man booked into jail. There is a report just in that she has reportedly been released on bail, though she's facing charges of felony manslaughter.
ROMANS: Yahoo suffering what could be one of the biggest data breaches ever, an astonishing 500 million accounts at least hacked. What this means for your security and what the company is saying about who they think did this. It's really surprising.
Good morning and welcome to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.
BERMAN: I'm John Berman. Nice to see you this morning. It is Friday, September 23rd. It is 4:00 in the East.
And the breaking news this morning: really a welcome sight on the streets of Charlotte right now, relative calm, this after the third night of protests triggered by the fatal police shooting of a black man, Keith Lamont Scott. For the most part, the demonstrations broke up over the last couple of hours, well past to midnight curfew that have declared overnight by Charlotte's mayor. But police decided not to enforce the curfew because they said the demonstrations remained peaceful.
Still, protesters were calling for the release of video that showing Officer Bradley Vincent shooting Keith Scott. This morning, the police chief is still refusing to make that footage public, but he did allow Scott's family to watch it. And what they say they saw is quite different than the events described by police.
Joining us live now with the latest from Charlotte, CNN's Nick Valencia.
Nick, what are you seeing this morning?
NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John. A much different scene than we have witnessed over the course of the
last two nights here during the demonstrations. Last night's demonstrations are by and large peaceful. You mentioned that curfew, there was a curfew in effect, but police did not feel the necessary -- the need I should say to implement that curfew because things were going well.
When we got out here, the National Guard was still present. But it has been an hour and a half since they rolled out of here. But they were mingling with demonstrators, talking, having dialogue, when we pulled up on the scene. The protests yesterday, they were no injuries immediately reported, though police did say that two officers were sprayed with a chemical agent, they did not expand on what those officers were sprayed with.
But really, a welcome sight. You said that right, John. This, 24 hours ago, if you remember here, there were still people out on the streets, businesses that were cleaning up the aftermath of the riots. There was graffiti on buildings, knocked out windows, people that were just trying to get a sense of what happened that night before. Today, it seems like a normal day at this hour for the streets of Charlotte downtown.
It's pretty quiet right now -- John.
BERMAN: The issue of the video, that seems paramount right now to the demonstrators on the streets and to the family of Keith Lamont Scott. They say they watched the video. They say, like the police chief, the police chief himself said he sees no definitive proof in the video that Keith Scott was pointing a gun at officers and the family sees they see no evidence of a gun at all.
VALENCE: Through their spokesman, they did say that the video to them appeared ambiguous and that he didn't make an obvious threat towards police. We did talk yesterday afternoon -- or yesterday morning I should say to an official who had seen that dash cam video or police video of the shooting. He told me that there was an obvious threat and not only did Keith Scott have a gun, but also an ankle holster. At a press conference yesterday morning, the police chief here in Charlotte would not go as far as to say that. He said it wasn't so definitive as the official had told us.
Scott's family releasing the statement through their spokesman yesterday saying that the video is ambiguous. They are demanding the video be released, and it's something that the mayor here in Charlotte is considering. Demonstrations say it's really adding to their frustration and has been over the course of the last three days. They want to see that video. They believe in transparency. Full transparency they say and they think -- they won't -- those demonstrations won't stop until that video is made public -- John and Christine.
BERMAN: Police Chief Kerr Putney said he believes in transparency, but he never said full transparency. So, those are interesting words for him.
VALENCIA: Right.
BERMAN: Nick Valencia in Charlotte, thanks so much.
ROMANS: In Tulsa, Oklahoma, the police officer who killed another black man has been charged with felony manslaughter. Officer Betty Shelby, here's her booking photo, reportedly just released. She fatally shot 40-year-old Terence Crutcher after his SUV broke down in the middle of the road. Attorneys for Crutcher's family say they are happy the charges have been brought.
His sister telling reporters, quote, "This is a small victory".
[04:05:00] For the latest, I want to bring in CNN's Sara Sidner. She is in Tulsa for us.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John and Christine, the district attorney here has decided to charge Betty Jo Shelby. She is the Tulsa police officer who shot and killed Terence Crutcher and it was all captured from up above and from below in video, both from a helicopter and from some of the car cameras as they came on the scene.
Now, what he has decided to charge her with is serious. Though it is not the murder charge the family demanded, he has decided that she is either going to be charged with manslaughter first degree, heat of passion, which is a felony, or manslaughter first degree resisting criminal attempt, which is also a felony. These are very serious charges.
I say that because she is innocent until proven guilty. But if she is convicted, she faces a minimum of four years in prison and maximum of life in prison. This is all over the case of the death of Terence Crutcher, who is shown on video putting hands up, walking back to his car.
And this is where the evidence gets disputed with attorneys. Her attorney saying he reached toward or into the window of his car and she became worried and afraid for her life, and the defense attorney -- the attorneys for the family saying hold on a second, we think and have seen evidence that the window was actually up. No reason to fear him in the first place.
