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EARLY START
Aaron Hernandez's Fall From Grace: Guilty of Murder; Capitol Hill Security Scare: Aircraft Lands on Lawn; ISIS Advances in Iraq: Inside the Attack. Aired 4-4:30a ET
Aired April 16, 2015 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:00:30] JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: The fall of the NFL star. Aaron Hernandez guilty of murder. He is now spending the rest of his life in prison. This morning, the jury speaks out as his next murder trial moves forward.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: New information about the man who put the White House on lockdown. Landing his aircraft on the capitol lawn in his own words why he did it.
BERMAN: ISIS making new advances in Iraq this morning. CNN cameras are there with an exclusive look inside. We're live.
ROMANS: Dramatic moments for Arwa this morning.
BERMAN: Good morning. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm John Berman.
ROMANS: I'm Christine Romans. It is Thursday, April 16th. It is 4:00 a.m. in the East. Nice to see you all this morning.
Developing this morning, a steep plunge from grace for former NFL star Aaron Hernandez. Once under a $40 million contract with the Patriots, now he's convicted by a Massachusetts jury in the 2013 murder of one time friend Odin Lloyd.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What say you, Madam Foreperson, is the defendant not guilty, guilty of murder in the first degree, or guilty of murder in the second degree?
FOREPERSON: Guilty of murder in the first degree.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: After hearing the verdict, Judge Susan Garsh sentenced Hernandez to life in prison without parole.
National correspondent Susan Candiotti has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Christine and John, good morning.
Aaron Hernandez showed little emotion when the guilty verdict was read. He did lick his lips and rub his chin, something we often saw him do during the trial when things got tense. At this moment, he turned to see his mother and his fiancee in each other's arms weeping. He told them, "Be strong", and appeared to mouth of words "they're wrong".
And then we looked across the aisle to the mother of the victim Odin Lloyd. She pumped her fist in the air as if a sign of relief. Just before Aaron Hernandez was sentenced to life in prison, she addressed the court and said she forgave the people who are responsible and played a role in the death of her only son.
Afterwards, the jurors were asked, why did they take seven days to reach a verdict? Was that a long time? They said not in their opinion. They took a long time because they said they were very careful about all of the evidence they had to consider.
And then there was this from the jurors. They said that they only found out from the judge after the trial that Aaron Hernandez also faces a double murder case in Boston that has yet to come. He is also facing an accusation that he shot someone in the face. Someone they heard testimony from during this trial.
After the verdict was over and Aaron Hernandez was led from the courtroom to his prison, a source tells me that he told his jailors this, he said, "I didn't do it. They got it wrong." Evidently, the jury disagreed -- John and Christine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BERMAN: Susan Candiotti -- our thanks to Susan for that.
A May 28th start date for the next trial for Hernandez, the double murder trial, has been canceled. That is expected to be rescheduled soon now that the first case is over. Members of the jury in the Odin Lloyd case said when the judge told them Hernandez faces more serious charges, they knew they delivered the right verdict.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPORTER: When you found out these things, the double murder, and the (INAUDIBLE) what was -- what was your reaction? After going all this behavior and all that?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We made the right decision.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
REPORTER: Pardon?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That we did the right thing.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Absolutely.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Outside the courthouse, Odin Lloyd's mother remembered him as the backbone of her family, the man of the house who she will never forget.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
URSULA WARD, ODIN LLOYD'S MOTHER: Just like God has left his footprint in the sand --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Take your time.
WARD: -- my baby's footprints is in my heart forever. He was my strength. I love him dearly.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Her impact statement to the court was just so compelling, and so -- to hear the words from her. She told reporters she prays that heaven forgives all those who had a hand in her son's murder.
BERMAN: New this morning, we are learning new information about a Florida man who flew a small aircraft, a gyrocopter, onto the U.S. Capitol lawn.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[04:05:01] UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is not good, people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: This is not good, people.
Sixty-one-year-old letter carrier Doug Hughes landed his aircraft right there in front of the Capitol.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NORA NEUS, WITNESS: I saw out of nowhere a machine that locked like something from "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" coming straight at the Capitol building. It flew straight in towards the west face of the Capitol building, bounced once and just landed right there on the grass.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" is good reference there. That is a good reference there. More accurate, probably "Road Warrior". But I will correct that young lady.
