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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Murder Conviction of "Serial" Subject Adnan Syed Overturned; Jan 6 Committee Members Propose Bill to Reform Electoral Count Act; Stock Futures Higher as Fed Interest Rate Decision Looms; Protests Erupt in Iran over Death of Woman in Police Custody; Eli Manning goes Undercover as Penn State Walk-on. Aired 5:30-6a ET
Aired September 20, 2022 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:30:00]
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CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Maryland Judge overturning the murder conviction of Adnan Sayed who spent the last 23 years in prison. Syed was convicted of killing his high school ex-girlfriend. The murder case gained national attention from the hit podcast serial and later in HBO series. We get more from CNN's Alexandra Field.
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ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Free from prison after 23 years behind bars a crowd swarmed Adnan Syed outside a Baltimore Circuit Court moments after a judge vacated the murder conviction against him. Syed didn't stop to speak whisked away in a car and ordered to wear an electronic ankle bracelet until the state decides whether to pursue a new trial against him or drop all charges in the death of Hae Min Lee, his ex-girlfriend a high school student strangled to death in 1999. Her body was discovered weeks later.
MARILYN MOSBY, STATE'S ATTORNEY FOR BALTIMORE CITY, MARYLAND: We're not yet declaring not yet declaring Adnan Syed is innocent, but we are declaring that in the interest of fairness and justice he is entitled to a new trial.
[05:35:00]
FIELD (voice over): Syed has maintained his innocence since he was convicted in 2000. Defense attorneys have repeatedly tried to have him exonerated.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They got to have--
FIELD (voice over): A popular HBO Series raised new questions about the case against Adnan Syed in 2019.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Young lovers from different worlds.
FIELD (voice over): But it was the hit podcast Serial that brought the case and the possibility there had been a miscarriage of justice to national attention in 2014. Lee's brother Yung Lee telling the courtroom this isn't a podcast for me, this is real life and tearfully adding whenever I think it's over, it's ended it always comes back.
But the judge ruled in favor of the motion filed by prosecutors who had asked for Syed's immediate release following a year-long reinvestigation into the case against him. That turned up a slew of failures cited in a 21 page court document.
Among them the unreliability of cellphone data used in the original trial advances in DNA testing and most critically, newly developed information about two alternative suspects and the state's failure to disclose critical information about those suspects to the defense at the time of the trial.
MOSBY: Our investigation uncovered that one of the suspects threatened Ms. Lee saying he would make her disappear. He would kill her. We also received information that provided motive for that same alternative suspects.
FIELD (voice over): A final decision on whether to actually proceed with a new trial will likely hinge according to prosecutors on the results of touched DNA testing of some items recovered from the crime scene a technology that didn't exist at the time of the crime.
Still for throngs of Syed's supporters this is the first victory more than two decades in the making. For the family of Hae Min Lee the start of another search for answers in the death of their beloved.
STEVE KELLY, ATTORNEY TO LEE FAMILY: This family is interested in the pursuit of justice. They want to know more than anybody who it was that killed Hae Min Lee.
FIELD (voice over): Alexander Field CNN, New York.
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ROMANS: All right, the Federal Reserve meets today and your world is about to get a little more expensive plus migrant children from the summer border surge now starting school in New York City.
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ROMANS: Top members of the House January 6 Committee rolling out a bill to prevent future attempts to overturn a certified presidential election. The legislation to overhaul the Electoral Count Act is scheduled to get a vote in the House on Wednesday. CNN's Daniella Diaz live on Capitol Hill. Daniella whose behind this bill and what exactly would it do?
DANIELLA DIAZ, CNN CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER: Christine, the two lawmakers who have written this legislation that would make changes to the Electoral Count Act Zoe Lofgren of California who of course sits on that House Select Committee investigating the January 6 riot and her colleague on that committee, Liz Cheney of Wyoming. If you remember, she lost her primary earlier this year because of her words against Former President Donald Trump and his lies, saying that the election was stolen from him.
Now this, they say this legislation is critical, Christine, because they want to prevent a future riot, like the one we saw on January 6th. There are many things this legislation would do very, very comprehensive, one of them being of course, to address any potential delays a state could make to counting and certifying its votes.
And it also creates language to enforce the election certification process. And it's also meant to address what we saw in 2020 when certain states put up what we call the fake electoral scheme, fake electors to certify the election results. This legislation would address that.
We have seen that be investigated by the Department of Justice Christine, as well as a major threat in the investigation by this January 6 House Select Committee. Now of course, as you noted, this legislation is expected to be taken up for a vote on Wednesday, we expect it to pass only a simple majority needed for legislation to pass in the House.
