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Funeral Service Held for Joan Rivers; President Obama to Reveal Strategy to Defeat ISIS This Week; Atlanta Hawks Owner Bruce Levenson to Voluntarily Sell Team; California Facing One of the Worst Droughts on Record; Parents in the Denver Area on High Alert

Aired September 07, 2014 - 17:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST, NEWSROOM: All right, thanks for joining me. The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM begins right now with Poppy Harlow in New York.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, everyone, you're in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Poppy Harlow joining you from New York.

President Obama will reveal his strategy to defeat ISIS this week. The president will outline his game plan in a speech to the nation on Wednesday. He says that the U.S. is preparing to go on the offensive in the next phase of the fight against ISIS. And he also explained today, on NBC's "Meet the Press" what his plan does not include.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This is not going to be an announcement about U.S. ground troops. This is not the equivalent of the Iraq war. What this is is similar to the kind counterterrorism campaigns that we've been engaging in consistently over the last five, six, seven years.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: We're going talk about that a lot this hour. Erin McPike first joins us from the White House. Erin, what do we know at this point about the president's plan to combat is? And also, he did talk in the interview about going to Congress. So what does he want from Congress?

ERIN MCPIKE, CNN GENERAL ASSIGNMENT CORRESPONDENT: OK, Well Poppy, first, we know the president wants to equip and train Iraqi and Kurdish forces so they can be the ones fighting on the ground there. He also wants the U.S. and other countries try to find ways to choke off the formidable funding that ISIS has.

What we don't know, what we expect the speech to answers is, will the U.S. seek to undertake air strikes in Syria? It will be trickier if that's the case than it was in Iraq because the U.S. government has been working closely with the Iraqi government but the U.S. does not support the government of Bashar al-Assad. So how will they do that if they do?

Now, as far as Congress is concerns, the big question is, will President Obama seek a congressional authorization, will he put it to a vote? With those land two months to go before midterm elections, many members may not want to seek a vote. Some do want to be On the Record for a vote. Diane Feinstein said that this morning that she does think the president needs to go about this legislatively. He made need a vote as far as funding goes but expect the speech will answer just how involved he wants Congress to get, Poppy.

HARLOW: Interesting to hear from Diane Feinstein, the chairman of the Senate intelligence committee that warning after last week saying, look, the president may be too cautious, saying this morning, she's congratulating him, saying he's on the offense.

We'll be watching this very closely. Erin McPike at the White House, thank you very much.

You know, one thing is for sure, the president says there will be more air strikes. What he calls going on some offense. Here with me to talk about the details of what we could see, what the U.S. strategy could be, and should be, Robert McFadden, former U.S. military intelligence agent. Join me now also Christopher Dickey, foreign editor with "the Daily Beast." Thank you for being here. We appreciate it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pleasure.

HARLOW: Bob, let me go to you first. When you talk, the president is going to need a coalition, a strong coalition of our allies in the region to help, Iraq being foremost in that. Do you think that having the Iraqi presence, boots on the ground is coordinated enough at this point to work along with U.S. air strikes and other actions on the U.S.' part? Because the president made clear, I think, three times in this interview, no boots on the ground from the U.S.

ROBERT MCFADDEN, FORMER U.S. MILITARY INTELLIGENCE AGENT: That's right. I mean, in brief, no, it's inadequate up to this point. But with the upward of 1300 military advisers in country if Iraq, you know, there's a lot of work in that respect going on right now. So that's a crucial component of combating ISIS.

HARLOW: Don't you need it soon? I mean, even if we have our best and brightest there on the ground, training them, it takes a while.

MCFADDEN: That's right. We have to put in the prosecutor perspective on the time sequence, which there is a great urgency. But you have air strikes and air cover; you have intelligence surveillance reconnaissance flights to continue in Iraq and Syria, now preparation of battle space. And on a daily, if not hourly basis, there that is coordination and assistance in advisory mission going on with Iraqi forces, as well as Kurdish forces.

