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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Ceasefire in Gaza Holds Overnight After 11 Days of Carnage; India Sets World Record for Most Daily Deaths By Pandemic; Trump Administration Secretly Obtained CNN Reporter's Phone, Email Records. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired May 21, 2021 - 05:00   ET

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

[05:00:25]

LAURA JARRETT, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. We have reports this morning from Jerusalem, Sydney, Tokyo, the White House, India, London, South Africa and Mexico City.

This is EARLY START. I'm Laura Jarrett.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Christine Romans. It is Friday, may 21st. It is 5:00 a.m. exactly here in New York.

JARRETT: We begin with a ceasefire. Will it hold? At this hour, Israel and Hamas are in the early stages of a fragile ceasefire, bringing an end to 11 days of blood shed and destruction for now.

The two sides, though, are further apart than ever.

Hadas Gold joins us live from Jerusalem with the latest.

Good morning.

HADAS GOLD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Christine.

This ceasefire took effect at 2:00 a.m. local time overnight. But even in the minutes leading up to that 2:00 a.m. hour, there were still red alert sirens going on in southern Israel. There were still reports of airstrikes, but after 2:00 a.m., everything went quiet.

There was actually fears amongst Israeli officials that in those last few minutes, there might be a barrage of rockets launched perhaps towards Israeli's main city like Tel Aviv or perhaps even Jerusalem but that did not happen. The quiet does seem to be holding so far.

The ceasefire coming about after Egyptian negotiators were the mediators between Israel and Hamas and, of course, after that I know creasing pressure from the U.S. from President Joe Biden who spoke to Netanyahu six times in recent days over this military campaign.

And on the Israeli side, the military feeling as though they had reached most of their objectives, they wanted to degrade Hamas' ability to launch rockets towards Israelis. They wanted to target Hamas commander houses and especially this tunnel system that runs beneath the Gaza Strip, the Israelis saying that that was a key part of the Hamas operations, how they were hiding weapons, how they were moving people about.

But Israel never launched a ground offensive like they did in the past, clearly thinking that that would be perhaps a step too far, just sticking with this airstrikes and, of course, the offensive along the border.

But now, the question is what comes next? Of course, Gaza needs to be rebuilt. The U.S. said that they will help lead the effort. This will cost billions of dollars. This will take some time.

And there will be concerns amongst international donors how they can make sure that all of this money that will be funneled into the Gaza Strip will go to these humanitarian efforts and not towards militants, not towards militants trying to build more tunnels or build more weapons, more rockets, how they will make sure this will actually go to those civilians who have been so deeply affected. Of course, hundreds dead, tens of thousands have been displaced within Gaza.

And then the underlying issues are still of course in place. The political divides between -- within Palestinian society and I think very importantly is this tension between Palestinians and Israel, between the Arabs and Jews within Israel itself. That is still a tinderbox that could be set a flame at any moment.

So, despite a ceasefire with the militants in Gaza, there are still so many tensions on the ground. Secretary of State Blinken says that he plans to visit this region very soon within the next coming days to try to talk to everybody about a path forward -- Christine.

ROMANS: All right. Hadas Gold for us this morning in Jerusalem, thank you so much for that -- Laura.

JARRETT: The family of Ronald Greene demanding answers after police body cam video shows a drastically different story of his death. Family members say police told them Greene died in a car accident after a police chase, but video obtained by the "A.P." shows Greene begging for mercy, saying, I'm sorry. Being tased repeatedly. You can hear Greene screaming and moaning on the ground as an officer puts handcuffs on him. You can hear him there. Another kicks him several times.

His sister saw the video for the first time on Wednesday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is a cover up on so many levels, from the EMTs to the troopers to the Senate, the governor, the D.A. We've been getting the runaround since day one. I'm saddened by the reality of the world that black and brown people have to live in in this day. It's not our American dream. I'm still on the hunt and on a chase for finding justice for my brother, period.

(END VIDEO CLIP) ROMANS: One officer is on administrative leave in connection with a separate incident. Another officer received a 50-hour suspension. A third officer actually died in a car crash in September.

In a statement, the Louisiana state police would only say they did not release the video and have been directed by investigating agencies to not release any evidence.

[05:05:01]

JARRETT: This Louisiana case raises an important question of trust and how that trust is broken when what police say simply does not match up with what happened in reality. In case after case, body cam footage and cellphone video reveals shootings, a knee to the neck or just outright lies build as unfortunate routine encounters somehow gone wrong.

In 2014, a South Carolina police officer originally said that Walter Scott went for his Taser and he felt, quote, threatened, but bystander video surfaced showing Scott running away as the Officer Michael Slager shot him in the back five times.

In Chicago, initially, police claimed Laquan McDonald lurched at officers with a knife, yet dash cam video which the city fought to keep hidden showed the 17-year-old walking away as he was shot 16 times by Officer Jason Van Dyke.

And last year, originally, police released a statement saying George Floyd died after a, quote, medical incident during a police interaction. No mention of Derek Chauvin's knee on his neck for more than nine minutes.

