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Ohio Man Arrested In Terror Plot; ISIS Advance In Ramadi Contained; Al Qaeda Seizes Yemen Airport; Loretta Lynch Nomination Stalled; Stock Futures Pointing Lower; Tulsa Deputy's Training Records Probed; GOP Candidates Gather In New Hampshire. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired April 17, 2015 - 05:30   ET

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


[05:30:00] CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: He is charged with providing material support to terrorists and lying to the FBI. CNN justice reporter, Evan Perez, is in Washington with the latest.

EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE REPORTER: John and Christine, Abdirahman Mohamud is allegedly the terrorist threat that the U.S. counterterrorism officials have warned us about for months, an American who traveled overseas to fight for the al Qaeda group and returned to the U.S. to plot an attack at home.

A federal indictment charges the 23-year-old resident of Columbus, Ohio with attempting to provide material support to the Nusra Front terrorist group. The FBI says Mohamud became a U.S. citizen last year.

Two months later, in April 2014, he flew on one way ticket to Greece with plans to make his way to Turkey and then to Syria. Justice Department prosecutors say he got training in guns and explosives and combat.

He came back last June just days after his brother was killed fighting for Nusra in Syria. The FBI says Mohamud told a friend that a cleric told him to come back home to carry out a domestic terror attack. Now Christine and John, according to the FBI, Mohamud talked about killing police and military execution-style.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Evan Perez, thanks so much. Happening now, airstrikes by the U.S.-led coalition helping contain an ISIS advance in the city of Ramadi. That's about 70 miles from Baghdad. Tens of thousands of people are fleeing the battle.

A senior official in Anbar Province tells CNN the airstrikes do appear to be cutting off the ISIS resupply routes, but officials says defending Ramadi need more reinforcements, more weapons to have any hope of holding on to that city.

Our senior international correspondent, Ivan Watson, following the developments for us. Good morning, Ivan.

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John. That's right. Iraqi security forces barely hanging on to the city just about an hour's drive west of the Iraqi capital. A series of airstrikes on Thursday apparently succeeded in slowing ISIS advance into Ramadi.

But a city official that we've spoken to there this morning says ISIS continues to hold on to positions in the east of that embattled city. He says the Iraqi security forces that are holding on to the center and to the government compound and the center of the city are exhausted and tired and they could fold if they don't get reinforcements.

There are about 40 Humvees worth of troops that arrived over the last 24 hours. He says that is simply not enough. We have seen scenes of an estimated 150,000 Iraqi civilians fleeing the area over the last couple of days having to take a circuitous route out to evade ISIS militants.

Meanwhile, the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, that's Martin Dempsey. He has indicated that a more important strategic priority for the U.S. right now is in fact the huge sprawling refinery complex of Beji far to the north where he says that ISIS have succeeded in capturing some of the outer perimeter areas.

He said it would be tragic for Ramadi to fall, but it would not be the end of the campaign against ISIS in Iraq -- John.

BERMAN: Thanks so much, Ivan Watson for us covering the story.

ROMANS: Turning now to the battle for Yemen, the air war by the Arab- led coalition against Houthi rebels keeping both sides busy leaving al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula mostly unopposed.

On Thursday, al Qaeda fighters overran an oil terminal in southeastern Yemen, this after seizing the nearby city of Almukala emptying a bank and emptying a prison there.

In Washington, U.S. officials tell the "L.A. Times," they are increasingly concerned about the Saudi air campaign, which has reportedly caused hundreds of civilian casualties.

Now the United Nations worried about a humanitarian crisis calling for a cease-fire by all sides fighting in Yemen. For the very latest, let's bring in senior international correspondent, Nima Elbagir in Yemen.

NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The al Qaeda are clearly moving into that security vacuum, Christine. They have now taken the third largest airport in Yemen. They have as you said, an oil platform now. They moved in to repel the Houthi advances in the district.

They seem to be putting up their black flags in a number of areas that they still don't yet have complete control of. They seem to be trying to honeycomb that territory that has not been fought over fully with the Houthi and loyalists to deposed government of President Hadi in Yemen.

The circumstance remains that the reality is people are focused so much on the fighting between north and south, that is the view that Aden is a north south divide in terms of the Houthis moving down. They are for getting what is happening to the east and into the west.

