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At This Hour

Negotiation Pressure Mounts as Israel-Hamas Cease-Fire Nears End; CDC Goes on High Alert Over Ebola; President Obama to Sign VA Reform Bill

Aired August 07, 2014 - 11:00   ET

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

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MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: @THISHOUR, pressure is building on negotiators as the clock ticks toward an end to the fragile cease-fire in the Middle East. Will words or weapons win out?

Then @THISHOUR, the president is preparing to sign into law an emergency funding bill for the scandal-plagued Department of Veterans Affairs. We're going to tell you what is in store for America's vets?

And as the Ebola outbreak gets worse in West Africa, the CDC goes on high alert to help fight the spread of that deadly virus.

Good morning. We'll have all those stories and much more @THISHOUR. I'm Michaela Pereira. Thanks for joining me. John Berman is on assignment.

We are now 58 hours into the cease-fire in the Middle East, but the top of the hour glass is running out of sand, 14 more hours, just 14 more hours, until the truce window expires unless negotiators in Cairo can extend it or come up with a more lasting peace.

Israeli government officials tell CNN they're willing to extend the current truce without conditions while the Palestinian side says there is progress but no breakthrough.

We want to bring you the very latest @THISHOUR from Saima Mohsin in Jerusalem. We have Reza Sayah in Cairo, and I think, Reza, we should start with you.

We talk about this clock ticking. We talk about the intensity. Do you think there is a sense more of a sense of urgency now? Is there any confidence that they're going to come to any sort of break-through?

REZA SAYAH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I don't think there's any question about it, Michaela, with the clock ticking you really get the sense the drama is building and the pressure is building for these two sides, the Palestinians and Israelis, and Egypt as the broker to make something happen.

According to the Palestinian delegation, they've been in and out of closed-door meetings for the past several hours. It's been very tough to monitor and gauge these talks because they're indirect negotiations being held in secret, but based on the information we have, here's where things stand.

According to the Palestinian official, the Palestinian negotiating team is waiting to hear back from the Israelis through the Egyptians.

Now that suggests that the Palestinians have put forth some kind of proposal, they've put forth their demand, and they're waiting to hear back from the Israelis, this Palestinian official telling CNN that depending on what they hear back they could have an announcement by 10:00 p.m. tonight, Michaela. That's roughly four hours.

PEREIRA: You're breaking some news there. By 10:00 p.m. tonight, local time, there could be an announcement.

Again, talk to us about the sticking points. We know that we -- that on the Israeli side, they're talking about getting out of the -- taking the terrorists out of Gaza. They want that to be a main issue.

And we know on the Palestinian side, they're saying they want that border open, and they want to have Israel out of Gaza. Give us an understanding of more what's going on?

SAYAH: Yes. @THISHOUR, all indications are that the sticking point is what to do with the framework, the time frame of this cease cease- fire.

All indications are the Israelis want to extend it beyond 8:00 a.m. Friday morning. They want to keep talking, but not all the Palestinians, notably, Hamas, who was leading the fight in Gaza, they're not on board.

They're essentially saying they agreed to come to Cairo, to have these talks, to talk about the bigger issues, the so-called core demands and they say they're not going to extend it without some sort of concession.

So the question is, will the cease-fire be extended unconditionally, what the Israelis want, or will the Israelis make a condition, give in to at least one or more of Hamas's demands, which is what the Palestinians are looking for.

PEREIRA: And that's a real concern right there too, is within the Palestinian delegation, there are factions within that delegation. If they can come to a consensus on their own even is a concern.

Reza, stay with us. I want to bring in Saima now from Jerusalem. Let's talk about what the sense is of things on the region where you are. Obviously there's a lot of tension on both sides. We keep talking about -- we're wondering on your end what you're hearing about hope for a breakthrough?

SAIMA MOHSIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Michaela, it was late last night when an Israeli official told me Israel is willing to extend this cease- fire if it is unconditional, but, of course, we all know that both sides do come to the table with preconditions.

Dore Gold, the prime minister's adviser on foreign policy, told CNN earlier today that redevelopment and reconstruction of Gaza seriously depends on the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip, so there is a huge condition there in itself.

Of course, for Hamas' part, they want to see -- and other parties that represent Gaza as well -- they want to see the end of the economic blockade of Gaza. Let's remember that beyond operation protective edge there is an economic blockade of Gaza. This has been going on for a while now, and that's what they want to see the end to.

