Prison Break Plot Revealed; Tropical Storm Bill Approaching Texas Coast; Al Qaeda Leader Killed in U.S. Drone Strike
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Stunning new details about how a prison worker may have helped two dangerous killers escape. What we are now learning about the plan, the manhunt and the situation that now seems to have gone cold.</s>CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Happening right now: Texas bracing for floods, schools are closed, neighborhoods evacuated as Tropical Storm Bill barrels in.</s>BERMAN: And then breaking overnight: Al Qaeda confirming their second in command has been killed. A major international terror figure connected to some of the biggest terror plots over the last several years, this morning, appears to be dead.</s>ROMANS: Looks like a win for America intelligence.</s>BERMAN: Good morning, everyone. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm John Berman.</s>ROMANS: I'm Christine Romans. Tuesday, June 16th, 5:00 a.m. in the East. Let's begin here with the stunning new detail about Joyce Mitchell, the prison worker who helped two convicted killers escape from a maximum security facility in upstate New York. Now, sources tell CNN Mitchell was sexually involved with one of the inmates, may have been forced to help them break out, and might have been involved in a plot to have the two convicts kill her husband. Here is what the local district attorney had to say about that.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: An agreement between Joyce Mitchell and both Matt and Sweat as to whether they were going to harm Lyle Mitchell, I'm not going to comment on that.</s>ROMANS: Mitchell is being held in a six by nine foot cell this morning. Authorities say she is calm. Authorities say she is cooperative. Meanwhile, the search for the escaped convicts may have gone cold. These two men have vanished. We get more from CNN's Miguel Marquez.</s>MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christine and John, we now know there's a sexual relationship between Joyce Mitchell and Richard Matt, one of the escapees, according to a source close to the investigation. We are also being told that the relationship between all three of them was somewhat more complicated than we understood at first. She began to befriend them. Then, the sexual relationship developed with Richard Matt. Then, she began to help them. Along the way, though, she started to get second thoughts about all of this, and then the relationship turned. It became more of a blackmail situation where the two inmates were telling her if she did not continue to help them, that they would turn on her and tell authorities what she was doing. At some point, the source says they may have even turned on her husband who worked in the prison, telling her that they'll kill him if she doesn't continue to help them. This went all the way to the night of the escape where she agreed to be their getaway driver and then backed out getting cold feet, finally going to authorities after checking herself in to the hospital for anxiety. We spoke to David Favro, he's the sheriff here in Clinton County. He said at this point, the escapees, he is not sure if they are in the woods behind me or gone all together.</s>SHERIFF DAVID FAVRO, CLINTON COUNTY, NEW YORK: There is no physical evidence that I'm aware of that has been presented to indicate that they are. And there also hasn't been physical evidence that I'm aware of to indicate that they're not.</s>MARQUEZ: Joyce Mitchell is being held at the Clinton County jail for now, according to the sheriff. He says that she is under 24-hour supervision, sort of one on one supervision, in a small six by nine cell with a person sitting in the doorway watching her every 30 minutes. They write down whatever is happened, take a log of everything that's going on with her. She is not on suicide watch, they say, but they are watching her very closely because they're not sure how well she will take all of this stress -- Christine, John.</s>BERMAN: All right. Breaking overnight: serious storm preparations in Texas. A tropical storm making landfall this morning. Such a dangerous situation there with all of the rain they have already had. Now, a new round of heavy rain and high winds are expected, really over the next few hours. Tropical Storm Bill barreling through the Gulf of Mexico. Flood watches are in effect for Houston. Remember, Houston was under water, Austin, not far from where the deadly flooding was, also San Antonio. Everyone there, it seems, is preparing for the worst.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These guys are helping us put -- we bought 1,000 sand bags because it is the only measure we can take.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: While the storm is about to make landfall, we will not be able to go out and execute rescues. Everything we do is going to be after the storm passes. That's why we are urging the community to shelter in place and make yourself -- put yourself in a safe place.