HARLOW: To you, Chris, you brought up an interesting and important point lately. There's only so far, so much you can do with air strikes. What you cannot do, you have said is you cannot hold ground that you have won, you can't do that. Is that where the weakness is for the United States right now? CHRISTOPHER DICKEY, FOREIGN EDITOR, THE DAILY BEAST: Well, that's

where the big question is. If you're not going to put American boots of the ground to hold the ground, who is going to hold it? And not just Iraq, who is going to hold it with Syria?

HARLOW: So do you work with the free Syrian army then and then maybe down the road Assad's forces?

DICKEY: Well, that would be kind of a contradiction in terms, although, these things happen in the Middle East. But in fact, no. I think that the idea is that they will work with the free Syrian army. Whether they'll be able to get enough presence on the ground from the free Syrian army, I doubt.

I think the big question mark here is Turkey. Turkey has, I think, 650,000 men and women under arms, its NATO army. It is will the border not only with Syria and Iraq; it's on the border with ISIS. So, what are the Turks going to do? Up until now they had been facilitating support for a lot of the jihadists and anti- Assad groups. Are they going to be able to cut off ISIS? And will they be able to threaten military pressure against ISIS? All that's up in the area and secretary of defense Hagel is going to be a Cora tomorrow. I expect talking about exactly those issues.

HARLOW: And you heard the president, to you Bob, talking in the interview, on "Meet the Press" today saying, look we need our coalition, we need our allies in the region to step up, here are saying they're at risk as well. Outside of Turkey, you look at Saudi Arabia, you look at Jordan, you look at UAE, what can the U.S. bet on?

MCFADDEN: Well, as pointed out, the second priority of the president outlined besides going after this thing called the Islamic state for the Sunni gulf Arab states to set aside the secular divide and get in the fight, paraphrasing. So they have so much at stake when it comes to regional actors. And as Christopher said, Turkey's a key. But Jordan, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait, for example, stopping their sons from going to those places and forcing their laws of about going there the financial aspect.

HARLOW: Who is the most reliable partner right now for the United States?

DICKEY: Jordan, wouldn't you say?

MCFADDEN: Right out of my mouth, Jordan.

DICKEY: Absolutely, Jordan the most reliable partner.

MCFADDEN: And capable.

DICKEY: Very good army, very smart intelligence operations, and very loyal friend of the United States.

HARLOW: Well, we also heard the president say in the in-depth interview this morning is that they need to get a moderate Sunni opposition. What does that take? DICKEY: You know, one of the things that they're hoping, certainly,

in the fight against ISIS is that a lot of the Sunni groups that are affiliated with ISIS but not actually part of ISIS will turn against it at some point. Now, one of our correspondents in Baghdad just last month was talking to Sunni there's who were saying, we're just waiting for the moment to turn against ISIS. Well they're not going to do that unless they see momentum on the side of the enemies of ISIS.

HARLOW: What would inspire them to do that?

DICKEY: This happens in a lot of the war zones. That people, groups there were groups that supported the Taliban who when the Americans started to put military pressure, military pressure after 9/11 on Afghanistan, they turned on the Taliban like that.

There are groups in Iraq that might turn just as quickly against ISIS. Right now, they're working with them. They have their own grievances against what was the Maliki government in Baghdad and against Iran. It's a very complicated picture there. But certainly the hope that is some of the Sunnis will turn against ISIS. And already, there are Sunnis fighting against ISIS.

HARLOW: Bob, this week we heard defense secretary Chuck Hagel in an interview here on CNN with Jim Sciutto, say, you know, we better be taking ISIS seriously. This is an army. We heard the president in his language of late in the interview that aired this morning saying the same thing. But there are also some that say, look, al-Qaeda still has more international intentions than ISIS does. Do you believe that to be the case or should we be treating is as though they have every intent to do as much harm as possible to the western world?

