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EARLY START

Remembering The Victims of The Synagogue Victims; A Group Of Progressive Jewish Leaders In The City Say He's Not Welcome Until He Denounces White Nationalism; Lion Passenger Jet Crashes With 189 On Board; Deadliest Attack On Jews In American History In Pennsylvania. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired October 29, 2018 - 04:30   ET

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


[04:30:00]

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DAVE BRIGGS, EARLY START ANCHOR: Breaking over night a passenger jet with almost 200 on board, crashes after take off from Indonesia. A live report moments away.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We will drive antisemitism (ph) and the hate of any people back to the basement on their computer and away from the open discussions and dialogs around this city, around this state, and around this country.

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CHRISTINE ROMANS, EARLY START ANCHOR: Pittsburg is defiant after the deadliest attack on Jews in American history. The attack caps (ph) a series of events inspired by hateful rhetoric moving from fringe to the main stream.

BRIGGS: A radical shift in Brazil, the election of a far right populist (ph) as president, the president's racist and misogynic rhetoric drawing comparisons to President Trump.

ROMANS: For the fourth time in 15 years the Boston Red Sox's are World Series champions. But don't worry there is an underdog story in there. There really is.

BRIGGS: Yes, there is. I promise you.

ROMANS: Welcome back to "Early Start". I'm Christine Romans.

BRIGGS: And I'm Dave Briggs. It's not the city of Boston. The legend (ph) titles since 2001. 4:32 eastern time, we begin with breaking news, a Lion passenger jet with 189 people on board crashing overnight during a short flight from the Indonesia capital of Jakarta to the Indonesia island of Bangkok. Lion Air confirms it lost contact with flight JT-610 13 minutes after take off. CNN's Will Ripley monitoring this live from Hong Kong. Will what do we know? WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well what we know is that things are looking very bad right now for the families of these 189 people on board. Although there are ambulances that are lining the shore at this crash site, just 34 nautical miles off of the coast of Jakarta.

But it's highly unlikely at this point that there's going to be anybody to put in those ambulances. Be it when you look at the pictures that are coming in from the scene itself pieces of the plane, life jackets, backpacks, cell phones. The kind of things that passengers bring on board when they want to make a quick one hour flight that people do all the time and think nothing of it.

Although in this case something apparently went horribly wrong just minutes after take off. The plane disappeared from radar. It only rose up to about 5,200 feet before it made a very rapid decent, radar shows before it dropped off screens altogether. There are conflicting reports as to whether or not the pilot and co-pilot actually called back to Jakarta, asked to turn the plane around. Indonesian authorities said that happened. But the airline disputes that account.

What we do know though, this was a new aircraft. Just delivered in August, a Boeing 737 Max. It had 800 flight hours. The flight crew had 11,000 flight hours combined so relatively experienced crew. There were not signs of technical problems during the preflight inspection which was completed.

So there really are so many questions at this hour. First of all what happened? And how it could have happened given the fact that even though there were some thunderstorms in the area they were a safe distance away from this plane. Lion Air is a very popular fast growing discount carrier here in Asia, the second largest here in Asia. They've been buying a lot of new planes. They did have some safety issues. For a number of years they were actually banned from the European Union airspace. But that ban was lifted back in 2016 and in 2018 the airline received a top safety rating from the International Civil Aviation Organization.

All of that just leading to the question, how could this have happened? And their hoping to get that answer in the coming hours today.

BRIGGS: And no real sign of what happened there. Will Ripley we'll check back with you next hour. Thank you.

ROMANS: The city of Pittsburg and its Jewish community trying to come to grips with the deadliest anti-Semitic attack in the history of the United States. Federal prosecutors filing hate crime charges against a Pennsylvania man. Police say he stormed the Tree of Life Synagogue and opened fire killing 11 people and injuring 6 others, including four police officers. The gunman told one office he wanted all Jews to die.

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BRIGGS: The U.S. Attorney for Pennsylvania's western district seeking approval from Attorney General Jeff Sessions to pursue the death penalty against Robert Bowers. The anti-defamation league reports a whopping 57 percent jump in anti-semetic crime in 2017. That's the largest every in the U.S.

The defied Pittsburg mayor says, hatred will never win.

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MAYOR BILL PEDUTO, MAYOR OF PITTSBURGH: We will drive anti-Semitism and the hate of any people back to the basement on their computer and away from the open discussions and dialogues around the city, around this state and around this country.