And in the latest example we just told you about, Louisiana state troopers told Ronald Greene's family he died after crashing his car into a tree during a high speed police chase. We just showed you the video. That's not what happened at all. Instead officers dragged Greene face down, handcuffed him, punched him, kicked him, tased him as he pleaded with them, I'm sorry, I'm scared.

Those are just a few of the cases that we know about and, Christine, the part that disturbs me the most is what happens when the cameras are off.

ROMANS: It's a matter of trust, isn't it, with police departments. That's the bottom line that you're laying out here. It's the trust. How do we trust what's in those police reports and what police departments are saying when video was showing such a drastically different picture?

JARRETT: It's a matter I think of good journalism 101, right? We have to treat all of our sources with a certain level of skepticism. It is no longer okay to just repeat police say when we so often see the video shows a diametrically different picture.

ROMANS: Police say or police claim, two different kind of verbs to use there. JARRETT: Yeah.

ROMANS: All right. Thank you so much, Laura.

You know, the economy is reopening and booming and employers are scrambling right now to hire. Many raising their wages to attract and retain workers as we come out of the COVID pandemic. Under Armour, Amazon, Walmart, Chipotle, McDonald's all raising their starting pay. Bank of America has doubled its starting wage over the past decade to $20, now vows $25 per hour by the year 2025.

It's economics 101, the fastest way to fix a labor shortage is to pay more. This is good business.

Strategist Greg Valliere says the wage hikes aren't because companies are going soft. It's because they need to retain labor and, this is an interesting twist, inoculate themselves from criticism from the populist left.

Remember many of their companies have deep pockets, give a lot of money back to shareholders and the Biden administration is looking to corporate America to help fund his pro-worker agenda.

Now, the pandemic of course disrupted the labor market. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported a record 8.1 million job openings in March, 8 million open jobs.

That's why more than 20 states led by GOP governors plan to stop extra jobless benefits for their residents. The Biden administration says it's unable to continue those payments that are being slashed in those states, just can't do it. Republican governors call that benefit a disincentive to work.

It is one reason on the margin, you know, for the first time ever many restaurant workers, for example, have had a living wage and they got that being unemployed during a crisis.

But that's not the whole story. Schools are still hybrid in big parts of the country, there are child care shortages right now. Women have dropped out of the workplace to manage health care and education crises. Getting people back in the job market won't happen overnight. You have to work ought all those kinks and, Laura, you have to pay people enough.

JARRETT: A living wage.

All right. No coronavirus patients for the first time in 14 months. That's a major milestone at the San Francisco General, one of the Bay Area's biggest hospitals. It's part of a broader trend we're seeing.

COVID hospitalizations in the U.S. are now at 30,000 on average. It's still a lot, but it's actually the lowest since last September, but the pace of vaccinations -- here is the thing to pay attention to -- it's down 46 percent from its peak last month.

Some states are hoping cash and other incentives will help. EARLY START has the pandemic covered coast to coast.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: I'm Vanessa Yurkevich in New York.

Next week, vaccinated Americans could hit jackpot.

Here in New York if you get the COVID-19 shot at a state-run vaccine clinic, you will get a free lottery ticket. The "vax and scratch" ticket has prizes up to $5 million.

And the Maryland lottery will award $40,000 to a vaccinated Marylander every day until July 4th, with one final drawing of $400,000. That's a total of $2 million in lottery winnings.

[05:10:01]

And Ohio was the first to offer five $1 million prizes last week and two days later, more than 25,000 people got vaccinated in a single day, the highest number in weeks.

ERICA HILL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Erica Hill.

Starting June 1st, Michigan will lift all outdoor capacity limits for gatherings and boost indoor limits to 50 percent. On July 1, the state will take what the governor is calling the final step, lifting broad mask and gather orders, although Governor Whitmer did note businesses can still require masks.

LUCY KAFANOV, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Lucy Kafanov.

Iowa's Republican Governor Kim Reynolds on Thursday signed a bill into law that bans school officials and local jurisdictions from implementing mask mandates, calling it a victory for individual liberties, Reynolds said that the state was putting parents in control of children's health.

Under the new law public and private schools can't require school employees, students or visitors to wear a facial covering while on the premises. Texas and Florida which have Republican governors have passed similar measures.

LEYLA SANTIAGO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I am Leyla Santiago at the South Beach Wine and Food Fest. This is one of the largest events to get back up and running after the COVID outbreak.

On the surface, it certainly feels like things are back to normal but it's not like pre COVID. Just to get in there are temperature checks. There are digital screenings. They have rapid testing on hand, and they're asking anyone who is not eating and drinking to wear their mask. But, remember, it's a food and wine fest so that's exactly what they're doing.

A lot of safety measures in place for what organizers said a few months ago they didn't even know if this would happen.

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Tom Foreman in Washington, D.C. where the pandas are on the prowl again. The National Zoo is reopening. Now, they're doing it serve conservatively, asking people to get timed passes coming in, fully vaccinated and to stay away from some exhibits.

