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EARLY START

Second New York Escapee Captured; Greece Nears Default on Huge Debt; Iranian Nuclear Talks Extended; ISIS Claims Tunisia Hotel Attack; Call for Skin Grafts Following Taiwan Water Park Explosion; Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired June 29, 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] JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Captured alive. Investigators finally taking down the dangerous killer who escaped from prison after 22 days on the run. So what is next for inmate David Sweat?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Greece on the brink of financial ruin this morning. The banks there shutdown. Limits to how much you can take out of your ATM there. This country facing some critical decisions that will affect economies around the world. We are live with the very latest.

BERMAN: They already are effecting economies around the world.

ROMANS: Yes.

BERMAN: Meanwhile, the security of the world at stake this morning. An ominous warning from world leaders as time ticks down to reach a nuclear deal with Iran. Can Iran and the United States find some agreement before this deadline? We're live.

Good morning, everyone. A lot going on this morning. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm John Berman.

ROMANS: I'm Christine Romans. A very, very busy morning around the world, folks. It's Monday, June 29th, it's 4:00 a.m. in the East.

Happening now, New York prison escapee David Sweat under guard. He is in critical condition after being shot by police, ending a huge manhunt that lasted more than three weeks. The other convicted killer who escaped with Sweat, Richard Matt, he is dead, shot and killed on Friday. A crowd cheering New York Governor Cuomo as he announces the nightmare is finally over.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D), NEW YORK: Today ends with good news. These were really dangerous, dangerous men, both Matt and Sweat. They were killers. Mr. Matt killed at least two people. Mr. Sweat killed a sheriff's deputy in Broom County in a savage, savage way. So these were dangerous people. They -- we could not tolerate them being on the loose.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: CNN's Alexandra Field is in upstate New York near the scene of Sweat's capture. She has the latest.

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christine, John, a single New York state trooper being hailed as a hero by Governor Andrew Cuomo. He made the capture solo of David Sweat, the fugitive who has been on the run for more than three weeks after breaking out of that maximum security prison.

Sergeant Jay Cook was alone on a roving patrol when he spotted someone walking down a road in the town of Constable just under two miles south of the Canadian border. Cook approached Sweat who fled, took off running, toward the tree line. At that point, Sergeant Cook fired twice striking Sweat two times in the torso.

David Sweat has now been taken to Albany Medical Center for treatment. New York State Police say that he was unarmed at the time that Sergeant Cook confronted him. He was found in a spot some 16 miles north of a place where Richard Matt was killed by a tactical team two days earlier.

Still no word yet from investigators on when Sweat and Matt may have broken apart and whether or not Sweat was with Richard Matt at the time that he was shot and killed -- John, Christine.

ROMANS: All right. Alexandra, thanks for that.

And Dannemora, New York, home to the maximum security prison, where those two men escaped, residents there cheered. They also breathed sighs of relief after more than three weeks of triple checking locks and for many sleeping with the gun handy.

As their lives go back to normal, officials say life for David Sweat, if he survives those two gunshot wounds, will change permanently.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDREW WYLIE, CLINTON COUNTY, NEW YORK DISTRICT ATTORNEY: His privileges will be extremely limited. No more honor block. No more, you know, freedom of working in a tailor shop. He will be basically in 24/7 lockdown for the rest of his life.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Now prison guard Gene Palmer appears in court later today. He's been charged with official misconduct and destroying evidence after admitting to unintentionally helping Matt and Sweat escape. Palmer says he provided them tools in exchange for information.

That apparently cozy relationship between inmates and correction officers is now the subject of a state inspector general's investigation. A person briefed on the inquiry telling CNN investigators think Sweat and Matt have been gathering information on cabins and fields around the prison for almost a year before they broke out.

BERMAN: All right. Happening this morning. The brink of a financial collapse that has global implications. Greece has declared a weeklong bank closure, also strict limits on ATM withdrawals. It has shut its stock market at least for today.

These drastic measures have led to long, long lines at cash machines. You can only get about 68 bucks a day. And as we speak, Greece is spiraling toward default on its huge debt. This could come as soon as tomorrow.

The whole world, folks, watching this. The ultimate consequence could be Greece's exit from the euro. Something that no country has ever done.

I can't stress this enough, this has some implications for your 401(k) as well. Let's go right to the ground. CNN's Isa Soares live in Athens this morning.

Isa, what are you seeing?

