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EARLY START
Obama Defends Iran Deal; Kenyan Officials ID Mastermind of Garissa Terror Attack; American Killed in Yemeni Violence; "Furious 7" Makes $143 Million in Opening Weekend. Aired 4-4:30a ET
Aired April 6, 2015 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:00:15] CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Selling the deal. President Obama with his most extensive comments yet on why the Iran nuclear agreement is best for all countries, including Israel, but Prime Minister Netanyahu isn't swayed. We'll tell you what both of them have to say this morning.
Officials in Kenya hunting for a terror mastermind. They've identified the man they say led the attack in last week's deadly siege at the university. Who is he? Where could he have fled? We are live in Kenya.
Failure of journalism. "Rolling Stone" under fire after a review called out the publication for not following the basic guidelines when reporting its graphic article about an alleged gang rape at UVA. The fallout and the apology ahead.
Good morning. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans. It is Monday, April 6th. It's 4:00 a.m. in the East. John Berman has the morning off.
This morning, perspective from key players in the developing deal to curb Iran's nuclear program. President Obama in an interview with "The New York Times" acknowledging widespread criticism and Israeli reluctance towards the framework hashed out last week in Switzerland. But the president said he is, quote, "absolutely committed to making sure the Israelis maintain their qualitative military edge over Iran and their Arab neighbors." The president reinforced his argument that the deal is the best way to protect Israeli security.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: What I would say to the Israeli people is, however, that there is no formula, that there is no option to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon that will be more effective than the diplomatic initiative and framework we put forward. And that's demonstrable.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: The president's interview was just one part of an all out lobbying offensive from all sides. It included Israel's prime minister slamming the Iran deal on CNN. National correspondent Sunlen Serfaty has more the White House. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Christine, the prime minister says this is a bad deal. He wants more pressure, more sanctions in Iran. And he's working with Congress; he's trying to get them to block this deal and hold off for a better one. So he is lobbying members, revealing that he's spoken to 2/3 of members of Congress personally.
Now, the White House anticipated this. And that is why they are putting up President Obama, directly calling members of Congress, calling the top congressional leadership, and reaching out to world leaders. Now the two leaders, Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Obama, have had a well-documented tense relationship.
But in an interview with Jim Acosta, the prime minister indicated that his opposition to the bill is not in direct reference to that.
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: I always respect the presidency of the United States and this President of the United States. But as the prime minister of the one and only Jewish state, when I see a country, a terrorist regime committed to our destruction, and not only to our destruction, having a path, a clear path to the bomb, it is my obligation to speak out as I'm doing now, as I'll do in any form.
SERFATY: And there are many in Congress who are receptive to Prime Minister Netanyahu's argument here. They are skeptical of this deal. They believe that it doesn't do enough to roll back Iran's nuclear program, both Republicans and Democrats. But one top Senate Democrat, Senator Dianne Feinstein, she's a leading voice on intelligence issues on Capitol Hill, she had some blunt criticism of Netanyahu. She says she believes that this campaign he's waging to derail this deal is doing more harm than good.
SEN. DIANNE FEINSTEIN (D), CALIFORNIA: I think he said what he's had to say, and to be candid with you, this can backfire on him. And I wish that he would contain himself because he has put out no real alternative. In his speech to the Congress, o real alternative. Since them, no real alternative.
SERFATY: And Congress will be back in Washington after recess next week and there are a whole series of bills lined up and waiting for President Obama to challenge him over the details of the deal. Christine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: All right, Sunlen at the White House, thank you for that.
New developments this morning in the brutal terrorist attack on a university in southeastern Kenya that killed 142 students and 5 security officers. The Kenyan government naming the mastermind of that attack by al Shabaab militants, naming him as Mohamed Mohamud. Now, the Interior Ministry had previously posted a most wanted notice for Mahamud, offering a reward equal to $215,000. The father of another suspect in the Garissa University College attack named by the government spoke to CNN over the weekend. He said his son went missing after graduating law school in 2013.
[04:05:03] The father said he had really given up on his son.
For more now, let's bring in CNN's Christian Purefoy live for us in Garissa. Good morning. First of all, tell us about this $215,000 reward for who officials are saying is the mastermind of this attack.