When you move into the southwestern area, you get dangerously close to Yemen's natural gas platforms. That not only has local repercussions, but it has regional repercussions beyond just the security implications -- Christine.

[05:35:09] ROMANS: You see the humanitarian crisis there up close. U.N. is very concerned about the humanitarian effects there.

ELBAGIR: People are essentially trapped, Christine. Aden felt like a city under siege. We went there. There was no one much in the streets. We could hear sniper fire on the main roads that nobody was willing to walk down. The hospitals are overwhelmed.

Medical supplies are not getting in. People cannot move from district to district to get into the main hospitals. They are tended to in local clinics with what little supplies they have. The only crowds we saw on the streets of Aden were in front of the bakeries because food is running low.

One baker took us to the back of his shop and said this is it. The four or five sacks are all that remains. When this is done, I will be the last bakery in the neighborhood to close and then there is no more. It almost feels like the combination of the air strikes and the Houthi assault is starving people in Aden -- Christine.

ROMANS: All right, Nima Elbagir for us off the coast of Yemen in the Gulf of Aden. Thank you so much, Nima.

BERMAN: It's 36 minutes after the hour. As senators head home for the weekend, Eric Holder is still attorney general and his nominated successor, Loretta Lynch, is still waiting.

Senate Republicans have tied the Lynch nomination to a still unresolved human trafficking bill thereby delaying the confirmation for months and really infuriating Democrats.

Now Minority Leader Senator Harry Reid says he will force a vote on Lynch if it does not happen soon. Likely presidential contender, Jeb Bush is breaking with fellow Republicans calling for a vote as soon as possible.

Let's get more from our senior White House correspondent, Jim Acosta.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: John and Christine, the White House is lashing out at Republicans over their tactics in stalling the nomination of President Obama's pick for attorney general, Loretta Lynch.

Lynch's nomination has been held up for months mired in a dispute of abortion language in a bill that deals with human trafficking. At the White House Thursday, Press Secretary Josh Earnest accused the GOP of hypocrisy.

Noting that Republican lawmakers like Iowa Senator Charles Grassly had urged the president last fall to hold off naming a nominee until the New Year as a gesture of bipartisanship.

Now the White House notes Grassly is blaming the president for Lynch's delay. Earnest called that shameful saying Lynch deserves a vote. Here's what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: She has waited now more than twice as long as the previous seven attorneys general nominees combined to get a vote on the floor of the United States Senate. That is an unconscionable delay and there is no excuse or explanation for it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell indicated a break in the log jam could be coming next week when he believes bipartisan negotiators will come up with a compromise on the human trafficking bill, and then get to a vote on Lynch. As for Grassly's office, they fired back at Josh Earnest saying, the White House is good at rewriting history -- John and Christine.

ROMANS: All right, Jim, thanks. Nuclear talks with Iran resume next week in Vienna. The two sides preparing to address several key unresolved issues like the terms for lifting sanctions and whether inspectors will have unrestricted access to Iranian military sites.

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani says he is optimistic a deal can be reached by the end of June, but he admits getting one done will be difficult.

BERMAN: New concerns about the government's ability to protect vital landmarks after the postal worker flew this gyrocopter through protected airspace undetected right on the capital lawn.

Homeland Security is now looking into the security gap. The 61-year- old Doug Hughes is facing federal charges for violating the restricted air space and operating the unregistered aircraft. He has been released on home confinement and said he did this all to call attention to the need for campaign finance reform.

ROMANS: All right, time for an EARLY START on your money this morning. Asian and European markets are mostly lower. U.S. stock futures lower. Stocks fell a little bit yesterday, but there were strong earnings from Goldman Sachs and Citigroup. The Dow down about six points, but it's still just 1 percent shy from the record high.

Traders brought to a halt here this morning. Bloomberg terminals around the world, a blackout, the world lost connection to their Bloomberg terminals. These are the machines that are a trader's lifeline. Without them, they have trouble figuring out what is happening in the market.

No word from Bloomberg why or when the problem will be resolved. One of their tech people telling us they don't really know what is happening here. They can't tell us when things will be up and running, but there is a lot of buzz around the world. My Bloomberg terminal is dark.

BERMAN: Investment investors headed to therapy.

ROMANS: If you ordered an Apple Watch, get ready to wait. You're not going to get it for the original game plan. The original plan is have watches for sale in stores next Friday. You can try them on in stores. The stores are one big fitting room. You can pre-order online, but you have to wait for June for the watch to ship to you. Apple is not saying why this change was made, why the delay.