[04:05:04] ISA SOARES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. Good morning, John. Good morning, Christine. It seems like a normal Monday, to be honest. Tourists walking past, people stopping to grab a bite of bread. But if you look just behind me over my left shoulder, you see, John, the shutters to the banks. They are closed. Banks will be closed until next Monday. I suppose that's after the referendums. ATMs, they are expected to open in an hour or so.

We saw huge queues yesterday of people taking money out before those proposals, before they reinforce the 60 euro limit. That's roughly $66. Tourists will still be able to get more than $66 a day. They can take as much as they want as long as their debit card is not from Greece. But many people here telling me they are angry. They are furious. But also, there is a sense of some weariness and some pride, strangely enough.

Many people believe that the government of Alexis Tsipras has done the right thing, he's played his cards right, saying no to austerity. Basically saying no to more pension cuts and no -- saying no to a rise in the VAT. That's why I think we'll see today a lot of people taking to the streets later on tonight in support of the government because the government, interestingly enough, has been calling for no to the proposals by the EU.

And like you mentioned, tomorrow, on Tuesday, is that IMF deadline payout. The 1.6 billion euros. And the same day, the whole bailout of Greece, that ends, the program ends tomorrow. Still hopes that the talks may happen in the next 48 hours or so between the Greek government and Europe. People pinning their hopes on that. But in the meantime, today is pension day. In the next couple of hours, we will expect pensioners to take -- to go to some banks. Some banks, we hear, may open just so they can pay pensioners because a lot of pensioners do not have debit cards.

And whilst there are ATMs in the center of Athens, spare a thought for the rest of Greeks in more remote parts of the country who don't have access to ATMs -- John.

BERMAN: It's going to get more difficult before it gets any easier.

Christine Romans here with a question.

ROMANS: Yes, Isa, I want to ask you, you know, a lot of people from the outside say it looks as though in Greece, the big issue here is you've got the prime minister basically, it's domestic politics is why he is refusing really or not -- you know, walked away from the negotiating table with the Europeans. Isn't it -- if he doesn't make that -- if they don't make that payment, if they don't make more concessions, doesn't he face a worse outcome for the Greek people than what they're seeing already?

SOARES: Absolutely. There's no doubt. I mean, there's less money coming in. There's less investment. The economy will go -- I mean, the economy goes deeper into recession, Christine. There's no doubt about that. But what he's saying is, you know, what we've been through in last past five years, the misery the country has gone through surely can't be any worse than what we would go through if we didn't sign up to these proposals.

That has been his talk all along. He's been saying I have the democratic mandate to push back on these proposals or to say no to austerity. And people seem to like the fact that he's played the tough hand but this is a high stakes political game.

And, you know, I was here last week. I've been here, I was here at the beginning of the election, I was covering his very passionate speech right in the beginning of January. And people really believing, even until last week, that he will reach a deal. Perhaps not so much now in the next 48 hours, but people still believe that even if Greece leaves the euro, though many people don't want to, 75 percent wants to be here, many people believe that they cannot endure any more misery than it already has for the past five years.

Note, important to point out, though, Christine, that referendum on Sunday, we still do not know the question of the referendum. If people -- if Greece asked do you want to stick to the proposals the majority of people will probably say no. That's what we're hearing. But if he says do you want more austerity, we're also hearing that number, you know --

ROMANS: Right.

SOARES: About 50 percent or so. A mix of emotion and confusion -- Christine.

ROMANS: And it's just an impossible situation. It really is.

Isa Soares, thanks for that.

You know, and this -- because of what's happening in Greece, ugly day, an ugly day for stocks around the world. European shares are plunging. I want to show you these numbers. The crisis in Greece intensifying. Look at these numbers. Paris down 4 percent. That is a big move. When you've got banks closed and a member of the European Union. Banks closed and potential of a default on the debt expected tomorrow from a member of the European Union, that is a very, very big deal. Asian shares also down sharply. Kind of a different story there.

Investors are pulling out of China stocks very rapidly. It's a bear market for China stocks. Down more than 20 percent from recent highs just from past couple of weeks.

Here in the U.S. stocks futures are diving as well. So this is the story, the Greek crisis escalating rapidly, spreading around the world. It's only 2 percent of Europe's economy but it matters so much.