Now, we are seeing bits and pieces of information. This is from the Tulsa County district attorney chief investigator. He says that his investigation revealed and I'm quoting here that Officer Shelby actually walked up to the car before she deployed her weapon and she cleared the driver's side of the car and then proceed toward the passenger side of the car. And then she again saw Terence Crutcher.
So, their argument is she knew there was nothing to hurt her in the car, but she ended up using her weapon against him. The situation here has been calm when it comes to protests, and now, we will be going forward. The family fully expecting a very vigorous prosecution and trial -- John, Christine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BERMAN: All right. Sara Sidner, thanks for that.
President Obama says violence will not solve the problem of police killing unarmed black men. In an interview with ABC News, the president acknowledged the pervasive sense of frustration among African-Americans, and the feeling of justice is, as he put it, not always color blind. But the president said that that anger should be redirected toward reforming the system.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The way we change the system requires us to be able to reach out and engage the broader American community. That requires being peaceful. That requires being thoughtful about what are the specific reforms you're looking for. The overwhelming majority of people who've been concerned about police community relations doing it the right way. Every once and a while, you see folks doing it the wrong way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Donald Trump says he may visit Charlotte after Monday night's big debate with Hillary Clinton. Trump is calling for a national anti-crime agenda, claiming violent protests are making America, quote, "look bad to the world". On Thursday, he ramped up his tough law and order message at a rally in Pittsburgh.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: The problem is not there are too man police. The problem is there are not enough police. Police are entrusted with the immense responsibility and we must do everything we can to ensure they're probably trained and that they respect all members of the public and that any wrongdoing is always vigorously addressed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Trump raised eyebrows on Thursday by tying the violent protests in Charlotte to drug use. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: If you are not aware, drugs are a big factor in what you're watching on television at night.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Trump offered no evidence to back up his claim. Later his campaign said he was not linking drug use to the protest. He was speaking in general terms about an increased in drug deaths in America.
BERMAN: So, before the showdown with Donald Trump, comes the stare- down with Zach Galifianakis. Hillary Clinton took that to a whole new level really during an interview, that's in quotes, with Galifianakis on "Funny or Die", the show "Between Two Ferns", that's Galifianakis's show.
Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ZACH GALIFIANAKIS, BETWEEN TWO FERNS: Let's talk about Trump.
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Oh, let's.
GALIFIANAKIS: When you see how well it works for Donald Trump, do you think maybe I should be more racist? When he's elected president and Kid Rock becomes secretary of state, are you going to move to Canada or one of the Arctics?
CLINTON: I will stay in the United States.
GALIFIANAKIS: And what would you try to --
CLINTON: I will try to prevent him from destroying the United States.
GALIFIANAKIS: So, you're going to lead the civil war?
CLINTON: No, I wouldn't -- I wouldn't take up arms.
[04:10:02] I think that might be a little extreme.
GALIFIANAKIS: Oh, right, because you were saying before we were rolling that you wanted to take away everyone's guns. Very cool. Cool. Cool. Cool.
CLINTON: I really regret doing this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(LAUGHTER)
BERMAN: You have to watch the whole thing because it's really extraordinary. It says a lot more about Zach Galifianakis I think maybe than Hillary Clinton, although she plays along. It's just that incredibly awkward type of humor -- like you know, ten minutes of awkward.
ROMANS: And, you know, we now know that she sat down with that the day she was diagnosed with pneumonia. So, the title screen says Hillary Clinton has pneumonia.
BERMAN: There were jokes. She asked -- Galifianakis asked what it was like President Obama's secretary, how he likes his coffee. You know, if she was excited to be the first girl president. Also, if he regretted losing the Scott Baio vote.
ROMANS: I think President Obama was the first sort of -- I mean, he sat down with him last year to pump Obamacare. It's a risk. BERMAN: Apparently Hillary Clinton actually wants to reach out to do this because she wants to reach millennial voters because they love the internet.
ROMANS: Do they? They all have beards.
BERMAN: The kids, they like beards in the Internet.
ROMANS: They like the beards.
All right. A massive data breach comprising of more than 500 million Yahoo accounts. Folks, this is so big, folks.
BERMAN: How big is it?
ROMANS: It's so big. It's going to affect your security online.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[04:15:26] ROMANS: This story unbelievable. Yahoo confirming it suffered what may be the biggest data breach ever. Yahoo says it happened two years ago, information associated with at least 500 million accounts was stolen.
We're not talking just a little bit of information. We're talking about user names, e-mail addresses and encrypted passwords. The hack does not appear to include bank credit card information. Yahoo, and here's what's really interesting, it believes a state-sponsored actor is behind the breach. They're working with the FBI to investigate.
CNN tech correspondent Samuel Burke is following developments. He is live for us this morning in London.
Samuel, I'm so glad you're here with us to walk us through this -- 500 million accounts. It happened two years ago. We're just hearing about it now, state-sponsored actor, and this is something out of a spy novel.
