happening now, a new strategy to fight isis after a series of defeats, the u.s. hitting the plan on how to take down the terrorists. we will take you live to baghdad. the former speaker of the house indicted. once one of the most powerful men in the country accused of paying to hide past misconduct. new details in the strange case against dennis hastert. new severe storms pounding texas as rescuers sift through the rubble to find flood victims.

welcome to "early start." i'm john berman. christine romans is off today. and happening now, the obama administration is fine tuning its isis strategy in iraq. pent goneagon officials are looking to bring sunni tribes into the fight. one possibly under consideration, the u.s. could arm sunni fighters directly. that would supplement the current system going through the shi'ite government in baghdad. this is happening as they are trying to exhume 499 bodies in tikrit which isis claim it is killed last year at a military base. iraqi officials and foreigners

stayed in a hotel where bombs hit. we have our correspondent arwa damon with us. the idea of arming the sunnis directly is not without controversy. >> reporter: it is not. that's because of the ongoing secretarytarian issues here. they have yet to do that. then of course you have the various different dynamics of the battle field where you end up with more unconventional forces armed fighting alongside each other in the battle against isis. at the end of the day, this is iraq and not many things go to plan. the sunnis have been asking for weapons for over a year wanting to take on the battle against isis themselves. bearing in mind that these are sunni fighters that the u.s. allied within the past. they were the ones that turned against al qaeda back in the day

and created the awakening council and fought alongside u.s. forces. at the same time there are people who feel america betrayed them and left them at the mercy of the shi'a government. back then, the government of nuri al maliki. they feel the current government betrayed them by not providing them with the support a year ago and not providing them with sufficient air support to prevent isis from taking over anbar province. we reached a stage where the sunnis will take weapons from anyone who will provide them. the concerns right now as we are talking about the offensive happening in anbar and ramadi is the civilians that are trapped inside the city. we were at a refugee camp and many of the individuals whom we

met have relatives and they are trapped in the areas that isis took over a year ago. they are unable to flee. when they try to reach their relatives, they keep telling them they keep trying to leave the neighborhoods, but isis stops them at gunpoint and takes the young men and the young men to pledge allegiance to isis. in all of this you have the growing plight of the civilian population that many of the relatives whom we met claims isis is using as human shields. >> with so many internal visions in iraq, not place to go. arwa damon, thank you. new questions about federal grand jury indicting former speaker dennis hastert of misconduct and lying to the fbi. he restructured bank withdrawals to provide indictment. he paid $300 million to hush

money to keep misconduct dating back as far back as his days as a high school wrestling coach. no response when cnn knocked on the hastert door in illinois. former colleagues announcing to the statement. >> i'm surprised that dennis found himself in a position he had to do something this drastic. obviously, he must have known it was illegal to do it in the way they structured it. so on a personal level shocked and dismayed. i hope they get it worked out. from the fbi perspective. lots of questions. was he extorted likely the way they wrote the indictment? it means likely to cooperated with the fbi at some point. i think there are a lot more to be told here. >> a lot more story. hastert one of the most liked

and low key speakers in the last several generations. the 73-year-old resigned his position as a lobbyist yesterday. that's a job he held since leaving congress in 2007. this morning, less than three days remain before major u.s. intelligence programs shutdown unless lawmakers find a compromise to reauthorize them. the white house says there is no plan b if the nsa expires. this does put pressure on congressional leaders who are scrambling for a solution before sunday's deadline. we have michelle kosinski with more. >> reporter: the white house is continuing this push to try to get the senate to act before deadline to keep the parts of the patriot act up and running. failing to do so is like playing russian roulette. and the fbi's work is going to be severely impacted. here is the press secretary.