[04:10:12] Also, Puerto Rico is dangerously close to default. Puerto Rico. Its governor says the island is near a, quote, "debt spiral." It is unable to pay its debts. The economy there is shrinking. The economy in Puerto Rico has been in trouble for years. It's become worse in recent years as Puerto Ricans have left the island to look for jobs elsewhere, shrinking the tax base. Now the government asking for help from creditors including deferring debt payments or extending the repayment schedule.

So Puerto Rico right here in the backyard of the United States having difficulty. Greece having difficulty. There are people who look at Detroit and Greece and Puerto Rico and they see this theme around the world of governments that have promised too much to their pensioners and haven't been setting enough money aside to pay them. And that's a crisis that could be the next problem in the decade to come.

BERMAN: When you say Greeks having difficulty, that might the understatement of the century here. That country on the brink of collapse.

ROMANS: It is. It is.

BERMAN: We'll stay on that.

Happening now, deadline extended. Iran, the United States and other world powers are on the assumption that nuclear talks will go beyond the official deadline of June 30th. Secretary of State John Kerry met with the Iranian Foreign minister, both Saturday and Sunday. The secretary says he is hopeful there will be an agreement that there is still work to do. A senior American official says any extension of talks will last only a few days.

Our senior international correspondent Nic Robertson is at the talks in Vienna this morning.

Good morning, Nic.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Good morning, John. I mean, that's the hope that the deadline is tomorrow, that the Foreign minister of Iran who is back in Tehran at the moment, is back here tomorrow. The deadline clearly can't be hit, but it's really a hope and an aspiration at the moment that the gaps can be closed over a couple of days. But why are these gaps suddenly open?

What you had three months ago was an agreement in Switzerland that was supposed to provide the stepping stones to this final agreement right now. But what happened in the past week, the supreme leader of Iran declared a new set of red lines for Iran which rolled back some of that agreement. That agreement has said that International Atomic Energy Agency inspections, the world's nuclear watchdog, would be able to get access to wide-ranging sites in Iran to verify this deal.

Well, the supreme leader in Iran said that's not on. He also said that he didn't agree to limits on Iran's nuclear research and development that were part of a deal and also issues about sanctions. He wants them lifted immediately. He doesn't want them able to be snapped back on. And all of these were things that were sort of understood as part of the negotiations three months ago. So that's what's created the big gaps.

The Iranian lead negotiator, Foreign Minister Javid Zarif, went back to Tehran last night. He's expected back tomorrow but really we're still in an unknown situation. We hope, though, a deal can still be done -- John.

BERMAN: Still working on that deal. They will be beyond perhaps this week.

Nic Robertson, for us in Vienna, thanks so much.

ROMANS: All right. New information this morning about the terrorist who murdered at least 39 people at a beach resort. We are live next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:16:17] BERMAN: New information this morning about the gunman who killed at least 39 people at a beach front hotel in Tunisia and injured at least 38 more. The 24-year-old shooter died in the attack on the Imperial Marhava Hotel in Sousse, Tunisia. ISIS has claimed responsibility and posted a picture of the gunman, though it is unclear whether the militant group had any direct role in the attack.

CNN's Nick Paton Walsh is in Tunisia with the latest. Good morning, Nick.

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: John, that question, were ISIS actually involved in the planning is something that's put to the Interior minister himself at the scene of the crime yesterday. He didn't even want to answer it and that is still the big mystery. Were there accomplices? Was there a network behind Saif al- Rizqi's attack here?

And we've talked to those who knew him in the past. They described a punctual hard working student. But there is a gap in his past. A few years after which suddenly there is a number of Islamist videos on his Facebook profile. So many questions still out there as to quite how he became the blood thirsty killer, who now it appears killed 30 Britons. Thirty of those 38 are British.

A substantial death toll here for the United Kingdom. Their Interior ministers on their way, of U.K., France, and they'll meet their Tunisian counterpart here. That investigation has to open up and it's now really focusing, John, on the accomplices. There are suggestions there may have been people helping him. And there are in fact from many eyewitnesses a suggestion they saw more than one gunman.

That has been adamantly denied by the police and actually by the director of the hotel on the night of the attack when I spoke to him. So a lot of questions still here and the largest one for Tunisia, how do they stop this kind of attack when tourism so evident along the coast around me here is really the life blood of their coastal economy -- John.

BERMAN: What sights are you seeing of that? Again, we're seeing the beautiful coast behind you. So many foreigners, mostly Europeans, travel to Tunisia for beach holidays and the like. What is Tunisia going to do to keep these tourists safe?

