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EARLY START

U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Slashed; Snow Storm Slams the Northeast; Ferguson Police Report; Hillary Clinton Emails Subpoenaed; Obamacare in the Supreme Court, Again; Boston Marathon Bombing Trial

Aired March 5, 2015 - 04:30   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: A U.S. ambassador attacked with a knife, slashed in the face before a speech. We are live with who was behind the violence and how the ambassador is doing this morning.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: From Texas to the Northeast, more than 90 million people facing this monster storm. Thousands of flights canceled already. Schools closed. Roads are treacherous. We will tell you what you need to know.

ROMANS: A damning report for Ferguson, Missouri. Federal investigators find rampant racism in the police force, but still clear the officer who killed unarmed black teenager Michael Brown. Michael Brown's family ready to react this morning, ahead.

Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.

BERMAN: I'm John Berman. Great to see you today. Thirty minutes past the hour.

This morning, we have news on the condition of the U.S. ambassador to South Korea. He was slashed in the face. Dramatic pictures showing what happened. He is recovering this morning.

Ambassador Mark Lippert, again, cut as he was preparing to give a speech in South Korea. Officials say surgery to repair the four-inch facial wound was successful, 80 stitches though in that face. Those pictures are very, very troubling. The suspect is in custody.

Let's go to international correspondent Andrew Stevens tracking the latest for us.

Andrew, what's the latest?

ANDREW STEVENS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, basically, at this stage, as you say, the ambassador is in hospital after nearly three hours of surgery. It is not life threatening, but certainly it was a major traumatic incident. It happened early this morning. He was due to give a speech at the Korean Council of Reconciliation and Council, talking about reconciliation.

A man identified as Kim Ki-jong, approached him, apparently, John, Shouting slogans saying that the U.S. and South Korean military drills that's just gone underway had to stop. He then assaulted the Ambassador Mark Lippert. He slashed him, as you say, in the face. And also in the left forearm before he was restrained by other people at that breakfast seminar. He was then taken away by police.

The ambassador himself, as we see in the pictures, was able to walk out -- he was assisted, but he's able to walk out, got into a car and was taken to hospital. Three hours later, he has been stitched up. He is obviously maintaining his sense of humor and certainly he (INAUDIBLE).

He's tweeted just quite recently. In his tweet, let me tell you what he said -- he said from his self and Robyn, Sejun and Grigsby, the dog. He says, "I'm deeply moved by the support I have got. I will be back ASAP to advance U.S.-ROK alliance." You see the words in Korean there that translates to "let's work together". Mark Lippert putting on a brave face after the brutal attack.

What we know about the attacker himself, in 2010, he received a two- year suspended sentence, John, for throwing a lump of concrete at the Japanese ambassador to South Korea. Police describe him as a man of unpredictable behavior.

BERMAN: There are going to be questions this morning, Andrew, about the level of security surrounding U.S. ambassadors probably everywhere in the world if a man with a knife was able to get that close to him.

Andrew Stevens covering this for us, thanks so much.

ROMANS: All right. An overnight storm slamming much of the nation. Up to another foot of snow, you heard me right, another foot from Texas to the northeast. Nearly 90 million people under some sort of winter watch, warnings or advisory.

Brace yourself. People are throwing things at the television, John.

BERMAN: Yes, I know.

ROMANS: It's good thing there is glass between us.

BERMAN: As long as it's to your side.

The weather having a big impact on travel. If you got a flight today, you better check first. You might not have a flight today. Nearly 2,000 flights, more actually, have been grounded already. That number will go up.

The snow is falling hard. Those are pictures right now of Woburn, Massachusetts. Nice movie theaters. The region which has been hit by 8 feet of snow already is 2 inches from an all-time record -- an unwelcome record, too. I can tell you.

Look at this. This is Fall River, Massachusetts. You can see what happened to the roof of that Shell station. There is just so much snow there. Pictures like this happening all over the region.

ROMANS: Let's go to Ohio, if you will. Snow and ice paving the roads in Ohio. You can see it made for messy travel when the snow started falling overnight. Cars stuck in the streets. Some folks forced to get out and push their vehicles off the road.