Hughes was promptly arrested. The gyrocopter was examined by the bomb squad and carted away. Law enforcement sources say the aircraft did not show up on radar, but Homeland Security officials said Hughes would have been shot down if he had come any closer to the capitol building. That's what they say.
The Secret Service interviewed Hughes in 2013 on a tip, concluding then the did not pose a threat.
The flight Wednesday is not a surprise to everyone. This man told the "Tampa Bay Times" about list plan and let the paper shoot the video, which admits it is a stunt. But he said he is willing to risk his life to the corrupting power of money in politics.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DOUG HUGHES, FLEW GYROCOPTER ONTO CAPITOL LAWN: I'm going to violate the no-fly zone, nonviolently. I intend for nobody to get hurt and I will land on the Capitol Mall in front of the Capitol building. I'm going to have 535 letters strapped to the landing gear in boxes. And those letters are going to be addressed to every member of Congress.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: Hughes has now been transferred to D.C. central jail, awaiting charges. Now, I should tell you, it's a gyrocopter, not a helicopter. There are about 65 very concerned internal memos here at CNN. A helicopter is powered -- the top rotor is powered by a motor. And gyrocopter, it is the back rotor blade that is powered by the motor apparently, not the top one --
ROMANS: A John Berman fact check.
BERMAN: We have a whole department that distinguishes between gyrocopter and helicopter.
All right. Tensions are flaring between two allies in the Middle East, Iraq and Saudi Arabia. Iraq's prime minister, Haider al-Abadi, criticized the Saudis for launching air strikes against Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen. He said there is no logic to the operation. Saudi officials are firing back, insisting there is no logic to the prime minister's comments. The United States is really caught in the middle here, supporting both the Saudi air strikes in Yemen and Iraq's struggle against ISIS.
ROMANS: The president of Iran is not pleased with the compromised reached by the White House and Senate, giving Congress the right to block the lifting of sanctions against his country. President Hassan Rouhani dismissing the developments as nothing but, quote, "American politics", repeating his claim there will be no deal unless all sanctions are immediately dropped once an agreement is signed. In Israel, the Senate/White House compromise is hailed by intelligence officials as a very important element in preventing a bad deal with Iran.
BERMAN: Iran is increasing the precision and frequency of its cyber attacks. At the same time, it is involved in the nuclear talks with the United States and other parties. According to the American Enterprise Institute and the security firm Norse, if sanctions against Iran are suspended, Iran could use increased oil revenues to bolster its cyber activities. U.S. intelligence officials blame Iran for a cyber attack that destroyed much of the Las Vegas Sands company's computer infrastructure last year.
ROMANS: All right. Eight minutes past the hour.
ISIS on a rampage in Iraq's Anbar province. The terrorists overrunning three villages, three villages near the city of Ramadi, and now attempting to surround the entire city. This is just 70 miles from Baghdad. One Iraqi intelligence official describing the situation at this hour as critical.
I want to bring in senior international correspondent Arwa Damon. She is there. She has an exclusive look in the new attacks -- Arwa.
ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Christine.
And actually significant developments in the last 24 hours. Early yesterday morning, ISIS advancing into Ramadi from the east. They had already taken over portions of the northern part of that city. This advance into the east sent thousands of refugees fleeing that we saw upwards of 150,000 according to the deputy province council head there.
These are people that were incredibly traumatized, shell-shocked, sobbing, having to ride in metal carts. We saw elderly, children, large suitcases, belongings piled into these metal carts as the refugees tried to cross the bridge from Anbar province into Baghdad. And the situation growing more dire by the hour.
The deputy provincial council head saying that the Iraqi security forces inside the city, in the city center, could not longer hold off the ISIS advance.
[04:10:01] ISIS did push forward into the city from multiple fronts overnight. He is saying that if reinforcements do not arrive, of airstrikes by the Iraqi air force and by the U.S.-led coalition do not take place, he said that Iraqi troops currently inside Ramadi would be forced to withdraw, Christine.
ROMANS: Iraqi troops -- they reached Tikrit, a very -- a very scary and strategic retaking of Tikrit. And there are still concerns in Tikrit that ISIS still has, you know, a foothold there. They need to take Mosul. They want advance and retake Mosul.
How big of a setback is this if they are able to take this town?