MCFADDEN: On the latter part, you can't rule that out. It's too dangerous of an animal. Yes, it's hyper focused on the region and holding on to territory. But the number of foreign fighters going back and forth, even in small numbers, that's going to be continued to be in danger.

But to the earlier part of question, though, with time that the offer is statement this week about a new franchise in India, we can't rule out, in fact, U.S. intelligence officials at top continue to speak about the foremost international terrorist threats still represented by al-Qaeda and continues to be its mission. Its lethality remains to be seen with the Tunisia's (ph) pursuit of al-Qaeda leadership but it's still there.

HARLOW: An important for intelligence officials to keep a very close eye on both.

DICKEY: Sure. And one of the big issues is whether al-Qaeda will try and one-up ISIS by doing something more spectacular.

HARLOW: Let's hope not. I wish we have more time, gentlemen. Thank you both for being with us. You are going to join us later in the hour. Thank you for being here. We appreciate it.

Coming up next here in the NEWSROOM, a big story just developing, the owner of the Atlanta Hawks selling his team because of an email he sent about his team fans two years ago with remarks he now says were, quote, "inappropriate and offensive." We'll tell you what the email said.

Also, the stars turned out in droves for Joan Rivers' funeral. Stay with us for highlights.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARLOW: The NBA is dealing with a new controversy involving offensive remarks by team owner, Atlanta Hawks owner Bruce Levenson, says he will sell his majority stake in the team after revealing that he wrote an email two years ago complaining about the Hawks' failure to attract more white fans.

It reads in part quote "I start looking around our arena during our games and notice the following. It's 70 percent black. The cheerleaders are black. Music is hip-hop. At the bars it's 90 percent black. There are few fathers and sons at the game."

It went on to read quote "we are doing after game concerts to attract more fans and the concerts are either hip-hop or gospel. My theory is that the black crowd scared away the whites and there are simply not enough affluent enough black fans to build a significant season ticket base."

Levenson's self-reported this email in the league last month. Just as the NBA was dealing with its punishment to then-Clippers owner, Donald Sterling, for his remarks. Back in May, Bruce Levenson told Wolf Blitzer that he could not work with someone like Donald sterling. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRUCE LEVENSON, ATLANTA HAWKS OWNER: Donald Sterling, what he said, I'm his partner. I can't be partners with somebody who shares those views. I was voted into this league by my partners. I can be voted out of this league by my partners. I think I speak for all my partners when I say we were all deeply offended and we all quickly spoke out against these words that we heard on that tape.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Rachel Nichols, host of CNN's "UNGUARDED" who follows the NBA in all this very closely joins me from the U.S. open. So, we know that Bruce Levenson has apologized, he self-reported this. He's going to sell the team. How's the NBA responding?

RACHEL NICHOLS, CNN ANCHOR, UNGUARDED WITH RACHEL NICHOLS: There's been a lot of shock around the NBA today. You've got to remember, Donald Sterling had a history of being accused of racism. In fact, he was sued for racial discrimination by our own U.S. government.

Bruce Levenson has never faced any kind of public accusation of racism. And in fact, he was one of the most vocal owners to come out against sterling. You just played that clip on Wolf Blitzer's show and I was actually on with Wolf that day. And Levenson was very strong saying, there has to be a zero tolerance policy. Well, that zero tolerance policy, in this post-Sterling era, now of course applies to him as well. And he knows that it's why he self-reported the email.

And I'm told that's why he called Adam Silver last night and just told him he did not want to go through the court of public opinion with his family getting dragged through the mud, his decisions and words being questioned, that he knew he was wrong and that he decided it was in everyone's best interests to sell the team.

This is the kind of thing, this email coming out, remember they released the email itself. This is a transparency issue. The NBA and Bruce Levenson in fact in this case, specifically has decided instead of allowing for some witch hunt for this email, because you know the email's going to come out anyway, they would get ahead of it, he would admit he's wrong, and he does apologize, that goes a long way with people but he's going to have to sell the team.