CHRISTIAN PUREFOY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, the interior minister of Kenya, Christine, has named Mohamed Mahmoud as this mastermind behind the killing of 147 people at the university just a few minutes from here. He is in charge of the militia along the long Somali border, and in control of those groups that come across and do attacks and incursions into Kenyan territory. That's sort of his region of operations. And that border is a sort of four-hour long drive along a dirt track from here.
He has done other attacks before, most notably with the same modus operandi on a bus along the road coming down to Garissa where 28 people were killed. And it was the same thing: They separated Christians and Muslims, asked the Muslims to recite some of the Koran, and then killed the Christians.
But when we talk, Christine, about these people being masterminds, I think it's good to bear in mind 147 people were brutally murdered in the most basic means possible. So these people really are just criminals. Christine.
ROMANS: Just criminals with unbelievable effect in this particular case. Tell me a little bit about the man -- I guess the man who is saying his son was one of the suspects here. What do we know about that?
PUREFOY: Yes, Abdirahim Abdullahi, he's one of the four suspects named by the Kenyan Interior Ministry as one of the main attackers. We know there were four attackers that went into university that day at 5:00 a.m., killed two security guards and then continued to the massacre. He was the son of a local politician in the neighboring region Mandela. Now, the Kenyan president did say that these people that committed this attack are deeply embedded in our society. And this is a home-grown terrorist. This is a very serious thing for Kenya and the Kenyan authorities to deal with. Because obviously these people aren't just coming across the border; they're actually in the country.
But the father did say that he has not seen him for many years and that he'd basically just given up on him. Christine.
ROMANS: Christian Purefoy for us at Garissa this morning in Kenya. Thank you for that.
Seven minutes past the hour. Police in Northern England arrest two teens with suspected links to terror, possibly the youngest terror- related arrests ever in the U.K. Police say a 14-year-old boy and 16- year-old girl were arrested for, quote, "suspicion of preparing for an attack of terrorism". The boy allegedly had suspect activity on a number of his electronic devices. Both are out on bail until May 28. 14 and 16 years old.
A bombshell move from "Rolling Stone" magazine following a scathing report from Columbia University School of Journalism slamming that magazine for failing to engage in, quote, "basic even routine journalistic practice". "Rolling Stone" now issuing a retraction of a discredited article about a woman who claimed she was gang raped at the University of Virginia. Now despite the missteps, "Rolling Stone" publisher Jann Winter has decided not to fire anyone, saying he believes the mistakes were not intentional.
The author of that story, Sabrina Rubin Erdely, now issuing an apology saying, in part, "Reading the Columbia account of the mistakes and misjudgments in my reporting was a brutal and humbling experience. I want to offer my deepest apologies to "Rolling Stone's" readers, to my "Rolling Stone" editors and colleagues, to the UVA community, and to any victims of sexual assault who may feel fearful as a result of my article."
UVA president Teresa Sullivan issuing a fierce response to the Columbia review, saying, "'Rolling Stone's' story did not to combat sexual violence and it damaged serious efforts to address the issue. Irresponsible journalism unjustly damaged the reputations of many innocent individuals and the University of Virginia. Such false depictions reinforce the reluctance of sexual assault victims already feel about reporting their experience lest they be doubted or ignored." Deans of the Columbia Journalism School will speak today about their investigation.
Closing arguments today, closing arguments in the trial of the Boston Marathon bomber. Insiders say the jury could even get the case before the end of the day after more than three weeks of testimony, 96 witnesses. They have to decide if Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was pushed by his older brother into carrying out attack and if the 21 deserves the death penalty.
Lawyers for Aaron Hernandez will begin their first, possibly only day of defense testimony in his murder trial today. The legal team for the former New England Patriot has said it expects to put on its only witnesses on Monday, then rest.
[04:10:00] Prosecution spent more than two months laying out that case, accusing Hernandez of shooting and killing Odin Lloyd. Deliberations could begin as soon as tomorrow.
Questions swirling around Hillary Clinton this morning and her all but announced run for president. We are told aides have been instructed to be ready starting today for a campaign rollout. Top Democratic activists in Iowa and New Hampshire privately say they have been placed on alert. Clinton will declare soon with the first announcement expected on social media. The Hillary watch picked up steam last week when Clinton's team signed a lease for office space in Brooklyn.