DAMON: Look, it would be a big blow to the Iraqi government that is feeling a boost in morale after this victory in Tikrit. But Tikrit has always been something of if one can say, this is simple battle when it comes to the areas that ISIS controls. ISIS did not necessarily want to maintain a firm grip on Tikrit. It was a luxury for them to have control over it.
But when it comes to Anbar province, the one that comes to Mosul, especially, Mosul is the capital of the so-called Islam caliphate. You have the civilian population, the vast majority of which has not fled. It's going to be a much more complicated battle there. It's going to be a much more complicated battle in Ramadi. That is the key issue. These are not battles that will be happening anytime soon. It will take months, if not longer, to begin strategizing and getting force in place that could begin to undertake the kind of fighting that would require to uproot ISIS from Anbar and from Nineveh, not to mention the broader war against ISIS where having a strategy to defeat them and Iraq needs to somehow have some sort of element of defeating them in Syria, Christine.
ROMANS: All right. Arwa Damon, thank you for that, Arwa.
About 12 minutes past the hour right now. Time for an early start on your money this Thursday morning. You have U.S. stock futures a bit lower. Dow up 75 yesterday. The NASDAQ closed 5,000.
For perspective, markets very close to record highs. The Dow about 1 percent away from the record. The NASDAQ and S&P 500 less than that. So, a good rally away from records.
The big winner, energy stocks. U.S. crude oil surged 6 percent, closing above $56 a barrel for the first time this year. The price of oil, of course, has been falling since last summer because of a global supply glut of oil. And for Wall Street, it's all about expectations, and the report yesterday said U.S. supply didn't grow as much as expected. So, then you had people buying oil shares.
On Wall Street, (INAUDIBLE) on corporate earnings, big players like Citigroup, Goldman Sachs report later today. Earnings expected to fall 3 percent this quarter for S&P 500 companies as a whole. That would be the first profit decline since 2009, John. So, it really important to see what these companies are saying about how much money they made and where they think the rest of the year.
BERMAN: I bet Goldman's going to do OK, even if they do badly.
ROMANS: JPMorgan Chase had a nice quarter, even though Jamie Dimon, the CEO, had been saying that, you know, his bank was under assault. Very nice quarter.
BERMAN: About 13 minutes after the hour right now.
Breaking overnight, explosive allegations about the Oklahoma volunteer deputy who shot and killed an unarmed man on camera. "The Tulsa World" is reporting that Deputy Robert Bates did not earn his job on the force. Sources tell the paper that supervisors in the sheriff's office were ordered to falsify Bates training records, giving him credit for field and firearms training that he never earned.
Now, as of yet, CNN has not been able to independently verify the claims. "The Tulsa World" reporters who broke the story will be on "NEW DAY" at 6:00 a.m.
This is a big development in that case, this auxiliary deputy. Was he trained the way he should have been on the force?
ROMANS: Really interesting?
Fourteen minutes past the hour.
Hillary Clinton up close and personal in Iowa, revealing new positions on controversial issues as potential Republican rival Chris Christie test out his own new policies on voters. The latest in the race for the White House, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[04:17:12] ROMANS: This week, Iowa, next week, New Hampshire. Hillary Clinton wrapping up a high profile low key kickoff of her 2016 presidential campaign. Clinton got up close and personal with voters and key Democratic officials during her initial swing to the Hawkeye State. Those are Ohio pictures right there.
Let's get more now from CNN's Jeff Zeleny.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John and Christine.
Now, Hillary Clinton is waking up for a third straight morning in Iowa. Her first trip as a 2016 presidential candidate there is coming to an end. She is planning to return to her home base to New York later today. This time, by plane, not a road trip.
But this first campaign stop there was more than simply a drive-by visit. She intentionally lingered with voters and key elected officials to show she is serious about fighting for the Democratic nomination.
When she walked into the Iowa statehouse on Wednesday afternoon for a closed-door meeting, people lined up to see her. The Clinton campaign believes this trip was a successful one. But it's only the beginning of a long campaign.
She is expected to travel to New Hampshire early next week, the state that holds the first primary of the 2016 fight. Of course, unlike Iowa, she won that state during her first presidential campaign.