HARLOW: A lot of people are asking right now. They want to know. I don't know if they will ever get the answer as to why he decided to self-report this. I don't know if you have any insight of that. But additionally, you have said, Rachel, that this is the reality in the post-Donald Sterling world for the NBA.

NICHOLS: Yes, I mean look, it's unclear. Only Bruce Levenson knows and he hasn't shared it yet. I asked someone at NBA offices if they know why he decided in the middle of the summer to suddenly self- report a 2-year-old email and he they said they didn't know his thinking, I don't know if he had a moral crisis of conscious. I don't know if someone sad they were going to do for him if he didn't do it himself. But he did come forward himself and decide to do it. And I think he does know that this is a more sensitive time.

Things have changes since Donald sterling's incident earlier this spring. And I think the NBA had to declare a portion on this. They made it clear. This is not OK. We will not tolerate this at all. And that means at all. So instead of dealing with potential player boycott, which is what they were dealing with potentially in L.A., instead of dealing with sponsors who may were going to pull out, instead of question about a double standard they launched the independent investigation and Bruce Levenson came to them before the investigation was even completed and said, you know what, I realize it's in everyone's best interest for me to walk away. Now, he is going to walk away a rich man we saw the Clipper sell for $2 billion. The Hawks are not going to sell for that much, but at least half of that, probably more. So he's going to be OK, too.

HARLOW: Yes. Zero tolerance so clearly here from the NBA. We'll be following it. We know you'll be all over the story. Rachel Nichols, thank you. We appreciate it.

And coming up next here in the NEWSROOM, Joan Rivers, with celebrities, bagpipes and a song from Hugh Jackman. We will have the highlights from her memorial next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARLOW: If she were here to see it, she would be pleased with all who showed up. Joan Rivers really getting the Hollywood send-off that she would have appreciated and certainly deserved. Whoopee Goldberg, Donald Trump, Diane Sawyer, Barbara Walters among the many celebrities, friends seen arriving for the private service held today in New York. Rivers died Thursday at New York Mount Sinai Hospital, a week after she suffered cardiac and respiratory arrest during a medical procedure at a clinic.

Our Alexandria field has been covering the story throughout. And you were there today. I know press was not allowed inside. But what can you tell us about it?

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right. It was an invitation-only service. But there's this really wonderful moment right at the end when the doors of the temple just swung open and the New York police department's bagpipes and drummers spilled out on to the street and it was that moment that all the fans who lined up and who were waiting there for hours, they could really enjoy it and feel like a part of. It is one thing that Joan Rivers' friends said she would have really enjoyed.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FIELD (voice-over): A stylish sendoff complete with a bagpipe salute for the original queen of comedy, Joan Rivers. Her daughter, Melissa, and grandson, Cooper, saying good bye surrounded by thousands.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is such a private moment. And I think that Melissa has handled it with dignity and refinement and the way that the mother Joan would really wanted this to be.

JEFFREY GURIAN, COMEDIAN: It was a-list all the way. It was like very regale, very elegant.

FIELD: But not without laughter, a lot of it.

DOCTOR MEHMET OZ, TV HOST: Howard Stern started off by talking about how dry Joan's vagina was. And it's such a classic example of how she could take a very sad process and make light of it.

FIELD: Hugh Jackman performed a song, lifting spirits.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was like a New Orleans revival by the time we were done. For everybody, it was a cathartic moment, it just allowed us to let go.

FIELD: Rivers was remembered with words from her daughter Melissa and her closest friends, among them, the columnist, Cindy Adams and Deborah Norville.

DEBORAH NORVILLE, JOURNALIST: Oh my God, it was Joan all the way. The sanctuary is filled with white (INAUDIBLE) orchids. You can't see the altar because there's so many flowers. She planned every step of it. FIELD: New York City's Gay Men's chorus thrilling the crowd singing

"Big Spender." Celebrities in the audience, Donald Trump, Whoopi Goldberg, brothers, Andy Cowan, and Audra McDonald performing insight. Media stars filling the pews, Diane Sawyer, Barbara Walters, Kathie Lee Gifford, and (INAUDIBLE), fellow funny lady Kathy Griffin also there to sendoff a comedy legend.