BERMAN: Sleet and heavy snow in southern Indiana. Forecasters say up to a foot of new snow could be on the ground there by this morning. The storm shutdown schools, forced businesses to close as well.

ROMANS: And then there's the flooding. Severe weather in West Virginia prompting an emergency declaration from the governor, flooding the concern there. The latest storm could dump another 8 inches of snow there.

BERMAN: Same scene in Virginia, dangerous flood condition. And the rain and melting snow left part of the state under water. Emergency responders, as you can see, using rafts to get to people trapped in their homes.

ROMANS: All right. Meteorologist Derek Van Dam is tracking the storm for us. It's causing big problems for drivers this morning -- Derek.

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: That's right. John and Christine, it is going to be a messy Thursday morning commute anywhere from Dallas, Texas, through the Tennessee River Valley, all the way to the Big Apple.

You don't need to be a meteorologist to see that cutoff divide with our cold front. Warm moist air to the south and east with the changeover of precipitation taking place across Tennessee and into Kentucky. We have over 90 million people under some sort of winter storm watch, warnings or advisory today. You can see we are expecting upwards to a foot of snowfall in some locations, be careful traveling along the I-40 corridor.

Lesser amounts to the nation's capital and New York City, but still treacherous travel conditions possible across Interstate 95. Upwards of a quarter to a half an inch of ice possible with the storm, anywhere from parts of Louisiana through even Mississippi and into West Virginia. We will keep a lookout for that. New York City, your temperatures take a nose on dive with snowfall expected throughout the course through the day.

Look at the temperature contrast, Jacksonville, Florida, compared to Chicago, upwards of 70 degrees Fahrenheit.

Back to you.

ROMANS: That's why they're called the Sunshine State.

All right. Thirty-six minutes past the hour.

The family of the unarmed black teenager whose shooting death by police set up days of unrest in Ferguson, Missouri, hey are set to speak out this morning at a news conference in Ferguson. We will hear their reaction to the Justice Department not to bring criminal charges against the police officer who shot Michael Brown. Brown's family will no doubt have something to say about the Justice Department's blistering new report, that 102-page document details discrimination, systemic discrimination against blacks by the city of Ferguson and the Ferguson Police Department.

CNN's Sara Sidner is in Ferguson for us this morning. She has the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Ferguson mayor responding to the scathing report by the Department of Justice. The DOJ highlighting issues they say that blacks were unfairly targeted, especially during traffic stops and arrests and tickets. The DOJ saying that it seems the department and the city were more concerned about getting revenue than about public safety and that black folks paid the highest price.

ERIC HOLDER, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: A community where local authorities consistently approached law enforcement not as a means for protecting public safety, but as a way to generate revenue, a community where both policing and municipal court practices were found to be disproportionately harmful to African-American residents.

SIDNER: While the population is 67 percent black, at least 85 percent of those who were pulled over for traffic violations were arrested or ticketed were black. The Department of Justice pointing that it's that toxic background that was around and helped create what happened after Michael Brown was killed by Officer Darren Wilson.

However, the DOJ did not find enough evidence to charge Darren Wilson with civil rights violations. He was not indicted by a grand jury either.

However, the police chief and others inside the department may have to pay the piper. The DOJ talking about e-mails, including racist e- mails that were sent by the department. We do now know that the mayor has responded to those who have sent those e-mails.

JAMES KNOWLES, FERGUSON MAYOR: This type of behavior will not be tolerated in the Ferguson Police Department or any department in the city of Ferguson. Immediately upon leaving that meeting, the three individuals were placed on administrative leave pending an investigation. One has since been terminated.

SIDNER: A source close to the investigation tells me that the two others put on administrative leave will no longer work for the department either -- John and Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: Thanks, Sara, for that.

Breaking overnight, Hillary Clinton does say she wants to release all of her State Department e-mails. This comes after those e-mails were subpoenaed by a House committee investigating the Benghazi embassy attack -- it wasn't an embassy, it was a consulate in Benghazi.

The former secretary of state tweeted this last night, she wrote, "I want the public to see my e-mail. I asked State to release them. They said they will review them for release as soon as possible. Republicans also subpoenaed e-mails that Clinton stored on a private server that was operated out of her New York home. The State Department is already looking into Mrs. Clinton's use of a personal e- mail account while she served as secretary of state, which may have prevented certain records laws from being followed.

