Return to Transcripts main page

EARLY START

The Death of Freddie Gray: Officers Provide Statements; Yemen in Crisis: Is Iran Sending Weapons to Rebels?; Senate Set to Vote on Loretta Lynch Nomination. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired April 23, 2015 - 04:00   ET

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


[04:00:14] JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: New protests and growing frustration over the death of a man mysteriously injured during his arrest. Officers involved in the controversy now providing statements to investigators. We have new details ahead.

New concerns this morning that Iranian ships heading towards Yemen are carrying advanced weapons for Houthi rebels. If they are, will U.S. ships patrolling the water stop them? We are live with the very latest.

Good morning, everyone. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm John Berman. It is Thursday, April 23rd, 4:00 a.m. in the East. Christine Romans is off today.

And new this morning, five of the six Baltimore officers involved in arresting Freddie Gray have provided statements to investigators. Gray somehow suffered a fatal spinal injury in police custody earlier this month. This new video you are looking at right now shows the last time Gray was seen in public, motionless there lying in the door of a police van.

Court documents say the events leading to Gray's death began when he saw police officers and just took off running. A police union law says the officers did not need probable cause to arrest Gray. That his decision to flee, they say, was enough.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL DAVEY, FRATERNAL ORDER OF POLICE ATTORNEY: They pursued Mr. Gray. They detained him for an investigative stop. Had he not had a knife or an illegal weapon on him, he would have been released after the proper paper work was done. However, in this case, he was in possession of a spring loaded knife, which is in violation of Maryland law, at which time he was arrested. Everyone keeps going back and forth that there was no probably cause. In this type of an incident, you do not need probably cause to arrest. You just need a reasonable suspicion to make the stop and that's what they had in this case.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: The officers' lawyer says they did not cause Gray's fatal injury. They say they do not know how it happened. New protests against excessive force are set for today in Baltimore. Otherwise, peaceful protests became briefly violent on Wednesday as frustrated demonstrators pushed and shoved and threw bottles at police.

National correspondent Miguel Marquez in Baltimore with the very latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: John, this is western district police station. It's become now ground zero for protesters as they look for answers in the death of Freddie Gray. Today, his body was prepared to be released to the family. The lawyer for Freddie Gray says that they will conduct their own autopsy on the body before the funeral. The pastor that will eventually hold that funeral or conduct it says that it will be days after that that his funeral will be held for Mr. Gray.

Protesters here at the western district and across the city tonight -- they are promising to come back later in greater numbers today, in thousands they are saying down at city hall. And on Saturday, they are talking about in the tens of thousands. We will see if that turns out.

Another thing that is happening here, as protesters gather at the police station, they are also breaking off in smaller groups, moving throughout the city, blocking traffic in certain places. But now, they're going to move a lot of the protests from this area to city hall and hope to continue to press for answers -- John.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: Miguel Marquez on the streets of Baltimore.

Happening now, Defense Secretary Ash Carter says he is worried that the Iranian convoy headed toward Yemen may be bringing advanced weaponry to Houthi rebels. Carter was not willing to say the U.S. would forcibly board those Iranian ships to stop them, but he did not rule it out either, telling reporters, quote, "we have options".

This as the Saudi-led coalition continues to pound Houthi positions with new airstrikes, that's just a day after declaring its air campaign in Yemen was finished.

The secretary-general of the U.N. is voicing concerns that the fighting has resumed and expressing hope that it will end as soon as possible. That does not look likely, at least not as we sit here this morning.

CNN's Becky Anderson is following the events for us.

Good morning, Becky.

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John.

It doesn't seem likely, does it? As we see these airstrikes resuming in Yemen, targeting Houthis militants in and around the capital Sana'a and in Taiz province where a strike hit a weapons depot causing huge explosions overnight.

And, of course, Saudi insisting this action is consistent with the end of the month-long operation Decisive Storm phase one they say as it were, and Operation Renewal of Hope which they say is phase two, part political, part military. These air strikes, Riyadh insists, are to protect civilians from militia, but behind the scenes, all willing stakeholders work on the implementation of this U.N. resolution 2216.