JEFFREY ROSS, COMEDIAN: She influenced all comedians, not just women comedians. She stayed relevant into her 80s which has doesn't happen in showbizness. And I admire her. She's like my comedy aunt. If there's a God, I hope he or she is well-dressed today.

FIELD: Joan Rivers' Fashion Police co-stars came together.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Joan would say, it went off exactly as I planned it, exactly as I envisioned it. It happened sooner than I wanted it but it was perfect when it happened.

FIELD: Designer Carolina Herrera was escorted by her husband.

ROSS: Howard said he didn't know if he wanted to live in a world without Joan Rivers. I feel the same way.

FIELD: A celebrity studded sendoff fitting for a star among them.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FIELD: And Poppy, you and I were just laughing, even just hearing about Howard Stern up there cracking jokes. And that was very much the tone of the service according to everyone in there, just totally a reverend but ultimately poignant moments. And we do know that Melissa Rivers got up there. She spoke about her mother. And I asked people in the audience, you know, how did she do? Such a tough position to be in. And they said, she was so composed and so stoic and she had them laughing. And you know, the thing that few of her friends said she truly is her mother's daughter.

HARLOW: Just what her mother would want.

Joan Rivers once telling our Larry King in an interview long time ago, if you laugh with it, you can deal with it. Saying there's nothing off limits and if you can laugh about it, it makes it a little bit easier for you to deal with. So I'm glad people got laughs in a lot of good memories there.

FIELD: That's been words for today.

HARLOW: Yes, thanks. Great story. Thanks, Alex. We appreciate it.

Alter this hour, also, we are going to continue on the story. We are going to speak with Tim Teeman. He was from "the Daily Beast." He conducted the last major interview with Joan Rivers. And she shared with him her biggest fear about dying and a lot of other really fascinating details. Please stay tuned for that.

Also, coming up here in the Newsroom, a closer look at leader of ISIS and his interpretation of Islamic law. We'll delve into that, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARLOW: President Obama will address the nation on Wednesday about the threat posed by ISIS and how this country will combat. He's already offering some hints about his game plan in an interview that aired this morning on NBC's "Meet the Press." The president said the key to defeating ISIS will be to form a broad-based coalition.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: We're not looking at sending in a hundred thousand American troops. We are going to be as part of an international coalition, carrying out air strikes in support of work on the ground by Iraqi troops, Kurdish troops. We are going to be helping to put together a plan for them so that they can start retaking territory that ISIL had taken over.

What I want people to understand is, though, over the course of months we are going to be able to not just blunt the momentum of ISIL, we are going to systemically degrade their capabilities, we are going to shrink the territory that they control, and ultimately we're going to defeat them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Graeme Wood joins me now. He is a contributing editor of "the New Republic." Thank you for being with us. You wrote a fascinating piece talking about the leader of ISIS, the name that many are certainly, quickly learning, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. And wrote that ISIS is quote "almost pedantic in terms of its adherence to its own interpretation of Islamic law." You go on to say the most, it is ISIS is the most monstrous squad of historical re-enactors of all time. This is a group that is so brutal, they are willing to kill and torture their fellow Muslims. How much are they following Islamic law?

GRAEME WOOD, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR, THE NEW REPUBLIC: Well, they do have a particular interpretation of Islamic law is that rooted in the history of Islam and in particular things that were either said or attributed to the prophet Muhammad. Now, that is to say they have their own view of things and it's not widely shared by Muslims or even widely shared by radical jihadist Muslims.

So their view of things is that if they try to re-create early days of Islam, which they consider a golden period, then they will have the favor of God and they will be able to run their state in Mesopotamia in the best possible way.