ROMANS: The White House is warning the U.S. Supreme Court that the fate of health care for millions of Americans is in its hands this morning. The justices heard arguments Wednesday on the meaning of a four-word clause in the Affordable Care Act that has the potential to -- the potential to derail Obamacare. The White House is trying to make sure members of the High Court were clear on the stakes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: We would see millions of people lose their health insurance. We would see prices would likely go through the roof. And there is not a whole lot, frankly, that the government can do about it other than Congress passing legislation to fix it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Our Pamela Brown has more now from Washington.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAMELA BROWN, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, John and Christine.

It was a sharply divided court along ideological lines during these latest Affordable Care Act oral arguments. What happened here could impact millions of people. The stakes are very high.

And if the justices rule in favor of the plaintiffs, it could derail the Affordable Care Act.

So, there are a lot going on here and right out of the gate of liberal justices had some tough questions for the plaintiff's attorney and said that you have to look at the law as a whole and the context.

You can't just look at those four words really at the center of the debate established by the state. The justices said that it would be a death spiral if subsidies were taken away from the Americans and the 34 states what the federally run exchanges. However, on the other side of this, the conservative justices really focused on the fact the law has those four words, established by the state. It makes it clear according to the plaintiffs that that's what the law intended. They didn't intend for people in the states with federal run exchanges to have subsidies.

Chief Justice Roberts did not have a lot to say during the oral arguments. And I think that surprised a lot of people, because as we know, he upheld the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act, several years ago. So, all eyes were on him to see which direction he was leaning in. He did not want to tip his hand. Ultimately, it could come down to his vote or of course, Justice Kennedy who is the deciding vote in these cases so often. He was asking questions favorable to both sides.

So, it remains a mystery as to how the justices are going to rule and is bound to be a close case -- John and Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right. Pamela, thank you for that.

Time for an early start on your money this Thursday morning.

Asian stocks mostly lower. Why? China lowered its growth target from 7.5 percent to about 7 percent. European shares more optimistic ahead of news from the European Central Bank later morning. U.S. stock futures are higher, trying to break a two-day losing streak.

But remember, we are still in the midst of the fourth longest bull run in history. So, very close to record highs here.

Big corporate story and a health story. McDonald's is banning chicken treated with antibiotics commonly used for humans. McDonald's, one of the largest buyers of chicken in the U.S., which means that change could change how chicken is produced and consumed more broadly.

Now, not all antibiotics are banned. Producers can use some deemed health necessary. McDonald's under huge pressure to improve the quality of its food and to reverse some (INAUDIBLE) trying to appeal to a millennial consumer actually who is very interested in how its food is produced, the values with which its food is produced. Very interesting development there.

Dramatic new video this morning of a Boston marathon bombing. New video as we learn more about the accused bomber and his plans to avoid the death penalty. That's next.

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BERMAN: What a dramatic beginning of the trial the accused Boston marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. On opening day, jurors saw graphic images and heard witnesses described the awful scene near the marathon finish line. But the big news, during the opening statements, the defense admitted that Tsarnaev took part in the bombing, which made clear how they intend to try to avoid the death penalty for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

Let's get more now from CNN's Alexandra Field.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christine and John, the start of this trial marked by emotional testimony from the victims, graphic images and videos never seen before. One video that particularly resonated inside the courtroom was taken from surveillance video inside a running store on Boylston Street. It's recorded at the time of the explosion. You can see a panel of glass blown out of the window, people from the street running to the store, trying to take cover.

At the same time, we heard testimony from the manager of that store who says he was the one in those videos grabbing clothes off the rack, running outside, trying to use those clothes to make tourniquets and trying to triage some of the injured who are out there on Boylston Street on the day of the marathon.

The prosecution made opening statement laying out the charges against Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. They paint him as a self radicalized extremist who is bent on attacking America. A man with a plot that he planned to carry out alongside his brother.

He faces 30 charges, 17 of those charges come with a possible death sentence. In a move that may have surprise some people on the courtroom, the defense made their opening statements conceding the vast majority of the facts of the case. Saying that, yes, in fact, their client, the defendant, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, was the man behind this attack.