>> what our national security professionals have told us these are programs that provided valuable information in the past. critical tools to keep the american people safe. they use these tools to collect information that has not been otherwise available to them and used to prevent individuals from carrying out acts of violence and round up people who wished harm on the united states. >> reporter: that's what they have been saying. the thing is u.s. officials cannot point to a single case where these programs saved the day and thwarted terror. when you look at the programs besides the bulk phone data collection that will expire collecting bank and business and hotel records on individuals. it is used about 200 times a year. officials say there are other ways to get that information, but those ways are limited and lessee secret. also roving wire taps on people

who use multiple cell phones. officials say the patriot act is the only way to do that. effectively and quickly track those people. especially when you consider potential isis types. and lastly wire taps are lone wolves. people not connected to any known terror group. we found out that has never been used before and it only applies to people outside the u.s., not american lone wolves. this big question is our national security really going to be at risk? depends on whom you ask. the white house's take is why allow any risk especially when the privacy concerns can be addressed with the bipartisan bill that the house passed and the white house wants the senate to do the same. >> michelle kosinski for us. the death toll is rising from the storms in texas and oklahoma. at least 23 people have been killed by tornadoes and flooding. this morning, crews are scouring

the wreckage of homes and cars in hays county houston and elsewhere. searching for nine people still known to be missing. with rain pouring down this morning and more in the forecast today, officials say the danger has not passed. >> i don't think so. i would like to say that it is but i'm not sure the worst is over because of the way the weather is running and we are so saturated in almost all parts of texas. >> eight of those still missing from texas are from three families whose vacation cabin was swept away on the blanco river. michelle sharba's body was identified on wednesday. and we have more on the rest of the hunt. >> reporter: families are waking up on the sixth day waiting for answers. eight people still missing that were swept away by the blanco river. over the weekend, three people

have been identification. of course michelle was found. she is the latest to be identified. unfortunately, the rest of her family her husband and son, as well as parents, are still missing. we have been hearing so much about jonathan mccomb. he actually was okay. he is in the hospital recovering. he has serious injuries. he is expected to make a full recovery. the rest of his family are still missing. it has been a gut-wrenching couple of days for the people here in wimberley as crews continue the clean up along the banks. we are anticipating more rain possible today and through the weekend. crews are out and they will not give up until they find the rest of the missing eight people. they will search by foot boat and by air and they will not stop. in fact 40 to 50 crews out there at least with nine canine units searching debris piles along the banks of the river

hoping for any sign of those missing eight people as their families wait to hear answers. >> jennifer gray along the blanco river. the weather pattern is hitting the town hard where 4 inches of rain fell in oklahoma. the weather service says water reached the top of car tires. you can see it. the water reaching the top of car tires in the storm. there is more severe weather in the forecast. all the way through the weekend. meteorologist derek van dam has more. >> we have received so much rain across the plains, it is visible from space. taken from nasa satellites. this is the arkansas river flowing to the mississippi river. notice how it flooded its banks and continuing to expand past

capacity. it continues to flow downstream to the mississippi. there is the potential going forward. we have 157 locations along various rivers and streams reporting flood stage conditions. we have flood watches and flood warnings ongoing from oklahoma to eastern portions of texas with more rain in store. there is some improvement in store for early parts of next week. showers and thunderstorms forecast into the weekend. that includes saturday and sunday. oklahoma city to austin and the possibility of severe weather through the northern great lakes. derek van dam, thanks. time for an early start on your money. markets in asia and europe are mixed. wall street is waiting for the economic growth during the first quarter. that number is expected to turn negative. the economy shrank at the start of the year. auto makers are adding millions of cars to the recall list after the takata recall last week.

mitsubishi and ford and chrysler have touchedurned in numbers to the ntsb. with automakers identifying which cars need to be fixed, dealerships can replace the faulty part. that will take a long time here. we are talking years. there is controversy surrounding a new contest in the united states to draw the prophet muhammad. are organizers of the event trying to instigate violence? what they are telling participants to bring to the event.