And of course, the Israelis say they want to see an end to the -- the demilitarization of the militant groups, but let's not forget it's not all militant groups that live in Gaza. There are civilians there still picking up the pieces of their lives.

Michaela?

PEREIRA: Yeah. It's a very important point, and I appreciate you bringing that up, Saima, the human factor in all of this.

A big thank you to Reza Sayah and Saima. We appreciate you both joining us @THISHOUR.

We want to turn to our military analyst, retired Lieutenant Colonel Rick Francona. He's here with me in the studio.

I watched you out of the corner of my eye when our correspondents are giving us a sense of what they're seeing on the ground and you're acting -- reacting almost viscerally.

LIEUTENANT COLONEL RICK FRANCONA, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: I don't get it. This is a real opportunity for them to make some headway in the negotiations, and Hamas wants to fight just as they've been handed quite a brutal beating at the hands of the IDF.

They've lost their tunnels, their big strategic weapon. Their rockets have been proven ineffective. They've got a few rockets left, but do they really want to get in another fight with the Israelis?

They need to stay at the table and talk about these things, but if their conditions are to have all of these -- the blockade lifted and all that before they agree to a cease-fire I think that's a nonstarter.

PEREIRA: So talk about the fact that you have a Palestinian delegation there. It's not just made up of Hamas. There are other players at the table from the Palestinian side.

Is there talking to Hamas in your sense from that delegation?

FRANCONA: I would love to hear the conversations that are going on in that Palestinian delegation, because Hamas is the odd man out here, because they're the only ones that want to continue the fight.

Everybody else wants to come to some sort of agreement, and hopefully they can get to the end state at some point.

Hamas is asking for the end state now. It's just not going to happen. And the Israelis don't want to get into another fight, but they will.

PEREIRA: They will. They will, and they can. Hamas is running out of fire power and is kind of backed in a corner.

Now here's the interesting thing, and many people keep bringing this up. Look, the people of Palestine voted Hamas in, but things have changed. Is there a changing of the tide of the support they're enjoying within Palestine?

FRANCONA: That election was a long time ago.

PEREIRA: It was a long time ago.

FRANCONA: And the situation has changed dramatically. And what Hamas done for the people? They've brought how many wars, how much death and destruction into Gaza?

And the people don't see what happens in Israel. They see what happens in Gaza. They see what happens around them. They see their kids not in school. They see their houses destroyed.

PEREIRA: You only know your own reality, right?

FRANCONA: Do they want more of this? That's what Hamas is promising them. This is just a no-win for the Palestinians as long as they let Hamas dictate these terms.

PEREIRA: In terms of Egypt, they're brokering the deal, and they've got a bit skin in the game, that they share a border with Gaza. They want to make sure their security is tight along that border.

Talk to me about the intricacies of that.

FRANCONA: Yeah, the Egyptians are playing a key role here, but the Egyptian position has changed. Now, under the new government of General -- Field Marshal Assisi, President Assisi, he is no longer a friend of the Hamas government. He never was. The previous government was.

So Hamas has to factor into their calculations that their resupply, their rearmament, that always happens after these wars comes in over the Sinai border, and that's not going to happen this time. The Egyptians have closed down the tunnels. They've beefed up their military presence.

So I just don't understand how Hamas thinks they're going to be able to continue fighting the Israelis. They've got no support among the Palestinians, very little support among the people now that they've brought all this to them, and the Egyptians not on their side.

PEREIRA: And are you hopeful they can at least delay or extend, if you will, the cease-fire?

FRANCONA: I think that the Palestinian delegation is going to put so much pressure on Hamas they're going to have to.

PEREIRA: Lieutenant Colonel Rick Francona, with me here in studio, appreciate it.

We're going to take a short break. Ahead, we turn our eyes on Hawaii. The people there of Hawaii bracing for not one, but two back-to-back hurricanes. They haven't been hit in the past 20 years. Many folks are scrambling to prepare. We'll take a look at how that state is preparing.

Also ahead, the president is ready to sign a V.A. reform bill that promises to help veteran get the timely medical care they need and deserve. We're going to bring that to you live when it happens.

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PEREIRA: The deadly Ebola outbreak is getting worse. The number of deaths now well over 900, with hundreds more infected in four West African nations.

Here at home, though, the CDC has now issued its highest level of alert for the Ebola virus ,and the World Health Organization is meeting to decide whether they're going to declare an outbreak of a global health emergency, making it a public health emergency, internationally.