WALSH: Well, they are going to put armed guards along the beach soon. And that is a criticism many have levied after the attacks on Friday. That there could have been armed guard in evidence who could have stopped the killers on its tracks. He had four to six minutes of unimpeded time to shoot people in their swim wear as they sit on the sand. So a very complex question for Tunisia to have to address here. Do people really want to go on holiday under armed guard -- John.

BERMAN: Horrible things to have to think about.

Nick Paton Walsh for us in Tunisia. Thanks so much, Nick.

ROMANS: All right, to France now. The truck driver who beheaded his boss before trying to blow up a chemical factory in France, he has confessed to the attack. Yassin Salhi reportedly told police he wanted to commit suicide and stage a media coup by dressing up his suicide as a terrorist attack. The severed head was found hanging from a fence along with two banners reportedly bearing Islamic writing.

BERMAN: The FBI and Homeland Security officials are warning Americans to be on alert in the fact of potential terror threats coinciding with the Fourth of July holiday. The head of the House Homeland Security Committee says increased chatter on social media suggests terror groups might be planning to strike during the Independence Day celebrations.

ROMANS: Horror at the water park. Dramatic new video capturing hundreds injured in a fiery explosion that has now turned deadly. We are live with that story next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:23:05] ROMANS: In Taiwan this morning, one woman has died as officials put out an urgent call for medical supplies in skin grafts. They're needed to treat the hundreds of people burned when a flammable colored powder exploded in midair during a musical performance at a water park. In addition to the death of a 20-year-old woman reported overnight, the number of people injured at Formosa Fun Coast is staggering, 485. More than 200 of them in critical condition. More than 200 in critical condition.

For the latest, let's turn to CNN's Kathy Novak in Taipei. Bring us up to speed. KATHY NOVAK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this 20-year-old woman who

succumbed to her injuries, Christine, had burns to 90 percent of her body. And I've been speaking to one of the doctors at the hospital treating this patient and he put it to me this way. He said that for every 1 percent of the victim's body that are burned, the chance of dying goes up by 1 percent. So by his estimate, this woman only had 10 percent chance that she would live.

And tragically that is the story for so many other people. As you say, about 200 people in the critical condition and grave fears for them -- Christine.

ROMANS: Grave fears. Certainly a dangerous situation. A lot of questions on how this happened. The investigation to -- is underway, I'm sure. Thank you so much for that, Kathy.

BERMAN: In Turkey, tear gas, water cannons fired at protesters during this weekend's pride parade in Istanbul. You can see here as a protester is swept off of his by the water cannon. The march which is considered the largest gay pride parade in a Muslim world. Organizers say riot police held them back because it is the month of Ramadan. Despite the police warnings not to march, hundreds gathered there anyway.

ROMANS: All right. The manhunt for two dangerous escaped killers is finally over. The second killer captured alive after 22 days on the run. You're seeing the images there. He was tracked down. How police did it, next.

[04:25:04]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: The nightmare is over. The manhunt for two dangerous killers escaped from prison ends after 22 days. The remaining wanted man captured alive. New details in that case ahead.

BERMAN: On the brink of a financial meltdown, perhaps past the brink. Markets plummeting all around the world this morning. All eyes on Greece as that economy in a sense holds the world hostage this morning.

ROMANS: Time running out to reach a nuclear deal with Iran. World leaders expected to miss, to miss a crucial deadline past approaching. We're live with what's happening right now.

A very busy morning, everyone. Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.

BERMAN: I'm John Berman. About 29 minutes past the hour right now and happening now, New York prison escapee David Sweat is in critical condition after being shot by police. The huge manhunt that lasted more than three weeks is now over. The other convicted killer who escaped with Sweat, Richard Matt, was shot and killed on Friday. The crowd cheered New York Governor Andrew Cuomo as he announced the nightmare -- you can hear the cheering right there. The nightmare he said is finally over.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOVERNOR ANDREW CUOMO (D), NEW YORK: Today ends with good news. These were really dangerous, dangerous men, both Matt and Sweat. They were killers. Mr. Matt killed at least two people. Mr. Sweat killed a sheriff's deputy in Broom County in a savage, savage way. So these were dangerous people. We could not tolerate them being on the loose.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[04:30:05] BERMAN: CNN's Alexandra Field is right near the scene of the capture with the very latest.

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christine, John, a single New York state trooper being hailed as a hero by Gov. Andrew Cuomo.