Meanwhile, a bipartisan group in the Senate has been working toward their own version of making changes to Electoral Count Act that legislation is still not yet taken up by the Senate for a vote. Now, if it's passed in the House. There's going to have to be some sort of reconciliation process, Christine, for those differences in the legislation but of course, Democrats and some Republicans really pushing that this needs to happen.
But remember, Christine, not all Republicans are behind this, especially we expect those supporters of Former President Donald Trump to be verbally against this legislation in the coming days Christine.
ROMANS: All right. Danielle Diaz, thank you so much for explaining it for us! Twitter Co-Founder Jack Dorsey set to be deposed this morning in the social media company's lawsuit against Elon Musk. Musk is trying to back out of his $44 billion takeover deal. His legal team originally subpoenaed Dorsey last month; Dorsey resigned as CEO last year and supported Musk's purchase of Twitter. A five day trial over this dispute is set to begin October 17th.
All right, Hurricane Fiona is devastating Puerto Rico dumping nearly three feet of rain and parts of that island - live on the ground next, plus the FDA actually warning teenagers not to cook chicken in Nyquil.
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ROMANS: All right, let's get a check on CNN Business this Tuesday morning. Looking at markets around the world European markets pretty choppy here today. You got more than a dozen global central banks, including the Bank of England expected to tighten policy raise interest rates this week. So it's a big week for central banks. Looks like - DOW Futures down a little bit here on Wall Street everything leaning lower here. Stocks finished higher in a choppy day yesterday. Of course the big event is the two day Fed meeting when another gigantic rate hike is expected. That expectation drove the 10 year note to a 10 year high of 3.5 percent.
The feds' quest to crush inflation will likely take another 75 basis point rate hike the third huge hike in a row the fifth rate hike this year. Inflation is still a big problem. But gas prices fell for a 14th consecutive week. The national average is now sitting at 3.67 a gallon.
Alright protests erupting in Tehran demanding justice demanding accountability after the death of a woman in police custody. Demonstrators poured into the streets but this is say they're chanting death to the dictator. Five people have reportedly been killed in clashes with police. Iranian police had detained 22-year-old Masha Amini for violating the country's conservative dress code. Amini died after falling into a coma Friday. Police denied any wrongdoing calling the incident unfortunate.
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ROMANS: An angry backlash this morning over China's zero COVID policy after a bus carrying residents to a COVID quarantine facility overturned on a highway crash in a ditch killing 27 people. Ivan Watson is tracking the latest developments live from Hong Kong. Ivan, there are questions about why this bus was even on the road in the early morning hours?
IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. This has triggered you know a backlash Christine that is striking all the more so because the internet in China is so heavily censored and yet still we're getting these kinds of questions emerging online and criticism and a sense of hopelessness, as there seems to be no end to China's what it calls its dynamic zero COVID strategy no end to it in sight.
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WATSON (voice over): A deadly bus crash in Southwestern China sparking anger over the country's strict COVID policies. The vehicle carrying dozens of residents from the City of Guiyang as well as their drivers seen dressed in a hazmat suit to a faraway quarantine center hours later the bus overturns killing at least 27 people and injuring at least 20 a worker later seen spraying disinfectant on the wreckage.
WATSON (on camera): The bus departed the Southwestern City of Guiyang shortly after midnight on Sunday, with the goal of reaching a quarantine center in remote Libo County located within three hours' drive away. Authorities say the vehicle tumbled into a ravine at 2:40 am raising the question why was it so important to rush suspected close contacts of COVID patients such a long distance so late at night, especially in a province where officially there have been only two deaths from COVID since the start of the pandemic? WATSON (voice over): The Chinese government is obsessed with eliminating all traces of COVID from the country walking down entire cities for weeks and even months. Authorities can find nearly 2 million residents of the City of Guiyang in their homes starting on September 2nd. Days later trapped residents suffering from food shortages, voice anger and frustration. Where the Communist Party one man is yells? We've trusted the party and the government.
Things are worse in more remote areas. In the Western Xinjiang region, a desperate mother films her children sick with fever and complaints COVID restrictions prevent her from taking them to a hospital.
Recording of another call for help to the authorities in Xinjiang's Capital this from a gastric cancer survivor who says he's dying from lack of food. The man who we won't name for his safety shows CNN pictures of his empty refrigerator. He says he needs frequent small meals since doctors removed most of his stomach for cancer treatment and says police detained and beat him after he went out on the street looking for food.