HARLOW: When you look at al-Baghdadi versus bin Laden, what do you think differentiate them?

WOOD: There are few things. One is that he actually controls real estate. So Bin Laden was pretty much on the run for most of the time. He was well known to Americans. And Baghdadi has controlled a small fledgling state based in Raqqa, Syria for most of the time. But there's one other thing that's particular to his interpretation of

Islamic law and that is that he is from a particular tribe called (INAUDIBLE) and it in Islamic law there's something called the Caliph. He is the head of the Caliphate. And to be Caliph, you have to have that lineage. Osama bin laden did not have it but Baghdadi actually does.

HARLOW: So he has that. But you also note that they doesn't have the support of even majority of the ultra-radical Muslims. So does that -- does he have a risk there in terms of how effectively they can stay in power?

WOOD: Right now he really does control the territory. He controls quite well. But there is a risk, certainly, he would be alienating huge numbers of people, not just every day Muslims who have no interest in fighting. But also in the radical old guard of al-Qaeda and really the older they are, the less likely they are to be signing on to his claim to be the only true rightful leader of Muslims.

HARLOW: You write about him saying, quote, "given Baghdadi more time as Caliph might only make him more plausible in the role and allow him to draw more fighters to his state." And certainly you see that happened. You go on and say, if that is true, one concern western collar told me we'd be wise to kill him fast. Right now only an infinitesimal number of Muslims have sworn to him, the biggest danger is letting that number grow.

How do you take him out? Is this one who hiding in a cave? Is this someone who is hiding like Osama bin Laden was hiding, a little more in plain sight, if you will, then than many thought, you know? What should the tactic be here?

WOOD: Well, there are definitely people in the defense department who are working very hard to take him out right now. And I don't know exactly how they're going to end up doing it. But one thing that differentiates him from bin Laden is that he has a return address, that is, he controls a particular piece of land. And so if we can take that area under our control or find him in one of places he has to be, then finding him and assassinating him will be something we can do.

HARLOW: And quickly, before we go, in terms of successor, does ISIS have a successor in mind for al-Baghdadi?

WOOD: We don't know who their successor is. But almost certainly they so have someone in mind. Now, they do have to have all the requirements of a Caliph lined up and because they I have this strict (INAUDIBLE) view of Islamic law, those requirements are quite specific. And so it might be more difficult than some might think for them to find a particular person who fits all of the requirement for the new caliph.

HARLOW: Someone sharply in focus among intelligence officials around the world. Fascinating article, Graeme. We thank you for coming in. Appreciate it.

WOOD: Thank you.

HARLOW: Still to come in the NEWSROOM, doctors are saying they have never seen anything like it, a respiratory virus so bad that sends hundred of children to the hospital in ten states. We will explain that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARLOW: Doctors in the Midwest are calling it unprecedented. It is a respiratory illness that are striking children so hard it's sending more kids to intensive care than one doctor has seen in 30 years in pediatrics. Hundred of suspected cases have been reported in ten states. The CDC now warning this could be just the tip of the iceberg. One city seeing a large number of the hospitalizations is Denver.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pediatric floor is full of patients with pretty severe respiratory distress.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They go from a cold to, you know, being probably minutes away from death is -- that's kind of scary.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Some children are really, really more vulnerable to this virus and doctors have so many questions. So let's bring in senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen. She joins us now.

I know that there are a lot of questions, not a ton of answers. But what do doctors think they're dealing with here? And what kids most importantly are most at risk right now?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Poppy, doctors think they're dealing with a virus called the Terra virus d-68. And they don't know why the virus has chosen this year to sort of make this big appearance. And they don't know why this type of virus decided to appear in the Midwest and the southeast. It's a still a bit of a mystery.

What they do know is that children who have asthma or children who have a history of asthma are particularly susceptible to getting very, very sick. And you know, just to give you sort of a feeling for the scope of this, we spoke to one hospital in Kansas city, Missouri, they've had 60 children in intensive care with signs of this virus in less than a month, in less than a month.