</s>BERMAN: It's not just the winds. It's the flooding from this as well. Landfall expected soon. Let's get the latest from CNN meteorologist Pedram Javaheri.</s>PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hey, good morning, John and Christine. Yes, another potentially worst-case scenario shaping up here over Texas, just because of knowing what occurred here just several weeks ago. And, you know, a 1 in a 100 year event for some people when it comes to the amount of rainfall that came down, 20 plus inches over northern portions of Texas to southern Oklahoma. The soil moisture is through the roof. We check the latest number. It's about 140 percent above normal. River gauges all at or above capacity. At least 32 of them are at this point. You know any sort of rainfall on the order of just a couple of inches per hour could trigger flash flooding. And that's why the National Weather Service had issued flash flood advisories, warnings and watches here for about 20 million across the eastern side of Texas and Oklahoma, as well as portions of Louisiana. So, the track as far as the official landfall here is not important with the storm system, but the tremendous rainfall that's possible is what we're watching carefully again because of what has occurred over this region. Six to 10 inches certainly a possibility, 10-plus inches west of Houston a possibility, and just south of Dallas, models indicating possibility of another 6 to 10 inches of rainfall. A concern here that we're that we're carefully, kind of fascinating at the same time, something known as the brown ocean effect. Think of the soil being brown, well, the ocean gives you the heat and moisture content you need. Because of the moisture content in the soil, in the past, we have seen storms come ashore over saturated soil and still gain some energy, even strengthen at times. So, we're going to watch this over the next coming couple of days -- guys.</s>ROMANS: All right. Pedram, thanks. Scary situation developing there. All right. Breaking this morning, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula confirming a top leader in Yemen has been killed by a U.S. drone strike. Nasser al-Wuhayshi was taken out, along with two top aides. And it didn't take long for the terror group to name a successor. How does this affect the U.S. effort to wipe out AQAP? What does this mean about the success of the American effort to wipe out AQAP? CNN's Jomana Karadsheh tracking developments live from Amman, Jordan. And this is the number two al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, he's number one, he's the top al Qaeda --</s>BERMAN: Number two in al Qaeda worldwide.</s>ROMANS: This is the second, you know, major takedown in the last couple days. What's going on here, Jomana?</s>JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): This is Christine a huge blow for al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, AQAP. And also, as you mentioned for al Qaeda globally, and it comes at a time when al Qaeda has been exploiting that chaos and the turmoil we're seeing in Yemen to expand its presence. The territory controls in that country. In the past few hours, we have seen the media arm of AQAP, al Qaeda in Yemen, coming out with a video statement confirming that their leader, Nasser al-Wuhayshi, along with two other jihadists were killed in a U.S. strike. They don't say when this happened or where. But they also announce a new leader for the group, Qassim al-Rimi. This is the former military chief of AQAP. He was the obvious successor for leadership. The U.S. has yet to confirm this strike last night when this news first came. U.S. officials were saying they were looking into it. They did not confirm a drone strike. We heard from two senior Yemeni national security officials who told CNN this drone strike, suspected U.S. drone strike, took place in Yemen on Friday and it killed al- Wuhayshi. This is a major blow to the group that is considered the most dangerous branch of al Qaeda by the United States. They were behind three thwarted attacks that were targeting U.S. airlines in the recent years, and as you mentioned, not only AQAP, also globally, number two leader of al Qaeda worldwide. And experts say this is the biggest blow to al Qaeda since the killing of Osama bin Laden, Christine.</s>ROMANS: These are terrorists who want to take on Americans and Westerners in their own territory, in their own backyards, in their own homes. They have the ability, certainly a lot of bomb-making capability. This has happened in Yemen. What does this is about American and Western intelligence in Yemen?