[04:05:07] But, John, it's not just in the air or on the ground that things are, let's say, nuance. It is in the waters of what is the Arab world's poorest countries that things as you rightly suggest are getting complicated, witness what could be this impending showdown with the U.S. warships entering the Gulf of Aden led by U.S. aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt, and an approaching flotilla of Iranian cargo and military ships.

U.S. officials telling us and we heard from Ashton Carter as well that the mission is to monitor Iranian cargo vessels that could deliver arms to Houthi rebels. But whether the army will block those Iranian ships from entering Yemeni waters is a completely different matter. We have heard in the past few hours from the Saudi ambassador in Washington who says that Saudi ships willing to set any other ships that enter Yemeni waters.

So, Washington has a really complicated calculation on its hands, not least because it has the U.N. talks -- sorry, Iranian talks going on in the background with the deadline of June 30th and much insistence from the Saudi-led coalition that Iran has been working on the ground with advisers. It has been arming Houthis militia and Hezbollah has been working alongside the armies.

So, a very difficult calculation for Washington as Thursday kicks off -- John.

BERMAN: Diplomatic chess game, actually more than one diplomatic chess game being played and different continents. Becky Anderson, thanks so much.

So, North Korea, they already have 20 nuclear warheads and that could double that number by next year. That assessment comes from nuclear experts in China and was shared with the U.S. this February. This is according to report in "The Wall Street Journal". Officials in Beijing are growing more concerned about acceleration in North Korea's nuclear programs and South Korean defense officials warn the north is actively working on a militarizing a nuclear device that could fit on the tip of a missile.

Republicans are warning their final report of the 2012 Benghazi attack and the role that Hillary Clinton played might not be ready until just before the 2016 elections. The head of the committee handling the investigation says he would like to wrap things up by the end of this year, but claims that the administration stalling things could push things back.

The presidential hopeful Rand Paul skipped his Senate Relations Committee hearing yesterday to appear on a radio show where he blasted Hillary Clinton for the way she handled the Benghazi attacks. The hearing he missed involved funding for the State Department to improve security for American interests overseas.

The Pentagon is scrambling to move dozens of detainees out of Guantanamo Bay. This could be seen as an attempt to stay a step ahead of lawmakers who are threatening to block future transfers and derail the president's plan to shutdown the military prison. Defense officials are hoping to resettle 57 of the remaining 122 inmates by the end of the year in countries that still have not agreed to take them. No word on how the administration plans to deal with the rest of the detainees who've been deemed too dangerous to release.

Senate Republicans are fighting to extend the NSA's controversial spying operation that both collects telephone records of every day Americans. They've introduced a bill to keep it running through 2020. The program was authorized by Congress after September 11th, that is set to expire in June. Two years ago, NSA leaker Edward Snowden shined a spot line on this program. President Obama favors modifying the operations with phone companies keeping the record instead of the NSA.

So, very few people have lost their jobs in the V.A. despite a nationwide scandal over manipulated patient wait time data. The new V.A. secretary said in February that 60 people had been fired. The department later corrected that number to 14.

Now, "The New York Times" reports the employees removed from their position is at most three. The V.A is not disputing this report, but still insists it is committed to holding employees accountable for misconduct.

It took more than five months, but Congress is set to make history today. Loretta Lynch is expected to win Senate approval as attorney general and becomes the first African-American woman to hold that job. It comes after lawmakers cleared the legislative hurdle that stalled her nomination or confirmation, I should say.

Let's get more now from CNN's Athena Jones.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ATHENA JONES, CNN REPORTER: Good morning, John.

Well, today is the day that Loretta Lynch will finally get a vote in the full Senate. She waited longer for a vote than any attorney general nominee since the Reagan administration. Now, as you know, this vote was delayed for week because Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell insisted that the Senate first had to deal with a bill fighting human trafficking.

[04:10:03] That bill got stuck in a partisan debate over abortion language. Once agreement was reached to move forward on that bill, it was able to pass yesterday afternoon with unanimous support.