But by and large, they're trying to work their way up to 5,000 people, that's only 20 percent of the zoo's capacity but it's a nice, easy start, and those folks will be able to see most of the lions and tigers and bears, and, yeah, if they're lucky, even a glimpse of those famous pandas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JARRETT: Tom Foreman and our other correspondents.

As you can see, the pandemic news in the U.S. is mostly good. Overseas, though, depends on where you look.

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[05:16:28]

JARRETT: As the United States starts to emerge from COVID with million dollar lottery giveaways, India just set a global record for the most number of deaths in a day from COVID at any time during this pandemic, and it's facing a number of complications as it tries to recover.

Vedika Sud is live in New Delhi for us.

Vedika, I know for so long, oxygen was the main issue, but there are a host of other issues now as well.

VEDIKA SUD, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Laura.

Primarily the black fungus. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi today while addressing his constituency through virtual connections, he did mention that the black fungus is something that India needs to prepare for and against.

Now, what is the black fungus? It is a rare life-threatening infection that is now being seen in patients who are recovering or have recovered from COVID-19. What does this do? It affects the skin, it makes the parts of your face black in color, it can also affect your lungs, it can damage tissue and if not treated in time, Laura, believe it or not, you could lose your eyesight and go in for surgery, remove your eyes or a part of your jaw. It's as deadly as that.

At least 3,000 people from about five states have already reported being infected from this black fungus and this is a very worrying friend that we are seeing. So this is something that the Indian health ministry has spoken about, it has acknowledged that the supply for the medication used to treat this black fungus is running short, they are ramping up supplies for the near future, we are expecting more case toss emerge as well.

And at this point in time, the Indian prime minister also addresses his constituencies and was emotional while leaders expressed condolences for those who have lost their lives to COVID-19, Laura.

JARRETT: All right. Vedika, thank you so much for being there for us.

ROMANS: All right. Australia and New Zealand are often praised around the world for their pandemic response but can they stay ahead of the disease heading into the winter.

Angus Watson joins us live from Sidney this morning.

Hi, Angus.

ANGUS WATSON, CNN PRODUCER: Hi. Well, Christine, as you say, Australia has been doing particularly well in its fight against the coronavirus, in fact, there hasn't been a community case of COVID-19 in over a week.

But that's largely because the borders are almost closed. Australia needs -- Australians need to apply to their government for permission to leave and only around 5,000 people per week are allowed to enter. Those people have to isolate in mandatory state-run hotels for 14 days. That means there's very little risk of the virus getting in.

That also means there's very few restrictions which of course people are enjoying. But, of course, they are also wondering what success against the coronavirus really means if they have to shy away from the rest of the world. There is a travel bubble which is open with New Zealand, another country, as you say, which has been doing particularly well against the COVID-19 virus.

But Australians here wondering when foreigners can come in and businesses particularly wanting to government to provide some assurances as to when they can come and start spending their money here. The government says that might not be possible until next year and that's partly due to the slow vaccination rollout right here in Australia. Just 3.5 million jabs given in this country of 25 million people, Christine.

ROMANS: All right. Angus, thank you so much for that.

Laura?

JARRETT: Fear, paranoia, isolation, what Prince William says his mother Princess Diana went through. A bombshell interview now under renewed scrutiny some 25 years later.

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[05:24:25]

ROMANS: A chilling revelation, the second in just a few weeks. The Trump Department of Justice secretly obtained a CNN reporter's phone and email records. We get more from CNN justice correspondent Jessica Schneider.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Christine and Laura, we're learning that the Trump administration secretly sought and secretly obtained phone and email records of Barbara Starr.

Now, Starr was notified by letter a week ago that the Department of Justice under former Attorney General Bill Barr obtained her records that cover a two-month time period of June and July 2017.

Now, DOJ actually got ahold of those records last year.

[05:25:02]

And the records included calls made to and from Barbara Starr's home, cell and office phones. The government also sought what they called non-content information from her email, meaning details about who got the emails and the time and date sent, but not the email content itself.

Now, this letter, though, did not say why Barbara Starr's communications were sought. But over the time freight list there, she did report on U.S. military options for North Korea being prepared for President Trump, as well as stories including on Syria and Afghanistan.

Now, this revelation is significant because it is the second time in just a few weeks that reporters whose records were obtained secretly and unbeknownst to them, the second time they have been notified that the Trump Justice Department got ahold of their records. The last revelation was that three "Washington Post" reporters had their records revealed to DOJ.

Now, I have reached out to former Attorney General Bill Barr for comment but have not heard back.

The president of CNN, Jeff Zucker, has issued a statement saying, CNN strongly condemns the secret collection of any aspect of a journalist's correspondence which is clearly protected by the First Amendment. We are asking for an immediate meeting with the justice department for an explanation -- Christine and Laura.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JARRETT: Jessica, thank you so much.

Ditch them, replace them, why a top official says all the voting machines in a swing county are not safe to use again.

Stay with us.

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