</s>KARADSHEH: Well, this is, Christine, what's being considered a great achievement at a time where we saw this reduced, non-existent U.S. footprint. As you know over the past few months with the deteriorating security situation, this all-out war we are seeing taking place in Yemen, the U.S. pulling out troops. There is no real U.S. intelligence presence on the ground. Yet we are still seeing these attacks and targeted drone strikes taking place. We are still waiting for U.S. confirmation at this point. But in recent months, also, Christine, we have seen last month, another senior commander of AQAP announced killed in a U.S. drone strike and another one before that. So, despite that, it does seem we are seeing these targets of killing still taking place despite the current situation. And also, if we look at what's going on in Libya, also there, the targeting of AQIM, al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, taking place over the weekend. We're still waiting for confirmation that the U.S. strike did kill the target of that operation, the notorious and elusive AQIM leader, Mokhtar Belmokhtar. So, definitely a ramped up effort. It does seem not clear if these are linked at this point, or if it's a coincidence that these strikes are taking place around the same time. But real ramped up effort against al Qaeda.</s>ROMANS: The biggest accomplishment you say since the killing of Osama bin Laden. Jomana Karadsheh in Amman, thank you for that, Jomana.</s>BERMAN: And this is the man who worked for Osama bin Laden. And al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula not just attacking targets there. I mean, they've been the one group that's been able to spread their terror operations around the world. You know, "Charlie Hebdo" in France, they say they were inspired by this group. This is a major, major intelligence operation from the United States and it will develop throughout the morning. We will bring you all the new details. Meanwhile, new questions about e-mails to and from Hillary Clinton. More than 120 pages of emails between the former secretary of state and a close confidant Sidney Blumenthal have just been turned over to committee investigating the attacks in Benghazi. They include information about weapons in Libya and security situation in Benghazi in the year and a half before the attacks. Blumenthal will face the House committee investigating the attack in a closed door hearing today.</s>ROMANS: President Obama and his Republican allies in Congress have abandoned plans for a second vote on a Pacific trade deal today. The president spoke by phone with House Speaker John Boehner Monday. Boehner has decided to impose a temporary rule to bring the deal back up anytime between now and July 30th. That gives the president and Republicans six weeks to resurrect the measure, which the House soundly rejected last week. Resurrecting that measure will mean a lot of work from the president with Democrats who had open rebellion against their boss.</s>BERMAN: He's not close to having the votes to do this. There's a lot of work. The White House is giving approval to Pennsylvania and Delaware to set up state-run exchanges for Obamacare that would protect residents who have already signed up. Right now, the Supreme Court is nearing a ruling on a lawsuit that argues that federal subsidies can be paid to states that operate their own marketplace. If that lawsuit is upheld, Americans enrolled in Obamacare in states that do not have their own exchange, they could lose health insurance. All right. Time for an early start on your money this Tuesday morning. European and Asian stocks are lower. U.S. stock futures are lower, following yesterday's lead. The Dow down 107 points, now lower for the year. Weighing down markets, a standoff between Greece and its creditors and a looming interest rate hike in the United States. With a tropical storm threatening Houston, oil prices are up right now, as the refining capacity in this country, a big part of the refining capacity in this country is shutting down, really awaiting for that storm to come. The government's rescue of AIG in 2008 was illegal, but not for the reasons you might think. Critics have argued government bailouts were too generous. But a judge ruled yesterday officials were too harsh when they seized AIG shares and the government made a big profit because of it. Taxpayers made a profit because of it. It was part of a suit from former AIG CEO who says the government ripped off. The judge did not award any monetary damages because the firm would have gone bankrupt without the help. The ruling could stop the government from giving future bailouts during another financial crisis. It's interesting precedent.</s>BERMAN: It is a peculiar ruling.</s>ROMANS: It really.</s>BERMAN: We'll see what it means. All right. The race for president could be getting bigger this morning with new hair -- the new Republican, perhaps, to enter the race.</s>ROMANS: Plus, Hillary Clinton with a new campaign promise. We'll tell you what it is, next.