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ROMANS: Three major crimes in this country in the last week, with a common thread, hate rhetoric that is becoming mainstream. On Wednesday police say a white man killed two black people at a Kroger grocery store in Kentucky. Minutes earlier police say this man tried to enter a predominantly black church.

And of course, the mail bomber, he is due in court today. Cesar Sayoc was arrested in South Florida on Friday. His van filled with pro- Trump, anti-democrat stickers and CNN sucks.

BRIGGS: The synagogue shooter also due in court today, the damage he left behind tearing at the fabric of Pittsburg Squirrel Hill neighborhood. David Shribman, the Executive Editor "The Pittsburg Post-Gazette" writing, "for more than a century and a half it has become not only the spiritual center of Pittsburgh Judaism, but also a vital landmark in the history of Jews in America.

More now from CNN's Miguel Marquez.

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christine, Dave, the more we learn about Robert Bowers the more disturbing it is. Not because people are saying he was a Nazi in expressing sort of these views, but because the exact opposite. There was none of that. This is a person who barely cast a shadow in this life.

People who knew him for many, many years said that they felt badly for him. That he was a sort of a lost soul. Investigators now combing through everything. They have gone through his house for many hours, computers, phones, care, they're looking for surveillance video, trying to paint a full picture of what and when and how and why this individual would do such a thing.

On thing is clear, if you knew where to look online, not the Twitters, not the Facebook, not the obvious places, but there were certain online places where he was posting that -- he posted deeply hateful rhetoric and information about Jews in particular.

There was one group in particular that bothered him. Seventeen days before this horrible crime, he posted about HIAS, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society. They've done a video down the U.S. Mexico border about the caravan coming up from Central America. Mr. Bowers called these individuals invaders and coming of them coming

to slaughter our own people. He really keyed on this before he walked into that synagogue and killed all those people and injured others.

He posted about that, saying that he didn't care about the optics about what he was about to do, but he was going in, as he put it. The reality is starting to settle in, not only in the neighborhood of Squirrel Hill, but across this very tough and great town of Pittsburgh. Dave, Christine.

BRIGGS: It is one tough town. Miguel, thank you. An interfaith vigil was held Sunday for the victims of the Pittsburgh Synagogue shooting. Here you see the three Rabbis of the three congregations at the Tree of Life Synagogue hug on stage.

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BRIGGS: The victims ranged in age from 54 to 97. Jerry Rabinowitz was 66. He was a primary care physician. His nephew says his uncle Jerry could lighten up a room with his infectious laugh. His friends agree.

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SUSAN BLACKMAN, FRIEND OF VICTIM IN SYNAGOGUE SHOOTING: Dr. Jerry was just somebody who, when you see him, your eyes light up.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And he's gone?

BLACKMAN: And he's gone.

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ROMANS: Sixty-five year old Richard Gottfried had a dental practice with is wife Peg. He as also the dentist for the North Hills School district for sometime. The superintendent there calls him a fixture in the community.

Joyce Feinberg was a 75-year-old former research specialist at the University of Pittsburgh. She was also a grandmother and the mother of two sons. A former student says, she lit up the room with here huge personality.

BRIGGS: Cecil and David Rosenthal were brothers, 50- and 54-years-old respectively. They were inseparable and always sat in the back of the temple to great people as they came to worship. Listen to one of Cecil's long time friends.

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LAURA BERMAN, FRIEND OF VICTIM IN SYNAGOGUE SHOOTING: He was always just a sweet, sweet gentle soul that was friendly to everybody, helpful to everybody. He came -- I understand he came all the time because he wanted to help be part of the community and to make it accessible to everybody.

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BRIGGS: Daniel Stein was 71. His dry sense of humor was legendary. On a post on Facebook, Stein's son wrote that Saturday was the worst day of my life.

ROMANS: Bernice and Sylvan Simon were the sweetest couple you could imagine according to their neighbor of 40 years. They were 84 and 86- years-old and were always trying to help out the community and their temple.

97-year-old Rose Mallinger was from Squirrel Hill. She regularly attended the synagogue with her daughter. Her daughter was also shot. Friends say even at 97, Rose was vibrant and full of life.

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ROBIN FRIEDMAN: The Holocaust and the ugly times, and she made it through all that. These aren't the kinds of things that are supposed to happen. You don't walk in there on Saturday morning and think you're not walking out.