Meanwhile, the family of Nancy Writebol, the American missionary who became infected in Liberia, says they are encouraged by her condition. She continues to improve.

Want to bring in our Dr. Sanjay Gupta. He is in Atlanta this morning, joining us.

Good to have you with us. We've been talking all day about the new alert from the CDC. You happen to be there when the decision was made and the announcement was made.

Give folks sort of a primer on what this means and what it looks like.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: First of all it's a pretty unusual step. I mean, this has happened in the past, for example, during H1N1. The CDC was at Level 1 then, and before that Hurricane Katrina, just to give you an idea of how frequent or infrequent it is.

It -- basically it's mobilizing a lot more manpower, if you will, at the CDC, their headquarters in Atlanta, but also mobilizing people to go into the field in West Africa. They're going to have 50 more people going there over the next several weeks.

So, you know, that -- these are part of what happens -- the sort of thing that happens during a Level 1.

I think it's a question of saying, we are focusing on a lot of things as an agency; now we're going to focus most of our attention on Ebola, and we may pull in people who have high levels of expertise from other agencies into the CDC to help that focus as well.

PEREIRA: Even a few more resources too, Sanjay, in terms of finances and more bodies sent where they need to be?

GUPTA: I asked the question about money and that -- that was a more opaque answer, if you will, Michaela. That's always the right -- I mean, that's the question one asks. Does this mean dollars are attached to a Level 1 alert?

In some ways there's still a certain amount of money within the CDC that could be reallocated, but there was no indication to me that more money was coming from other areas within the federal government to the CDC for this specifically.

I don't know that that's not happening, but that wasn't made clear to me. But it is more manpower specifically devoted to Ebola, both in West Africa and at home.

PEREIRA: You send attention where it's need. Speaking of that, the head of the CDC, Dr. Thomas Frieden, will testify in a couple hours time calm hours time from now before Congress. What are you expecting to hear out of that testimony and in this hearing?

GUPTA: I think -- It could be a little fiery. I'm not sure, but I think there's going to be questions about were there any mistakes made, mistakes in the sense that, did people react too slowly in some regard with West Africa and Ebola. I think the question about the two American missionaries coming here, how that whole thing happened, the approvals that may have been required. Also this experimental treatment, this experimental serum. There's obviously a lot of scientific, medical and ethical issues surrounding that. I think some of those questions may get asked as well.

Keep in mind, Michaela, Senator -- I'm sorry, Dr. Frieden has been on the hill recently giving some testimony regarding the lapses at the CDC so this is twice in a relatively short time. I don't know that that will come up, I'm not sure it's relevant, but you never know with this sort of thing.

PEREIRA: Well it is relevant only in the respect that what were they in trouble for, the way procedures weren't necessarily followed and the handling of some toxic substances, which would make one wonder how things are going to be handled this time around. But it sounds, and from what everything you've shown us, Sanjay, there is no reason to suspect at all that that's the same case here?

GUPTA: Right. You make a very good point. Because the lapses that we're talking about in the past were with anthrax, they were with smallpox, they were with H1N1 flu, and some of those could have been very serious lapses if they had -- if other things had happened, a lot of people could have been affected by that. We are talking about an infectious agent here, if protocols are followed, I've said from the beginning I will say it now, the risk to the general public is nil, there is really no risk to the general public. But I think the question of if protocol falls apart, if somebody doesn't do what they're supposed to do, a lapse, what then? That may come up.

PEREIRA: I appreciate that you reiterate that. I think we can't reiterate it enough. Because, again, you want to take the hand off the panic button. We do need to care, we do need to be aware and protocols need to be followed but there is no need, as you mentioned, for us to panic here stateside.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thank you again for joining us @THISHOUR.

GUPTA: You got it.

PEREIRA: A short break here. Still ahead, we are awaiting comments from the president. He is getting set to sign a V.A. reform bill expected to cost about $16.3 billion. Is money the answer to the problems of this broken agency? What else is being done? We'll talk to Drew Griffin ahead.

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PEREIRA: For much of the past year, CNN has been reporting on the scandalous lack of care that many American veterans have had to endure at V.A. hospitals across the country. Well, all that digging is about to pay off. Minutes from now the President is going to sign a bill that authorizes $16 billion in emergency funding to the V.A.

Our senior investigative correspondent Drew Griffin is in Phoenix which is the very epicenter of the V.A. scandal. Good to have you with us this morning, Drew, thank you. I got to say, it was your reporting, and we know this, that started it all out by shining a big old spotlight on the V.A. Since then the Secretary Shinseki stepped down, the V.A. is about to get this major boost in funding, to address many of the problems that your reporting pointed out. I have to wonder what is going through your mind right now, Drew?