SAMUEL BURKE, CNN TECH CORRESPONDENT: It's absolutely incredible. When you (AUDIO GAP) Christine, that would make it the biggest hack of all times in terms of scale. So many of us use Yahoo e-mail address, even if we don't use other Yahoo products, and that is why Verizon is willing to pay so much.
So, what to do if you have a Yahoo account. If you don't get a notification, follow these steps. I just want to put them up on screen. Number one, change your password, especially if you have not done so since 2014. Also, change your security questions and answers. What's your mom's maiden name. Well, you can't change that. So, you're just going to have to go to a different question.
And perhaps most importantly, change any other accounts. I'm talking about non-Yahoo accounts that might have the same information because, of course, if a hacker knows your username and password to Yahoo, and undoubtedly they're going to know your username and password to other accounts, because we all make that fatal mistake of using the same password over and over again.
ROMANS: I wonder who messed up here, you know? I mean, you know, this Yahoo security? Two years, this happened two years ago, they did not notice it until now? Where is the blame here?
BURKE: It usually takes about 100 days for a company to figure out that they have been hacked. So, it is incredible to think this happened back in 2014. Already, so many security experts are telling me so much information should have been encrypted. Why didn't Yahoo encrypt it? So that really leaves them with a big question mark hanging over them.
The other problem here, Christine, is that they say, don't worry. Bank information hasn't been breached. Well, you can change your credit card number. You can't your name, you can't change your mom's maiden name. So, this is a big problem that's going to affect so many people.
ROMANS: One security expert telling CNN Money that it's like the front door was locked, they picked up the lock out inside, there are no doors locked inside the house anywhere else, all the information available.
Quickly, what does it mean for Yahoo's pending sale to Verizon?
BURKE: Well, I couldn't believe when I found out that Verizon only found out about this just a couple days ago given the fact we heard rumblings about this in kind of the tech hacker community really for months. So, if you look at how much a company has to pay, it's about 200 bucks per account when a company faces one of these hackings. That could add up to billions of dollars, which is pretty much the sale price of Yahoo to Verizon. A big question mark there.
ROMANS: What a headache, al right, for users and for that deal. Thanks so much, Samuel Burke. Nice to see you this morning.
BERMAN: You know, it's not like Yahoo has been enjoying a great period of fantastic PR either, right?
ROMANS: No, no, no.
BERMAN: It is the last thing in the world they need.
All right. The New York bombing suspect's father is speaking out this morning, insisting that he told investigators to keep an eye on his son two years ago. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[04:23:14] ROMANS: There is new surveillance video of terror suspect Ahmad Khan Rahami planting a pressure cooker bomb on a New York City street.
This just released video captures Rahami leaving a bag near the curb. Watch this. moments later, two men removed the explosive device and take the bag with them. Then watch a passerby actually kicks the pressure cooker bomb and
keeps walking. Oh my goodness. That device did not detonate.
Meanwhile, Rahami's father says he warned the FBI two years ago to keep an eye on his son because of his son's fascination with terror organizations like al Qaeda. But federal agents tell a different story. They insist the senior Rahami recanted his claim about his son's terrorist inclinations, leaving them to dismiss the matter as a domestic dispute.
CNN's Deborah Feyerick has more on the investigation.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John and Christine, investigators still don't know the location of the bomb factory, the place where they believe Ahmad Khan Rahami may have built at least ten devices. Two of them very powerful pressure cookers. Now, investigators believe Rahami left New York City about three hours after the bombs detonated traveling from Manhattan through the Lincoln Tunnel into New Jersey.
They do not know or they are not saying where he was during those three hours. But they do believe at some point he did return to his family home. He engaged with family members. Officials say that the family members say he was behaving normally. This was before the FBI and New York police released a photo of him and he went on the run.
Meanwhile, investigators are searching for two men who may have unknowingly removed the pressure cooker bomb from the carry-on bag. It took the bag, investigators want it. They believe they could have crucial information, crucial evidence inside, including finger prints, because they still want to know whether Rahami acted alone.
As for his wife, she is back in the United States.
[04:25:01] As she is being questioned by the FBI, they want to know where he traveled in Pakistan and Afghanistan. They also want to know who he may have met with -- John and Christine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BERMAN: Deborah Feyerick.
This morning, the cease-fire in Syria is hopelessly shattered. A second night of deadly air strikes targeting rebel-held eastern Aleppo killed 20 people and destroyed the city's main water pumping station. At least 50 people were killed a day earlier. Activists in the area say that Russian forces are participating in the strikes, along with Syrian government troops. Officials in Moscow not commenting.
ROMANS: All right. Hundreds of people marching through the streets of Charlotte. The third night in a row of protests. This demonstration peaceful mostly. We are live on the ground with the very latest of what's happening in Charlotte next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BERMAN: A busy night on the streets of Charlotte. Protesters, many of them out past a curfew. Another night of demonstrations after a shooting of an African-American man. His family is now speaking out after seeing the video of the shooting. What they say about his death.