The Justice Department now launching a criminal investigation into the company responsible for spraying a chemical that may have sickened a Delaware family. This happened last month when this family was vacationing a villa in the U.S. Virgin Islands. We're told Steve Esmond is unable to talk or move. His wife is in occupational therpay now and their teen sons remain in critical condition. They all four became ill when they were on vacation there.
The ongoing California drought is hurting the whole country. That's because California is the nation's breadbasket, growing more than 1/3 of American vegetables, 2/3 of American fruits and nuts. Lack of water has been a problem in California for the past several years. That sent prices higher for several staples last year -- berries, broccoli, grapes, melons, lettuce, peppers. Also a big price spike. We could see prices could climb again this year because of the drought. The drop in oil prices makes transporting food from California cheaper. A strong dollar means we can import more crops. But the drought has already forced farmers to abandon thousands of acres. Now farmers are deciding if they should plant less next year; simply don't have the water. Those decisions could affect prices long- term.
All right, the severe weather threat in the middle of the country may be just beginning this week. For more, let's get to meteorologist Pedram Javaheri with an early look at your forecast.
PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hey, good morning, Christine. Hopefully you had a fantastic Easter weekend. Look at these temperatures across the country today -- 60s and 70s. Mid-60s in New York City. You can't complain with that, although we do have some clouds on the increase. The temperature trend going to remain mild. Areas around Minneapolis on the cool side at 42 degrees, but severe weather threat generally going to be a minimal, kind of an isolated pocket today. It will expand as the week progresses and we will touch on that from Monday into Tuesday and Wednesday. And notice Wednesday into Thursday, it gets quite expansive. And that's the concern, by midweek, as some of these storms have the potential to easily be the most significant of the season.
In fact, look at the next seven days. Going to be a wet pattern across much of the eastern half of the country with areas around portions of Arkansas up to six inches of rainfall, while New York again generally cloudy and showers the next few days. But the temperatures do stay in the 60s, with the exception of Tuesday and Wednesday, when new cool off into the 40s and 50s. And notice in Chicago, as well, the cooling trend is there. We do expect a moderating trend toward the latter portion of the week. Christine.
ROMANS: All right, Pedram Javaheri, thanks for that.
The battle for territory in Yemen heat up overnight. Rebels fighting for a key port city. Forces loyal to the president trying to hang on there. The very latest in a very dangerous situation next.
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[04:16:09] ROMANS: An American family in mourning right now for the first U.S. citizen identified as having been killed in the expanding warfare in Yemen. Jamal al Labani went to Yemen to bring his pregnant wife and two-year-old daughter back to California. Instead, he was hit by a mortar strike in the southern city of Aden. Houthi rebels now battling to take Aden, the last stronghold of troops loyal to President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi. To the north, Saudi-led air stirkes pounding Yemen's Houthi-occupied capital of Sannaa. The fighting there causing widespread blackouts but failing to dislodge the rebels.
For the very latest, let's bring in CNN's Becky Anderson. She's on the phone for us from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Becky?
BECKY ANDERSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR (via phone): Good morning. 12 nights into what the Saudis are calling its Operation: Decisive Storm and the humanitarian situation on the ground being described as dire. Some parts of Aden have been without water and power without days. And a Red Cross worker just in the past hour reporting that the port city is a ghost town, inhabitants nowhere to be seen. And the city scale of destruction, he said, clearer by the day.
Now, the Red Cross have been struggling to get any humanitarian aid into Aden. They've been told that they can actually fly two flights in today, so that will be supplies and staff, but clearly things on the ground are deteriorating. The Red Cross has asked for a 24 hour cease-fire and the Russians at the United Nations Security Council asking for a humanitarian corridor. At this stage, the UNSC is saying their members are considering that.
As you rightly point out, on the ground, things deteriorating. Some are still held it seems by Houthis militia who are loyal to the former President Saleh, many say is being supported by the Iranians. And so these air strikes really don't seem to be doing what they are set out to do, which is degrading the militia on the ground.
And into this chaos of course, we have been reporting now for some days, the emergenc of militant jihadists like al Qaeda and ISIS. Just last week, al Qaeda freeing some 300 prisoners from a jail and one of those prisoners, a senior commander of al Qaeda, seen in the presidential palace just days ago in Aden. So things are very, very difficult on the ground, as I say, with the Red Cross hoping to get in today and perhaps things will become clearer as more aid workers get onto the ground, but things very, very difficult. And as we know, what goes on in Yemen certainly doesn't stay in Yemen.