But they went on to say the case they will make, the place they differ from the argument made from the federal government is what motivated Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. They say this is a young man preyed upon by his older brother, the true mastermind of this plot.

The plan here for the defense is to try and build some measure of sympathy for Tsarnaev. They feel that will be key when it comes to the sentencing phase of this trial and jurors are faced with the question whether or not they could choose the death sentence here -- Christine, John.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: Alexandra Field, thank you so much for that in Boston this morning.

More expert testimony on tap today for the trial of former NFL star Aaron Hernandez. The judge dealing prosecutors a significant and largely expected setback. He ruled evidence that Hernandez was involved in a shooting of a friend in Florida a few months before Odin Lloyd was killed would not be admissible here. Hernandez is accused of fatally shooting Lloyd in June of 2013.

BERMAN: The World Health Organization wants us to quit eating so much sugar. The WHO announced new guidelines Wednesday recommending people cut their daily sugar intake from processed foods down to less than 10 percent. That is roughly 12 teaspoons for the average American. One can of soda and you have 10 teaspoons. So, man, you have one can of soda, you're in trouble already. Officials say that following the guidelines could prevent chronic diseases that have been linked to poor diets.

ROMANS: New progress in the fight to take back a key city from ISIS. We've got those new developments right after the break.

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BERMAN: This morning, Iraqi forces are reportedly making progress in the offensive operation trying to retake the city of Tikrit from ISIS. Iraqi troops are said to be approaching the city now from five directions, trying to prevent ISIS militants from escaping there, from getting reinforcements in there. This as ISIS released a propaganda video shot in the battle zone around Tikrit. The video is aimed at drawing new recruits to join ISIS in that fight.

ROMANS: A 17-year-old Virginia student accused of being a recruiter for ISIS. The unidentified teen was taken into custody last week. Right now, he's charged as a juvenile. But prosecutors want him tried as an adult. Federal investigators said the suspect helped a man travel to Syria where it is believed he successfully joined ISIS.

In a separate case, a California man tried to board a plane for Turkey with a fake passport last year. He was indicted Wednesday for trying to provide support to ISIS.

BERMAN: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's big speech to Congress did not seem to have much of an impact back in Israel. There were some political analysts back there who suspected the speech was targeted not just at the American audience, but Israeli population, which will vote in less than two weeks.

But as we said, not much of an impact. Look at this poll by Israel's Channel 2 News. Forty-four percent of Israeli people think the speech strengthened support for the prime minister, 43 percent said no difference, 12 percent said it weakened support for the prime minister.

ROMANS: All right. Fifty-four minutes past the hour.

This is a big topic at my house. College costs. College tuition soaring.

BERMAN: You are like 15 years away.

ROMANS: Which schools give you the most bang for your buck. Return on investment of your college investment. We've got that after the break.

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ROMANS: Let's get an EARLY START on your money this morning.

U.S. stock futures are up. They are up, they are trying to break a two-day losing streak. You know, the Dow fell 106 yesterday. The NASDAQ also down. They were pulling back a bit from Monday's record high.

But here's your perspective. Six years ago, stocks finally hit bottom after months of losses. Since then, the stock market has climbed -- S&P climbed up 210 percent. So, you are right in the middle of a very, very impressive bull run in the market. So, are you a millionaire in the making? A new Fidelity study looks

at people on track to be millionaires in the future. One major difference from today's millionaires, more than 2/3 of future millionaires are women, and a quarter are minorities. They are 40 years old on average. They are making $125,000 a year. But they are similar to current millionaires in investing style. Millionaires in the making are willing to invest aggressively to maximize their returns.

Tuition and student debt level soaring, of course. Students seeing a good return on that hefty investment. According to pay scale's report, Harvey Mudd gives you the best bang for your buck. The 20- year return on investment almost a million bucks.

Also in the top three of return on investment for college, Caltech and Stevens Institute of Technology. Notice something? They all have a focus on engineering. Study up, kids. Study up.

BERMAN: That's right. That French major.

ROMANS: My kids are on a -- like a snow day today, but they're going to be doing algebra.

BERMAN: All day.

ROMANS: Or sledding.

BERMAN: EARLY START continues right now.

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