police in phoenix, arizona are bracing for potential violence stemming from an anti-islam rally today outside of a mosque that will feeature a

prophet muhammad contest. two shot dead in texas after being assaulted with rifles. sara sidner has more. >> reporter: they are calling it round two because this is the second time they held a rally like this. before the rally here in phoenix, they are planning on doing what is a prophet muhammad cartoon drawing contest similar to the one we saw in garland, texas. you remember what happened there. they say this is in response to what happened in garland when two men here in phoenix went to a mosque and went to try to gun police down. they ended up dying themselves at the hands of the officer who stopped them from being able to get into the rally. police believe they were trying to get into the contest in garland. as far as this one, it will be peaceful. they are holding it here to send a message. they put something on their facebook they have not had in the past. i want to read that.

quote, people are also encouraged to come to the rally to utilize their second amendment rights just in case the first amendment comes under attack. the second amendment is the right to bear arms. the first, freedom of speech. there is concern from those who go to the mosque. they are holding it on friday when they are having evening prayers. rally will be outside of the mosque itself. people are concerned. some folks will not show up. we were able to interview someone who spoke on behalf of the community here about the concerns that those who come to the mosque and frequent the mosque have. >> recently the mosques here in phoenix received threatening letters. specific threats saying we will massacre your congregation. this is happening within the last week. this adds to the intersection of islamaphobia. when we see this intersect, we

see this is a concern. maybe we should not go. we are advising people from our organization it is better to stay clear from the event and don't engage with the people. >> reporter: the counsel on islamic affairs says there is a threat to the imam and the mosque. there is a concern for those who come to the mosque especially on friday on the day of prayer. there will be security. the phoenix police have surveyed the area and will be here. >> sara sidner thank you. what do you do if your organization is accused of widespread corruption? $150 million worth of bribes and unseemly activities? why, you run for re-election. that man, perhaps about to be reelected as the leader of the world's most prominent soccer organization. we are live as the drama unfolds next.

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pretty shocking. fifa forging ahead with the election in zurich despite the scandal. sepp blatter, the head of the governing body he is expected to easily win the fifth term as president. he is speaking out vowing to protect fifa's reputation and distancing himself from the scandal.

>> i know many people hold me responsible for the actions and reputation of the global football community. we or i, cannot monitor everyone all of the time. >> monitoring someone some of the time? let's go to zurich and bring in sports correspondent alex thomas. he is likely to cruise to a fifth term today, correct? >> reporter: john a potentially historic day for the world's most popular sport. even a watershed moment in the way the salt lake city scandal for the olympic movement or the lance armstrong doping confession for cycling. despite the lurid and controversial headlines that made news across the globe for fifa the governing body of soccer it is business as usual. sepp blatter in charge since

1998 has opened the congress in the gray building behind me and given his opening remarks. he wants to continue the reform process and he wants to be the favorite for the challenger prince ali hussein of jordan. and with a population of 80,000 gets one vote as does the united states with a population of 310 million. for those outside scratching their head saying why is blatter still popular? one delegate said he makes the tiniest country feel special just like germany and brazil. so it is up for the world soccer leaders to decide the future of the organization but it sounds like they will stick with more of the same. john. >> i was reading and officials in england said if he gets re-election, they will consider boycotting future world cups.

extraordinary. thanks so much. new information on the espionage trial of jason rezaian in iran. the application submitted in 2008 has been introduced into evidence in court. rezaian was a freelance when he applied. he has been in prison in iran for ten months charged with spying with anti-government propaganda. new surveillance images shows china positions weapons on the artificial islands they are developing in the south china sea. the photos show two motor artillery units capable of firing on other islands. the white house says those islands are in international waters. new spectacular footage of a volumecano erupts on the southern japanese island without warning. about 140 people were forced to

evacuate when mt. shindaki erupted. the meteorology agency in japan raised the level to five. no reports of damage at this hour. several people are unaccounted for. the u.s. fine tuning strategy to fight isis as the iraqi military tries to take back territory seized by the terrorists. we are live in baghdad next.