HARLOW: And again, these are kids just starting out school which makes in terms of spreading this, a bigger issue. In intensive care, for parents watching what are symptoms to look for?

COHEN: You know, it can start out as a just a cold, so a child is sneezing a lot, or has a runny nose. But then very quickly, a child sometimes will get a fever, sometimes will get a rash. And I asked a pediatrician, so how do you know when to sort of basically flip out about this? And he said, when your mommy or daddy antenna go up, when you child doesn't look right, when this looks like more than the common cold and especially if your child has difficulty breathing. That's a, you know, do not pass go, do not collect $200, go right to the pediatrician.

HARLOW: And they seem like an obvious question, but an important one, what can parents do? I mean, they're not going to keep their kids back from school for this now. So what can they do to try to keep their kids healthy?

COHEN: Right. I mean, the only thing you can do is, you know, the advice we give during the flu season, wash your hands, don't touch your nose, your eyes, your mouth with unwashed hands, avoid contact with people who are sick, disinfect surfaces and again, watch your child. If a cold starts to become difficulty breathing, you need to get your pediatrician, get to your emergency room. You need to act pretty quickly because this does or can get very bad very quick.

HARLOW: And what -- no deaths yet tied to this, yet, right Elizabeth?

COHEN: Correct. And we were speaking with an expert who said, you know, and interovirus (ph) usually don't kill. He expects it to you, in all that perhaps most unusual of cases that children will get better. So that's one piece of good news here.

HARLOW: OK. And they are able to treat it. But again, intense everybody care for a number of children. This is very serious.

Thanks, Elizabeth. Appreciate you coming in.

Coming up here in the NEWSROOM next, the journalist who did the last major interview with Joan Rivers and it is absolutely fascinating. We are going to have him on live, talk to him about what she said about her career highs and lows and her own mortality, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOAN RIVERS, COMEDIAN: Can we talk here for a second? Since -- there's no big deal to have a woman in the White House, John F. Kennedy had a thousand of them. I am telling you right now.

He said, God bless him, you're going to be a star. It changed my life. And you look at this, and look how nice my legs are good, that breasts are in the right place.

LARRY KING, TV HOST: Is there any area you would not go to?

RIVERS: No. If I think I want to talk about it, then it's right to talk about. And I purposely go into areas that people are still very sensitive and smarting about.

KING: Why?

RIVERS: If you laugh at it, you can deal with it. (END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Can we talk? Joan Rivers, a legend, remembered today in New York City. She was called sassy, witty, even downright vicious in some of her jokes at times, as you heard nothing off-limits. She was a household name. And you know, her stand-up routines were legendary.

Today, the world got to say final good-byes to the comedian in a way that looked, frankly more like a Hollywood movie premiere than a funeral. Let's bring in Tim Teemen. He is senior culture editor at "the Daily Beast." You interviewed her many times. You got the last major interview with her.

TIM TEEMAN, SENIOR CULTURE EDITOR, THE DAILY BEAST: I did.

HARLOW: It was hysterical.

TEEMAN: Thank you.

HARLOW: But first, you just came from her funeral. How was it?

TEEMAN: I did. I was there today. It was an amazing mix of extremely funny and very moving at certain points. So Audra McDonald, the Broadway star, sang "Smile" which have us all weeping and Howard Stern got up -- I can say his opening line was --

HARLOW: We heard.

TEEMAN: But he kind a brought the house down. And that was a succession of people speaking very much from the heart.

HARLOW: We heard from Melissa, her daughter.

TEEMAN: Melissa read out this letter that she left under Joan's door basically addressed to her saying, you know, dear mother, you are a paying tenant in this house, please stop taking my son to strip clubs. It was brilliant, absolutely brilliant. And then some of her friends spoke as well. Again, very funny stories were being told.

HARLOW: Was it classic Joan?