[05:40:06] New this morning, an emotional plea, you have to hear this. From the parents of an 8-year-old boy killed in the Boston marathon bombing. What they want to happen to the convicted terrorist, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:43:52]

ROMANS: The ACLU and lawmakers in Oklahoma are calling for an independent investigation into the shooting death of Eric Harris. The 73-year-old Reserve Deputy Robert Bates claims he accidently pulled his gun instead of his taser when he killed Harris earlier this month.

There were reports that claimed Bates' training records were falsified. Thursday night, the Sheriff's Office responding to those claims, admitted those training records are missing and that some training requirements may have been waived by the sheriff.

Another discrepancy, Bates claims he took, quote, "active shooter training" from the Maricopa County Sheriff's Department, Arizona. But a Maricopa Department spokeswoman denies that saying that that class is not offered to out of state officers.

An attorney for the Harris family said there is no way that the reserve deputy belonged on the streets with a weapon.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAJOR SHANNON CLARK, TULSA COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE: It maybe semantics, the sheriff said they are lost. We have not located them. It doesn't necessarily mean that they are never to be found again. It means we are trying to figure out where all those training records are. You have to remember this goes back a long time.

DAN SMOLEN, HARRIS FAMILY ATTORNEY: We are talking about hours on the job training, field training, which is what specifically required that he is there with the officer. He is working. He is learning how to do a takedown. He is learning how to carry a weapon.

[05:45:08] He is learning the difference between what a weapon feels like versus what a taser feels like. No, I don't believe any of that training has been done.

(END VIDEO CLIP) ROMANS: The Tulsa County Sheriff's Department has opened an investigation of Bates training records. An Oklahoma City lawmaker says he has zero confidence in that investigation. He has asked the state attorney general to step in.

The parents of a small boy killed in the Boston marathon bombing, they are asking prosecutors to take the death penalty off the table. The 8-year-old Martin Richard was the youngest victim of the bombing. His sister, 6-year-old Jane, she was maimed, terribly maimed.

Now her parents, Bill and Denise Richard, have written an op-ed in the "Boston Globe" asking the district attorney to offer convicted bomber, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev" life in prison without parole in exchange for waiving any appeals.

They write, "We hope our two remaining children do not have to grow up with the lingering painful reminder of what the defendant took from them over, which years of appeals would undoubtedly bring."

A big discussion happening in Boston about whether the death penalty should still be on the table, there are those who think, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, is exactly the right person to use the death penalty on, but the family of Martin Richard said no.

Let's take a look of what is coming up on "NEW DAY." Chris Cuomo joins us now. Hi, Chris.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: It is also interesting why they are saying no, right. I mean, as you know, Christine, Massachusetts is a state that doesn't have a death penalty. This is a federal case. There is a federal death penalty.

So they are not saying they are against it morally. They are saying that the appeals would extend his relevance. That's very interesting to hear from the family. We'd be also interested to see those deliberations.

All right so happy Friday to you. There is some troubling news abroad and we are going to tell you about it and get very deep into it. There are terror threats that are remote and at home. The man you are looking at arrested for plotting an attack on soldiers.

Just as troubling, he'd returned home after terror training in Syria. Remember, that is the threat coming back here. Overseas, the Iraqi city of Ramadi is on the brink of falling to ISIS.

We just heard about the biggest airport in Yemen being taken over by al Qaeda. What is going on in the saddest of these battles and the strategy of the U.S. around the world? We have the ambassador to the U.N. Samantha Power here.

Now she is said to be the new attorney general, Loretta Lynch. Who is that? You don't really know yet because the Senate won't hold a hearing on her. In fact, you just had Speaker Boehner say we will do a vote on that after you vote on the trafficking law. So what is going on with that? Why are they attaching these things, Christine? What does Loretta Lynch have to do with the trafficking bill? We will go through it.

We have a congressman on today and talk about something you know about. They are calling it the death tax. It's also known as the estate tax, depending on what you are talking about.

ROMANS: I don't know. I don't have any money. All right, Chris, thank you. We will watch that coming up in just a few minutes.