As she begins to layout the principles of her candidacy, she intentionally did so before scripted and friendly crowds. Of course, the real test of this candidacy will come when she starts taking tough and unscripted questions from those discerning voters in both states -- John and Christine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BERMAN: Our thanks to Jeff for that.
New this morning, the Clinton Foundation is announcing plans to change its policy on accepting foreign donations. A spokesman says, going forward, the foundation will accept large donations from a limited number of foreign governments, like Great Britain, Australia, and Norway. Those are three of the six. The family foundation has been criticized for the vast donor network
which includes some countries considered if not hostile, at least complicated as far as U.S. interests are concerned, like Saudi Arabia. Hillary Clinton has resigned from the board of directors while she runs for president.
ROMANS: All right. He is not a candidate, not yet at least. But New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is crisscrossing New Hampshire for the four-day tell it like it is town hall tour which continues today. The event in the town of Londonderry Wednesday, Christie addressed the issues and perhaps his political future.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), NEW JERSEY: When anybody is asking to be considered for high office, whether it's the governor of New Jersey or an even bigger job, issues will change and move over time. What you need to know more than anything else is who is that person?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Jeb Bush and Rick Perry, two other undeclared Republicans, also make stops today in the first primary state.
BERMAN: The Boston jury that convicted Dzhokhar Tsarnaev reconvenes this week to decide whether Tsarnaev will be sentenced to death or get in life in prison for the marathon bombings.
[04:20:02] Members of Tsarnaev's family are now speaking out, telling "TIME" magazine that the trial tore them apart. They still hope to convince Dzhokhar Tsarnaev to fire his legal team and seek to overturn that verdict on appeal.
Russian President Vladimir Putin fielding questions from the public live on television.
ROMANS: It will just be a few minutes.
BERMAN: Nearly 2 million questions submitted. He will answer them all.
We are live in Moscow next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BERMAN: It's one of the few chances Russian people get to question their leader directly. President Vladimir Putin will speak with the public today in an annual question and answer call-in session. Something critics say this is a masquerading as democracy, but really more pageantry.
CNN's Matthew Chance has more for us in Moscow. He is live in Moscow.
Matthew, last year, how quickly a year ago, I think he spoke for almost four hours last year. The year before was more than four hours. Pretty good chances, going to get questions about the economy and the relations with the west.
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, the Kremlin says there is no time limit he will speak. He makes this up as he goes along, deciding if he wants to take another question or not. The last year, it was three hours and 56 minutes. The year before, four hours, 48 minutes, it was a record.
But this will be his 13th time and a lot of stuff that President Putin is going to talk about --the relationship with the United States and West in general over the issue of Ukraine, sanctions, the plunging Russian economy, plunging recently anyway, various other issues as well.
[04:25:09] Even the Kremlin says it is a brisk and interesting 12 months. That's why there is so much interest in what Putin will have to say to his country over the course of the next hour. It starts an hour and a half from now.
There is also the possibility of a surprise. They sometimes throw one in. Last year, you may remember, the NSA leaker Edward Snowden made an appearance asking Putin a question. And so, we don't know who's going to pop up this time. So, pretty interesting to watch.
ROMANS: You know, the price of oil has plunged in the past year. The government runs the country on the price of oil. It's really hard right now for average Russians. Will there be critical questions, do you think, or are these vetted?
CHANCE: Well, both. I mean, I think the questions will be more critical than you expect. It is not just about a love fest for Putin. There'll be asking questions about the economy. I mean, some of the questions have been released ahead of time. Why are salaries not going up, but prices in the shops going up? So, questions about that that Russians care about.
But they are carefully vetted. Remember, there are more than 2 million questions submitted so far up until the lines close. So, the Kremlin will sift through those and make sure Putin is prepared to answer every one of those he is given. We are not expecting to catch Vladimir Putin on the back foot.
ROMANS: Thanks so much, Matthew Chance, for us live this morning in Moscow.
BERMAN: I like the idea there could be special guest stars in the Vladimir Putin -- you know, who will it be this year?
ROMANS: Edward Snowden last year. We shall see. We'll find out.
BERMAN: Betty White actually -- Betty White this year, as always.
Twenty-six minutes after the hour. The rise and fall of NFL star Aaron Hernandez, guilty of murder, life in prison without parole. Guess what? Troubles don't stop there. The very latest, next.
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