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BRIGGS: 88-year-old Melvin Wax of Squirrel Hill was always the first to arrive and the last to leave the synagogue. Friends remember him as a gem and a gentlemen. Irving Younger was 69. Friends and neighbors say the former real estate company owner was a wonderful father and grandfather who never had a bad word to say about anybody. A GoFundMe page for the Tree of Life synagogue has already raised over half a million dollars in donations.

ROMANS: President Trump ordering flags to fly at half staff in honor of the synagogue shooting victims until sunset on Wednesday. Hours after the attack, the president decided not to cancel his appearance at a political rally in Illinois.

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TRUMP: You can't let these evil people change your life, change your schedules, change anything. It's too important what you do has to stay that way, and you cannot let them become important.

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ROMANS: The president's also said he decided to attend the rally because he remembered the New York Stock Exchange opened the day after the 9/11 attacks. That is false. The Stock Exchange was closed for six days until Monday, September 17.

BRIGGS: Before heading to Illinois, Mr. Trump insisted the outcome of the synagogue could have been different if there had been an armed guard.

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TRUMP: If they had protection inside, the results would have been far better. This is a dispute that will always exist I suspect, but if they had some kind of a protection inside the temple, maybe it could have been a very much different situation.

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BRIGGS: President says he plans to visit Pittsburgh but did not say when. A group of progressive Jewish leaders in the city say he's not welcome until he denounces White Nationalism.

ROMANS: The president does not appear ready to that. Late last night, he once again deflected any responsibility for the tone in the country today, instead pointing the finger at the media. "The fake news is doing everything in their power to blame Republicans, conservatives, and me for the division and hatred. It is their fake and dishonest reporting which is causing problems far greater than they understand."

BRIGGS: Brazil has a new president becoming the latest nation to elect a far-right leader. Supporters of president electire (ph) Bolsonaro celebrating in the streets after their candidate was declared the winner by more than 10 points. The outcome represent Brazil's most radical political change since democracy was restored more than 30 years ago.

ROMANS: The extreme right Bolsonaro has exulted the companies military dictatorship, advocated torture. He has threatened to destroy, jail, or drive his political opponents into exile. Now he's calling for unity in probably one of the most polarizing elections in Brazil's history. The 63-year-old Bolsonaro, remember, was stabbed in the abdomen last month during a rally. Casted his ballot wearing a bulletproof vest. His critics are concerned about the threat he might pose to human rights.

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All right, a lot of ugly stuff ends up on social media. The Pittsburgh just the latest prime example. Should there be a limit for hateful speech online?

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ROMANS: All right. With news focus on hate speech on social media, what can be posted, what can't, and how much is too much or too little when it comes to enforcement?

Before the suspected gunman walked into the Tree of Life synagogue, he logged onto a site called gab.com. The suspect Robert Bowers frequently targeted Jews in his posts, but what is Gab, this platform? It's a platform that bills itself as the free speech social network. The site's claim to fame is that users could post almost anything even if the content is racist without being sanctioned, puts nearly no restrictions on content. People banned from mainstream sites like Twitter for hate speech and harassment, sometimes there they go. They go to Gab.

Gab.com tweeted a statement last night saying, "we have been smeared by the mainstream media for defending free expression and individual liberty for all people." It says the site will be inaccessible for a period after its host kicked them off.

Twitter has also come under criticism for its response to hate speech.

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ROMANS: It's response to hate speech, less than two weeks before he allegedly sent mail bombs to prominent Democrats and CNN's New York office. Cesar Sayoc threatened Rochelle Ritchie, a political analyst, on Twitter.

Ritchie reported the tweet and Twitter responded saying, the threat from Sayoc didn't qualify as a violation of the Twitter rules against abusive behavior. When Sayoc was arrested then Friday, Twitter apologized, saying it should have taken different action when it was contacted by Ritchie.

CNN asked Twitter about Sayoc and his tweets on Friday. It responded, this is an ongoing law enforcement investigation, we do not have comment.

But, it's a real discussion here about whether social media is actually the oxygen for the very worst instincts of some people.

BRIGGS: Yes.

ROMANS: It gives them a place to come out about some -- where they feel safe about some of these really appalling, appalling sentiments.

BRIGGS: It certainly is, but how does law enforcement police that? How do social media companies begin to enforce that?