A critical weekend ahead for Republican presidential hopefuls, it could narrow a wide field in potential candidates. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:51:55]

ROMANS: Every Republican with even a remote chance of becoming president will be in New Hampshire this weekend attending the GOP's first in the nation leadership summit. It is a two-day cattle call for candidates, both declared and undecided, a chance to separate from an increasingly crowded field. We get more this morning from CNN's senior Washington correspondent, Jeff Zeleny.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John and Christine. All eyes are on New Hampshire today and tomorrow and throughout the weekend for the first big Republican gathering of the year of potential presidential hopefuls.

The entire cast of possible candidates including a long list of long shots, will be on hand. Former New York Governor George Pataki will start off today at 11 a.m. Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker will finish on Saturday at 7 p.m.

In between so many speeches including from former Florida Governor Jeb Bush along with the three candidates who have already announced their candidacies, Senator Rand Paul, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio.

Now New Hampshire, of course, has the first in the nation primary. It follows the Iowa caucuses and that's February. Chris Christie has been campaigning the longest this week. He's been there already for several days and former Texas Governor Rick Perry too.

This is the most wide open Republican field we have seen in recent memory, but all potential candidates are hardly on equal footing. This weekend will give Republican activists their best chance yet to size up this field and see who they think should be the nominee.

On top of all this, on Monday, Hillary Clinton comes for her very first visit to New Hampshire as well following her first campaign visit in Iowa so much politicking in New Hampshire -- John and Christine.

ROMANS: All right, Jeff Zeleny, thanks, Jeff.

Ala carte television coming to a major U.S. cable operator, what's the deal and who has it? That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: Let's get an EARLY START on your money this morning, U.S. stock futures lower right now. Stocks fell a little bit yesterday. There were strong earnings from Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, but the Dow dropped 6 points. Still about 1 percent shy from its record.

Also watching Bloomberg terminal blackouts, a lot of people in the markets around the world struggling to figure out what's due about that.

IBM is warning Louisiana over its Religious Freedom Bill sending Governor Bobby Jindal a letter. The tech company said the pending bill would create, quote, "A hostile environment for its employees."

This is what the letter says, "IBM will find much it harder to attract talent to Louisiana if this bill is passed and enacted into law. This is from an IBM vice president.

This is the latest warning from corporate America to states considering religious freedom laws. Indiana and Arkansas had similar laws. They were pressured to make changes.

Verizon launching flexible TV subscription, that is according to the "Wall Street Journal." Starting on Monday, for $55 a month, Fios customers can buy a base package of channels, but include major broadcasters like ABC and Fox then add groups of extra channels like sports, kid shows, and pop culture.

Americans want flexibility when watching TV. According to Nielsen, most Americans only watch 17 channels on televisions. So more changes coming into how you buy, purchase, and consume television programming.

An American returning home from Syria accused in a terror plot sent back from the battlefield to launch Jihad in the U.S. "NEW DAY" picks up that story right now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST, "THE SITUATION ROOM": Another U.S. citizen charged with aiding terrorists.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The 23-year-old from Columbus, Ohio.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He left the United States last year to go join the Al Nusra Front in Syria.

BLITZER: Confirming Loretta Lynch as the nation's first African- American female attorney general.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This should not always be partisan. Presidents have the right to pick their team.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The 73-year-old Robert Bates may not have been telling the full truth about his training. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's a number of record that the sheriff's office haven't come forward with.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Guilty of murder in the first degree.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They're wrong.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR, "AC360": The jury speaks out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He played a role in that murder and that's what he was charged with.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CUOMO: Good morning. Welcome to your NEW DAY. It's Friday. We made it, April 17th, 6:00 in the east. Alisyn and Mich are off. Poppy Harlow and John Berman are here with me and we do have news.

Up first, terrorism here at home, a 23-year-old Ohio man arrested and charged after traveling to Syria to train with Islamic extremists. Authorities say Abdirahman Sheik Mohamud returned to this country on a mission to kill.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN GUEST ANCHOR: And according to a federal indictment, Mohamud was preparing to travel to Texas to execute American soldiers. Let's get the late breaking developments from our Atika Shubert who has been following it -- Atika.

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. Now he faces actually three different counts, but he could face up to 38 years in prison if convicted of these charges. Take a look at what he was planning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[06:00:05] SHUBERT (voice-over): Back from Syria radicalized and according to authorities with intent to kill. This man, a 23-year-old American is in custody this morning.

(END VIDEO CLIP)