That brings us to today. Now, we expect that vote to happen to around 2:00 p.m. today. Now, at least five Republican senators have said they plan to vote for Lynch, with the support of the 46 Democrats, that brings her to the 51 votes she needs for confirmation, although a lot of Lynch supporters both on and off the Hill hope she gets a lot more votes than just the 51 she needs.

Still, if everything goes as expected, this will be a history-making moment. Lynch was born in the segregated South and she's going to become the first black woman to head the Department of Justice.

We'll be watching closely to see how things develop -- John.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: All right. Athena Jones, thanks so much.

Time for an early start on your money. Alison Kosik here with that.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN MONEY CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

Starting to see some red arrows. U.S. stock futures, John, are pointing down right now. But it's very early. Wall Street has a lot to get to today.

Yesterday, though, stocks climbed, and the NASDAQ hit a new 2015 closing high. Look at how the NASDAQ is doing. closing in on the all-time high set 15 years ago during the dot-com bubble. The Dow gained 88 points yesterday as investors were happy about earnings coming out from Dow components McDonald's and Coca-Cola.

One stock we are keeping an eye on this morning, Facebook. We're seeing shares actually lower before the bell. From its earnings report, we learned that Facebook is seeing huge growth global in mobile and video ads. But there's the bad news, that growth is costing Facebook a lot. First quarter revenue was lower than expected and spending increased a lot. So, it looks like Facebook is thinking you have to spend money to make money, at least during the first quarter.

BERMAN: It's getting big, though, bigger and bigger and bigger.

Alison Kosik, thanks so much.

Prosecutors showed jurors a picture of Boston marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev flipping off a camera in his holding cell. Prosecutors showed it first. So, why now is the defense team showing this video as part of a strategy? That's ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:15:12] BERMAN: Happening today, prosecutors expected to rest their case in the sentencing phase of the Boston marathon bombing trial.

A crude gesture made by convicted bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev while in lockup following his arrest has become a flashpoint in court. He flipped off a camera. Now, both sides are using these images in their arguments. CNN national correspondent Alexandra Field has details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: John, prosecutors say that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is a remorseless killer. They showed the jury a picture of him giving the middle finger to a camera. But the defense, they went a step forward, actually playing that video for the jury. The video was made by a surveillance camera in the holding cell at the federal courthouse. It was recorded three months after Dzhokhar Tsarnaev being arrested.

Defense officials hoping to take the sting out of the image of Dzhokhar giving that middle finger. Prosecutors said he has shown no remorse for his actions. He's being convicted on all 30 counts already. But defense attorneys wanted to provide some context to what was seen in that still image shown by the prosecution.

In the video, Dzhokhar is seen walking around the cell. He sits down for an extensive period of time. He's also seen looking into the camera and fixing his hair, before throwing up some kind of a V shaped sign and then giving the middle finger.

Tsarnaev's life is on the line. Jurors will determine whether or not he gets sentenced to death. But first, prosecutors are calling witnesses to tell to the pain and suffering they experienced as a result of the attacks inflicted by Tsarnaev and his brother, Tamerlan.

Jurors heard from Lingzi Lu's aunt, about Lingzi's mother traveled from China to the United States after the attack. She hoped at the bridal store, picking out a pink bridal gown to bury her daughter in.

They heard from Sean Collier's stepfather who talked about identifying his stepson's body with a bullet between his eyes.

And they heard from Adrianne Haslett Davis, a dancer who lost part of her leg in the bombing. She talked about what would be a final good- bye to her husband, about calling her parents and telling them these might be her last words with them. Davis testified at some point with tears in her eyes when she got off the stand walking on a prosthetic, giving him a glare. He never looked back out to her, John.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: Alexandra Field in Boston.

The family of Michael Brown is taking legal action against the city of Ferguson, Missouri. His family will hold a news conference to announce a wrongful death suit against Ferguson. Last summer, the unarmed black teenager was fatally shot by Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson who has since left the force. A grand jury declined to file charges against Wilson, and the federal investigation also cleared him. The shooting and grand jury decision, of course, sparked protests in Ferguson and around the country over the use of force by police. The NFL planned to compensate former players for concussion injuries

has one final court approval. The settlement provides payments for as much as $5 million per players of one of the handful of severe neurological disorders. More than 5,000 former players had sued the NFL, accusing the league of hiding the dangers of concussions. The deal could have actually cost the NFL as much as $1 billion.