ROMANS: The Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. yesterday was saying, that in Israel law enforcement monitors all of those sites.

BRIGGS: Yes, it's quite a task.

ROMANS: And they -- before a crime is committed, they step in and that is their plus. That's not what happened here.

BRIGGS: At least these companies are stepping up somewhat ...

ROMANS: Yes.

BRIGGS: ... in the wake of all this.

Ahead, listen up, if you could use a cloud storage, IBM makes a big acquisition that means IBM could provide service to its competitors. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:55:00]

BRIGGS: Top prosecutors of Saudi Arabia and Turkey are meeting today in Istanbul to map out the next steps in the murder investigation of "Washington Post" columnist Jamal Khashoggi. Prosecutors in Turkey have submitted an extradition request to Saudi Arabia for the 18 suspects believed to have carried out Khashoggi's killing. Turkey has not released audio of the murder. The Saudi's have not revealed the location of the body. Khashoggi's fiance expected to speak at a memorial service for the slain journalist in London this afternoon.

ROMANS: (inaudible) giving up her royal status today. (Inaudible) company, Ayako will receive (inaudible) payment of $950,000 from the Japanese government for living expenses. Her late father was the first cousin of Akihito.

BRIGGS: Legendary soccer club Manchester United cashing in on some celebrity power this weekend. The 12 boys from the Thai football team who were rescued from a cave in northern Thailand. Ron Hand (ph) at Old Trafford stadium, they visited the training ground and got a tour of the stadium Saturday before watching Man Utd (ph) beat Everton 2-1 in a premier league match. The boys got a big hand from the crowd before the match as you might imagine.

ROMANS: All right, let's get a check on CNN business. This Monday morning Asian markets mixed on the back of renewed trade tensions between Beijing and the U.S. The NK down just a bit, the Shanghai composite slip by more than two percent, and Hong Kong's hang Seng Index rose just slightly.

It was an awful week for U.S. stocks last week. The Dow dropped again on Friday, the NASDAQ is in a correction following another 2.1 percent Friday as slowing revenue growth from Amazon and Alphabet (ph) unnerved investors in tech land. Amazon fell eight percent. It's worst day in four years. The S&P 500 close to a correction fell another almost two percent on Friday. The Dow and the S&P, the two blue chip indicators are both lower today than they were when the presidents tax cuts passed last December.

In a massive deal that could reshape cloud computing IBM is acquiring open software company Red Hat for $34 billion dollars. The deal expected to close in the second half of 2019. The acquisition of Red Hat is a game changer. It changes everything about the cloud. That's what the IBM Chief Ginni Rometty said in a statement.

The cloud refers to software and services that run on the internet instead of your computer. Dropbox, Netflix, Google Drive, and Microsoft Office 365 just to name a few are all cloud services. These various platforms often don't allow data to easily move between them. Red Hat says its software solves that by allowing data to be more easily moved around. $34 billion deal.

Efforts to cut the amount of waste going to land fills in the U.S. is attracting some big name investors. Amazon announced last week that it would invest 10 million in the Closed Loop Fund (ph). Close Loop invested in recycling programs, sustainable goods, landfill, reduction efforts there's plenty of work to be done. The United Nations says about 300 million tons of plastic waste are produced every year. Global plastic production is expected to triple by 2050.

And I still need Amazon to do something about the boxes in my garage. That's all I ask. You go to any mail room in any university of America it is full of boxes, full of boxes the everyone -

BRIGGS: Do you save them? Are you one of those? Like my wife who just saves all these boxes for some rainy box day?

ROMANS: I try to - I do have a rainy box day fund. But I try to - I need to get some of them out of my -

BRIGGS: Fold them up and recycle them.

ROMANS: So please Amazon come up with a way to come and bring them back.

BRIGGS: OK.

ROMANS: Bring me something from Amazon, take my old boxes with you.

BRIGGS: Please let her know. "Early Start" continues right now.

Breaking overnight a passenger jet with almost 200 on board crashes into the ocean after take off from Indonesia, live report moments away.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We will drive antisemitism (ph) and the hate of any people back to the basement on their computer and away from the open discussions and dialogs around this city, around this state, and around this country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Pittsburg is defiant after the deadliest attack on Jews in American history. The attack caps (ph) a series of events inspired by hateful rhetoric -- rhetoric moving from fringe.

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