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER: Well, I think it's very gratifying that this bill will be signed and this emergency relief money will be sent to the V.A., Michaela, but quite frankly I just hope that by signing this bill, the president and the congresses don't declare the V.A. is now fixed and they walk away from this issue, because in essence, this is an emergency spending bill that is sending billions and billions of dollars to the very bureaucracy that screwed this up in the first place. And the V.A. will continue to operate as it has unless it has very active, aggressive management and very active and aggressive oversight.

And quite frankly, the president was late to this issue. He almost had to be dragged to this issue that he's signing today and I just want to -- I guess this goes for CNN too, I don't want us to take our foot off the gas pedal because there is a lot more reporting to be done on this story, a lot worse stories are going to be coming out of the V.A., and as we see the new Secretary, Bob McDonald, take over and try to change the culture, that needs to be a big part of our reporting and congressional and presidential oversight.

PEREIRA: So let's make an agreement to not take our foot off the gas pedal then. I know that you won't, and I know that we certainly won't @THISHOUR. I want to get to the question of bureaucracy and mismanagement in a second, but first I think it bears in advance of the signing of this bill to break down what you know about the guts of it and what you consider the most critical part of it? GRIFFIN: Right. Yes, It's got a long title but I think you can call

it the no more excuses bill. Ten billion dollars, up to $10 billion, over the next several years, Michaela, is specifically set aside to the V.A. for any veteran that can't get timely service at a V.A. facility, here's the money, send that veteran to a private health care facility, private doctor, whatever, and get that veteran treated. That's No. 1. So that should end any reason for any secret lists, waiting lists at all. Veterans are going to be treated timely with this bill.

The next thing, do we have a problem with not enough doctors, not enough nurses? OK V.A., here's $5 billion, go out and hire them, bring them into the system. And do we not have enough space to put those doctors and nurses? This gives a couple more billion dollars to acquire leases for medical facilities. That's why I call it the no excuses bill. It is called some kind of access health care bill, but it basically says to the V.A., there is no reason for any veteran to be waiting for health care anymore, and as soon as the president signs it, it should be enacted.

PEREIRA: And look, we all support those things that are getting done. I appreciate the fact that all of those issues you talked about more resources, more doctors, nurses, to obliterate those wait list times, allowing them to have private insurance outside of the system, I think we can all get behind that. But you've talked to us from the very beginning about the fact that funding wasn't necessarily the thing that was need, that it was addressing the bureaucracy, the mismanagement at the top and at the middle. Has there been anything done? Is there any disciplinary action being taken?

GRIFFIN: Well, you know, a couple -- they've begun the firing process for a couple of top-level people. We've seen some pretty big resignations and retirements and they have started some demotions. This bill actually, supposedly, gives more control of firing, and more timely firing, to the V.A. secretary to get rid of some of these people.

But as a whole, I mean, if we're looking at huge wait lists and veterans dying on those wait lists across the country, Michaela, the veterans' families I'm talking to are saying, where's the punishment? Where's the criminal charges being brought against these people, let alone firings?

Right now we have a lot of people who are waiting to be fired, sitting home getting paid by U.S. taxpayers as their firing process goes through the system. To a lot of those families it's not justice, and as you say, getting back to the changing of the culture. Bob McDonald, you know, he's been V.A. secretary about a week now, has vowed to do just that and we just need to make sure that he is doing that and that he's getting, quite frankly, the support to do that in a V.A. bureaucracy that has been very resistant to change.

PEREIRA: Drew Griffin, we appreciate it. We appreciate your reporting. And we hope that CNN and you and us, we all stay on top of this story to make sure this isn't seen as a situation that is fixed, because clearly there's things that still need to be done. And, again, we're bringing you -- we will bring you live event, where the President is set to speak from Fort Belvoir, Virginia, a military base about 20 miles south of Washington, D.C., where he is expected to sign -- where he will sign the veterans affairs reform bill, bringing additional funding to that beleaguered department.

All right. Short break here. We're going to head back to look at the Ebola virus. That virus continues to spread in West Africa. CNN is reporting from the very heart of where the epidemic is at its worst. We are going to take you there. We're also going to take a look at the experimental drug used to treat two Americans with Ebola. Is enough of the drug being produced to help others fight the virus?

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