It appears the Florida postal letter who landed his gyrocopter in the lawn of the Capitol is lucky to be alive. Security officials say they had guns trained on Doug Hughes the whole time. And according to Utah Congressman Jason Chaffetz, he could have been blown out of the air.

Following a classified briefing on Wednesday, Chaffetz was more upset about the breach of D.C. air space.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JASON CHAFFETZ (R), UTAH: The deep concern here is that people can penetrate the air space and go undetected. One of the things that was very frustrating to members of Congress is that there was no notification. We never got an alert that something was happening at the Capitol. That's inexcusable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Gyrocopter pilot Doug Hughes is now facing federal charges. He told Anderson Cooper last night that he pulled this stunt to make a statement about the influence of money and politics.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DOUG HUGHES, FLEW GYROCOPTER ONTO CAPITOL GROUNDS: I don't know if this is worth it until I get through with it. We're through with it when we see if in the next election a serious dialogue about corruption and a serious commitment to solving the problem of corruption. Now, you don't want me grandstanding on that and I'm going to respect that. But that's what it's about. And that's what makes it worth it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Hughes is under house arrest and could get up to four years in prison.

A migrant crisis out of control. People resorting to drastic, dangerous measures to flee their homes with nowhere to go. We are live with the very latest, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:23:30] BERMAN: A humanitarian crisis is unfolding on the shores of Italy. Desperate, sick and improvised refugees are arriving by the thousands. Italian officials are fearing they will be overwhelmed within weeks. Other nations, including the Netherlands now publicly warning the migrants, you will not find a home here.

CNN's Barbara Nadeau in Rome for us this morning.

This is a crisis the Italians have been dealing with for sometime, Barbie. They've been trying to get European help, sometimes to no avail.

BARBIE LATZA NADEAU, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: That is right. Today, the European Union leaders are going to be meeting and Italy is going to find out just who their friends are within that group and who can come and help them.

Italy right now is bearing the brunt of the rescues. They are expecting some 500,000 to come over this summer months. Two weeks, we had 11,000 people that arrived from the Northern African coast of Libya into Italy. And many times, these boats are such in precarious situations. The boat sank last week with almost 1,000 on it. These people are faceless, nameless.

And in many ways, the European Union just shows they don't really care. It's all up to the Italians to deal with it, John.

BERMAN: And they rescue, the Italians did, by themselves, 120,000 people last year. That number is simply staggering, Barbie.

NADEAU: It is staggering. The European Union does have a program called Frontex Triton, which is a border control program. They spent about 3 million euro a month trying to control the borders -- aquatic borders here off Italy.

[04:55:04] Italy spent 900 million euro a month last year to save lives, 120,000, 170,000 people that came. But so far this year, 25,000 people have arrived since the beginning of the year. It is not even the season in which people usually come.

The seas are rough. It's not summer. The weather's not nice. We are seeing them coming more and more frequently in rubber dinghies. Two hundred people arrived this morning that were rescued from two rubber dinghies, around 200 men, six women and four were pregnant, John.

BERMAN: All right. Barbie Nadeau for us in Rome this morning -- thanks so much, Barbie.

Twenty-five minutes after the hour.

Thousands have been forced to evacuate after a volcano erupted twice in one day in Southern Chile. Red alert is still in place as the Calbuco Volcano sent thick plumes of smoke and ash into the sky. Chile's interior minister called for calm in a televised address. He says the military was being utilized to help evacuate people and keep order. Fortunately, there are no reports of any death or injuries.

Twenty-five minutes after the hour. New information in the death of a man mysteriously injured during his arrest in Baltimore. Five of the six officers involved, they spoke to investigators. That as new protests flood the streets of Baltimore next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BERMAN: Tense protests on the streets of Baltimore over the death of Freddie Gray. His spine mysteriously injured during an arrest. This morning, we're learning that officers involved in the arrest have spoken to investigators.