is the u.s. shifting strategy it fight isis in iraq? the new fine tune plans as iraqis try to take back territory. we are live in baghdad ahead. former house speaker dennis hastert indicted accused of lying to the fbi of hush money withdrawals. new details ahead. new storms targeting texas. state already devastated by historic flooding and it's not over. welcome back to "early start." i'm john berman. 31 minutes past the hour. christine romans is off this morning. happening now, the obama administration is fine tuning the isis strategy in iraq. pentagon officials are trying to bring sunni tribes into the fight against islamic state militants. one possibility, the u.s. could begin arming sunni fighters directly. that could supplement the system

now. this as iraqi forensic teams begin to identify nearly 500 bodies exhumed from the complex in tikrit. they believe they are military cadets that isis claimed to have killed last year. overnight in baghdad at least nine people killed and 14 injured in twin bomb blasts at luxury hotels that is popular with officials and foreigners. standing by is senior correspondent arwa damon. arwa how significant is it to arm the sunnis directly in the fight against isis? >> reporter: john if it just stays an an idea, it is not significant at all. if it materializes, this is an important development. doing it directly and not through the iraqi government may cause some tensions between washington and baghdad.

the sunni tribes have been begging for weapons for over a year now. there have been many promises made by the predominately shi'a government they would be armed. so far, that has not materialized. one must also remember the u.s. has fought alongside the sunni tribes before. they did it back in the days when it was isis predecessor al qaeda in iraq. it was the key enemy in anbar province and the americans and their whole strategy back then did manage to convince the sunni tribes to turn against al qaeda and fight alongside them. that materializing. there was a relationship that was developed there. the problem is that after the u.s. withdrew the sunnis largely felt as america abandoned them to what was nuri al maliki's shi'a-dominated government which in turn acted

to further aggravate the sunni population. there is so much anger against the sunnis toward the government and to the united states because they feel they have been abandoned again. they feel as if the government and america should have armed them a year ago. they feel the u.s. could have done more when it comes to the air strikes. the other issue of concern, too, among the sunni population that we have been speaking to especially from anbar is the fate of the civilians that remain trapped in the isis controlled areas. we were at the refugee camp where we met a number of relatives who are stuck in the neighborhoods that isis took over a year ago when they launched the initial surprise attack in ramadi. these are civilians unable to flee quickly at the time because they had little children or ill elderly among them or did not have a car to get out. and isis set up check points and has been shooting at anyone who does try to leave.

so it is still a complicated battle field. it is one that is fraught with so many potential problems. >> thank you, arwa. new questions about a federal grand jury in chicago has indicted dennis hastert on financial misconduct and lying to the fbi. the indictment alleges hastert restructured bank withdrawals. it says he paid $3.5 million in hush money to someone in order to keep secret unspecified misconduct dating as far back to his days as a high school wrestling coach. there was no response on thursday when cnn knocked on the door of hastert's home in illinois. former colleagues are reacting to the indictment. >> i'm just shocked and disheartened that dennis hastert found himself in a position he

had to do something this drastic. obviously clearly he must have known it was illegal to do it in the way they structured it because that's the way they structured it. on a personal level, shock and dismay. i hope they get it worked out. from the fbi perspective. i used to be an fbi agent. lots of questions. was it extorted where individual aid is likely to have cooperated? i think there is a lot more story to be told here. >> in the wake of the investigation, the 73-year-old hastert has resigned his position as a lobbyist. a job he held since 2007 leaving congress. this morning, three days remain before the intelligence program shutdown unless lawmakers find a compromise. the white house says there is no plan b if legal authority expires and the nsa is forced to shutdown the data collection programs. that puts pressure on leaders