ROMANS: Absolutely. Becky Anderson, thank you for that. On the phone for us this morning from Riyadh.
Flooding in Chile has left nearly 30 people dead, dozen more missing. The northern part of the country has been just devastated. Government officials say about 3,000 people are living in emergency shelters right now. Several areas have lost power and running water. And there are fears the flood waters could help spread diseases like tetanus and hepatitis.
Rescue on the southern Mediterranean Sea. Italian coast guard and a Navy ship saved nearly 1,500 migrants from five vessels off the coast of Libya Saturday. Rescuers intercepted distress calls from three of the migrants' boats. The other two were found en route to those. Now the migrants were taken to the island of Lampedusa or ports in Sicily. Illegal entry into the E.U. is on the rise with more refugees fleeing instability in the Middle East and Africa.
Play ball. Hope springs eternal on Opening Day for Major League Baseball and a major trade already has one star, one all-star, changing uniforms. We'll tell you who.
[04:20:00]
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ROMANS: NSA leaker Edward Snowden facing some tough questions from "Last Week Tonight's" John Oliver. The HBO political comedy host traveled to Moscow to meet with Snowden and conducted arguably toughest interview of Snowden since he exposed NSA's spy activities.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN OLIVER, HOST, "LAST WEEK TONIGHT": How many of those documents have you actually read?
EDWARD SNOWDEN, NSA LEAKER: I've evaluated all of the documents that were in the archive.
OLIVER: You read every single one?
SNOWDEN: Well, I do understand what I turned over.
OLIVER: But there's a difference between understanding what's in the documents and reading what's in the documents.
SNOWDEN: I recognize the concern.
OLIVER: Because when you're handing over thousands of NSA documents, the last thing you want to do is read them.
So "The New York Times" took a slide, didn't redact it properly, and in the end it was possible for people to see that something was used in Mosul on al Qaeda.
SNOWDEN: That is a problem.
OLIVER: Well, that's a (EXPLETIVE).
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Things eventually did get a little bit more lighthearted. Oliver showed Snowden video of people being interviewed in Times Square. Most of them have no idea who Edward Snowden is. One person got a little close, thinking he was in charge of the web site WikiLeaks. It was a tough and smart interview.
Universal's "Furious 7" left other pictures eating its dust this weekend, making an unbelievable record $143 million at the box office. This is the seventh film of the "Fast and Furious" franchise. [04:25:00] It's the last movie made by actor Paul Walker, no doubt a
big draw for audiences. "Furious 7" was still in production when Walker was killed in a car crash in 2013. To put this weekend's $143 million in context, the first "Furious" film, released back in 2001, that made $144 million domestically grand total. This made $143 just in the weekend.
All right, batter up. It's Opening Day for Major League Baseball. A full slate of 14 games on the schedule today. The season officially got underway Sunday night with the familiar sight -- a loss for the Cubs. The Cardinals knocked around Chicago's new ace Jon Lester at Wrigley Field in a 3-0 win. The season really began with a bang with a blockbuster trade hours before the first pitch. Atlanta shipped all-star closer Craig Kimbrel and outfielder Melvin Upton to the San Diego Padres in exchagne for two outfielders, two prospects, and a draft pick.
Duke and Wisconsin gearing up for the NCAA championship game tonight. The Blue Devils are looking for their fifth NCAA title; the Badgers looking for the second ever, and their first since 1941. Wisconsin advanced to the championship with a stunning win over previously unbeaten Kentucky Saturday night. The fallout after the game for Kentucky not limited to basketball. Guard Andrew Harrison was picked up by a hot mic using the n-word to refer to Wisconsin's Frank Kaminsky who is white. Harrison later apologized on Twitter. Kaminsky, for his part, saying he's, quote, "over it".
On the women's side, a rematch of last year final is set. Notre Dame and UConn will play tomorrow night. We're going to get more on all of this from Andy Scholes in the Bleacher Report in our next hour.
President Obama laying it on the line for Israel. He vows a nuclear deal negotiated with Iran will not jeopardize the Jewish state and says the U.S. will stand with Israel if Tehran's aggressive. Will this be enough to convince the Israelis? We're live in Jerusalem next with the latest.
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