In the Capital of Tibet this month, officials marched residents off to quarantine camps. The Chinese government sends suspected COVID cases on mass to sprawling makeshift facilities where some complain of wretched conditions.
After Sunday's deadly bus crash a Deputy Mayor apologized and promised an investigation into the accident. But even on China's heavily censored internet critics are chiming in. What makes you think we won't be on that late night bus one day one person writes?
They have a point while the rest of the world moves on from the pandemic in China there's no end to the campaign to eliminate COVID no matter the cost.
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WATSON: And Christina I want to stress in China, the authorities will lock down an entire city of millions of residents if a handful of COVID cases are detected. I just want to stress that. It can only take you know a dozen cases and suddenly millions of people are trapped inside their apartments.
Again, there's no end in sight and that's led to a saying commonly repeated in China that you are allowed to die of anything in that country except COVID Christine.
ROMANS: And that bus crash really, really just terrible and showing just how hard and stark those COVID lock downs have been? Thank you so much for that Ivan. Alright a scary collision Mars, the bills blowout win over the Titans on Monday Night Football. Andy Scholes has this morning's Bleacher Report. Good morning, Andy!
ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning, Christine. So everything was going right for the Bills last night but the Buffalo going silent in the second quarter after a frightening hit. Dane Jackson was making this tackle when Bill's linebacker Tremaine Edmonds, inadvertently drills him bending his neck all the way back.
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SCHOLES: Players all gathered around Jackson as an ambulance came all the way out in the field. Jackson was taken to the hospital for a CT scan and X rays and did have full movement in his extremities.
As for the game, Josh Allen was in complete control of this game from start to finish. He threw four touchdowns as the Bills just dominated the Titans. 41 to 7 this is the first win for the Bills in Buffalo on Monday Night Football since 1994.
Alright, the Eagles Quarterback Jalen Hurts meanwhile, putting on a show in the other game against the Vikings. He racked up 301 total yards in the first half. Hurts is looking unstoppable from the opening drive throwing for one touchdown and running for two more. Up 24 to 7 in halftime and neither team decided to score in the second half Eagles 2-0 on the season for the first time since 2016.
Alright, Kyler Murray the Cardinals meanwhile, still riding high after another incredible comeback win over the Raiders. But when Kyler was celebrating with a fan he knew he took exception to another fan that apparently made contact with him. Kyler had some words with that fan before rejoining his teammates in celebration. Las Vegas police say they are investigating that incident.
The NFL had suspended Buccaneers wide receiver Mike Evans for one game without paper his role in the brawl with the Saints on Sunday avid shoved Marshon Lattimore to the ground as the quarterback was having heated words with Tom Brady. According to multiple boards, Evans plans to appeal that suspension. The teams will play again against each other December 5th on Monday Night Football.
Alright, and finally two times Super Bowl MVP Eli Manning recently tried his hand at being a walk on QB a tense day Eli putting on some heavy makeup in a wig to go undercover as Chad Powers for his Eli's play show on ESPN Plus.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was the last time you played on?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was homeschooled. So I never played ball. Pick a ball. Let's film though. My mom was my coach.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mom was way?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mom was my coach and a teacher.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: --great teacher.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. She's very smart. She's good coach.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHOLES: Head Coach James Franklin was in on this but no one else was. Eli 41-years-old ran a 5.4940 yard dash to impress the coaches in the drills. Eli did reveal himself to the team after he was disqualified because Christine he didn't have any eligibility left. But I tell you what? Eli and Peyton never seemed or failed to surprise me with their acting skills. They are just incredible.
ROMANS: They are. They really are. Alright, thanks for that Andy that was funny.
SCHOLES: All right.
ROMANS: All right. Elton John has a date at the White House. The Superstar Singer currently on his farewell tour of the U.S. will perform Friday on the South Lawn. It's a celebratory event. The White House is calling a night when hope and history rhymes.
They're not taking exactly what is being celebrated. The title comes from a poem by President Biden's favorite poet and a line he's used several times, including in his acceptance speech at the 2020 Democratic National Convention.
Right Mariah Carey's fantasy may about to come true. Pop music legend is searching for the original version of her secret alt rock album someone's ugly daughter and now she says she's found it. Carey's version of the grunge album was buried by her label Columbia Records back in 1995.
Her lead vocals were replaced by her friend Clarissa Dane. Now Carey says she plans on releasing her version of the album and may collaborate with another artist as well. Alright, thanks for joining us I'm Christine Romans "New Day" starts right now.
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