scrambleing for a solution. the surveillance programs have never made a critical difference in stopping a terror attack. the death toll rising from the storms in oklahoma and texas. as of this morning, 23 people have been killed and 17 in texas and 6 in oklahoma. this morning, crews are scouring the wreckage of cars and homes in hays county. crews are searching for nine people still known to be missing. with rain pouring down this morning and more rain in the forecast today, the danger has not passed. >> is the worst over? >> i don't think so. i would like to say it is but i'm not sure the worst is over because of the way the weather is running and we are so saturated in almost all parts of texas. >> now eight of those still missing in texas are from three families whose vacation cabin

was sweltpt away by the blanco river. they have identified the body of michelle charba on wednesday. jennifer gray has more. >> reporter: eight people still missing that were swept away by the blanco river over the weekend. three people have been identified. one person is pending identification. of course michelle charba was found. she is the latest person to be identified. unfortunately unfortunately, her husband and son as well as her parents are missing. we have been hearing so much about jonathan mccomb. he actually was okay. he is in the hospital recovering. he does have serious injuries. he is expected to make a full recovery. the rest of his family his wife and two kids are still missing as well. it has been a gut-wrenching couple of days for the people in wimberley as the crews continue the clean up along the banks.

we are anticipating more rain possible today as well as through the weekend. search crews are out and they say they are not going to give up until they find the rest of the missing eight people. they will search by foot boat and by air and they are not going to stop. in fact there are 40 to 50 crews out there with nine canine units. they are searching debris piles along the banks of the blanco river hoping for any sign of those missing eight people as their families wait to hear answers. >> the weather pattern is hitting oklahoma hard. look at the town of lawton. 4 inches of rain fell in places fast. you see the water reached the top of the car tires there. more severe weather in the forecast all the way through the weekend. several more inches of rainfall on already saturated ground. meteorologist derek van dam has more. new to cnn overnight

dallas/ft. worth breaks the wettest month of may on record with 14 inches of rain fallen so far. we still have some time to go. here is the forecast rainfall today. over the next 24 hours, we have the possibility of .25 to .50 of rainfall across dallas. some could experience more over central and eastern texas and parts of oklahoma. that is why we still have flood watches and warnings ongoing through the rest of today and early parts of the weekend. we have a possibility of severe weather over the texas panhandle and we can't rule out the possibility of damaging winds and large hail as far north as chicago and grand rapids michigan. let's talk about the cold front responsible for the change in seasons into next week. we will dry out across the area with the excessive rain. look at the temperature drop for the nation's capital. nearly 20 degrees from sunday into monday. enjoy. wow. thanks derek.

time for an early start on your money. stock futures are slipping ahead of the open. a new look at u.s. gdp will be out at 8:30 a.m. eastern time. that could give the market direction. it is expected to show a decline in the economic growth in the first quarter. so google wants your money. they are launching android pay. it is a big improvement from google wallet. google has been working with major credit cards and carriers on android pay. it will work at more than 700,000 stores across the united states. there are times that were interesting. apple pay and google pay trying to fix a problem that doesn't exist. most people think credit cards and cash are easy to use. 41 minutes after the hour. dramatic testimony in the colorado movie massacre trial. what one psychiatrist is saying about the mental health of shooter james holmes. that's next.

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a personal emergency could happen at any time. be prepared. make sure you have auto alert. if you or someone you love would like information about philips lifeline with autoalert call now and we'll send you this free brochure and ask about free activation when you order. call this number. call now. jurors in the murder trial of aurora movie theater shooter james holmes saw him on video thursday describing his thoughts as the debate rages if he was insane at the time of the rampage. psychiatrist who interviewed him testified that holmes was sane and he knew what he was doing and he also knew the consequences for that action. ana cabrera has latest. >> reporter: we are getting to the crux of the trial.

was holmes insane when he opened fire in july of 2012. the two mental evaluations were ordered. the second evaluation just happened last year. performed by a doctor william reid. he told jurors he concluded holmes was sane at the time of the shooting. he spent a total of nine sessions with holmes. 22 hours. it was all taped. the prosecution just shortedtarted to show the video to the jurors. we asked him about his childhood and upbringing and relationship with parents and as a student. we have not heard questioning about the shooting itself. i want to play you a clip where you hear dr. reid ask holmes about his time in jail and visit by his parents. >> emotional for them? >> yeah. >> how did they show the emotion, do you remember?

sometimes moms break down a bit. >> she broke down when she was leaving. she held up pretty well. >> how about you? did you get a tear in your eye? >> nope. >> did you ever get tears in your eye? >> yeah sometimes. >> what brings tears to your eyes sometimes? >> just regrets. >> regret. can you tell me a little more? >> usually it is before i go to sleep. >> regrets about? >> about the shooting. >> reporter: that video was from july 30 2013. two years after the shooting.

also important to know that the doctor told jurors holmes was on anti-depressants and anti-psychotic medication. we expect to hear more later this morning. john. ana, thanks so much. politics now. former governor george pataki has joined the republican field. he announced his bid in exeter new hampshire. he declared himself a champion of small government. the governor says washington has grown too big, too powerful too expensive and too intrusive. hillary clinton's campaign will bring out the big guns at the first major rally on june 13th. bill clinton and chelsea clinton

will make the campaign. all right. fifa the governing body for soccer or football facing its biggest scandal ever. one of the biggest scandals ever in sports. the president says don't blame me. vote for me. we are live with that part of the story next.

fifa is forging ahead with

the presidential elections in zurich despite the scandal. sepp blatter, the embattled head of the governing body, is expected to win a fifth term. he is vowing to keep competency in the group and distancing himself from the scandal. >> i know many are blaming me for the scandals and actions of the global football community. me or i, cannot monitor everyone all of the time. >> i cannot monitor everyone all of the time. let's go live to zurich and bring in sports correspondent alex thomas. alex sepp blatter, shocking. >> reporter: this is shocking john after the headlines this

week. you join me here in zurich as music blasts from behind me from the palestinian protest. one the items on the agenda before congress is a request to have israel's football association thrown out. that has become a side issue ahead of the presidential election. sepp blatter standing up against prince ali hussein of jordan. he has been given no chance this week, but now a slim one because of the scandal in a watershed week for the most popular sport on the planet. but, 209 votes are up for grabs. even a small european nation like andora has the same one vote as the united states with the population of around 310 million. we know the usa, australia and european countries will vote for prince ali, but blatter has loads of support. he tried to explain it. when you have a friend who is dating someone they don't like and they ask why, they get told

because he treats me like i'm special. that is blatter's appeal to those around the world. >> a lot of people suggest a lot of money passing over the years. alex thanks. 54 minutes after the hour. it is time to stop procrastinating and refinance your mortgage. otherwise it will cost you. we have an early start on your money next.

time for an early start on your money. stock futures are down this morning, but markets in asia and europe are mixed. it has been a wild week for

stocks. today's focus is economic growth. the second reading on the gdp is expected to be negative. it is may 29th. it is 5/29 on the calendar. that means 529 college saves day. 2/3 of americans have no idea what that means, but 83% say they cannot afford the cost of college. it is a tax savings plans sponsored by states. what most americans know is higher education is wicked expensive and getting more so. it is like buying four new cars in a row. most families not afford that. so celebrate 529 college savings day. if you have been procrastinating and haven't refinanced your mortgage yet, it has reached a 30-year fixed rate of 3.1%.

a stronger housing market and fed rate hike will likely push mortgage rates higher. "early start" continues right now. happening now, a new strategy to fight isis after a series of defeats, the u.s. is shifting its game plan on how to take down the terrorists. we will take you live to baghdad. the former speaker of the house now accused of paying to hide misconduct. new severe storms pounding texas as rescuers sift through the rubble to find flood victims. good morning. welcome to "early start." i'm john berman. it is friday may 29th.