TEEMAN: It was classic Joan. I think it was -- I mean, she did leave instructs what she wanted for her funeral, which is a wind machine blowing into her casket and things like that.

HARLOW: Did they have that?

TEEMAN: Well, she already had been cremated. But something we're not sure been she had pretty much, it was a real production, a real performance. It was graceful. It was funny. And it was very moving as well. So all elements were really, really well balanced.

HARLOW: I mean, you see in those clips we played and she could be utterly hysterical, and just have impeccable timing in her jokes and then incredibly thoughtful in her answers to Larry King, something that will always stood out to me that she said she'll go anywhere and talk about anything because no matter how hard it is, if you can laugh about it, you can start to deal with it. And that has always been something that struck me.

Let's talk about her life was very high at moments, very low. Lost her hub to suicide, right around the same time she lost her show. Her relationship with Johnny Carson, you know, in term of professionally completely fell apart. She really had some very difficult times and bounced back.

TEEMAN: That was a recurring theme at funeral today, as well as a roller coaster nature of her life. The thing about Joan and the thing that came about three times that I met her, she worked. So the bouncing back things absolutely true, but she was an old school trooper as I would say. You know, she was only happy working. I'm working getting the gangs right, going from a joke was the most important thing to her every time, how it has done at that funeral stage is absolutely right.

When she was down, she knew -- they would get back, was to work, finding your angle, stay relevant.

HARLOW: But it is interesting, you write in this piece about how it wasn't that she has a desire to be famous. She wanted to work to stay relevant and involved. There is a big difference.

TEEMAN: Yes. Well, she loved fame, for sure. I mean, she said once that she never took out the first she go Limo. You know, (INAUDIBLE), you know, getting a limo and put --. She like the fame, but she was most keen in staying in the mix, staying relevance.

And when she was doing E's "Fashion Police" red carpet, always reinventing herself, QVC, whatever it was, and then new online shows. She was just doing like in bed with Joan, things like this. She just wanted to reach a new audience. I met her a few, you know, about eight weeks ago now, she was really into vines and she had, you know, 2.15 followed -- million followers on twitter.

HARLOW: Always relevant and always in the latest technology.

TEEMAN: Yes. She really -- she didn't like the idea of being, like, left out.

HARLOW: At all.

TEEMAN: In no way frail in no way fragile.

HARLOW: When you saw her.

TEEMAN: Not at all.

HARLOW: I wasn't to play a clip for our viewers and for you for when she was guest hosting "the Tonight Show" in 1 983. Let's roll that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But it's you I like every part of you, your skin, your eyes, your feelings, whether old or new.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: What do you make of how she reacted to that when people would pay her compliments?

TEEMAN: She was quite humble, you know? People don't really realize this because of her brash, public image. But I can tell you off camera, she was just as funny during all the interviews I did with her, just as funny, but you know, she was very kind of humble as well and her voice was slightly quieter, but she had the most amazing library at home. She read political biographies. She was a massive history fan. Her jokes were filed away literally filed away in a filing you cabinet. She worked on those jokes --.

HARLOW: Index cards?

TEEMAN: Yes, index cards in a filing cabinet. So quite an astonishing approach. She did mention during this interview, we did talk about mortality, it came up. And she made the joke, I mean, the famous joke that she made was she didn't want to be revived unless she could do an hour of standup. That was the funny thing.

HARLOW: Of course.

TEEMAN: But the serious thing was around Melissa and Cooper.

HARLOW: Yes. She didn't want to leave them.

TEEMAN: They'd survived Edgar's suicide. They have been estranged, her and Melissa, for a period, extremely close now. Melissa produced her show and she was doing on reality TV. And she really, really, really didn't want to leave Melissa. She knew that they were so yoked together and she adored Cooper, she absolutely. And people spoke so movingly about her adoration and her devotion to Cooper today as well.

HARLOW: 13-years-old, I believe he is now. At least he really will have these memories.

TEEMAN: Absolutely.

HARLOW: These memories of his grandmother. Lastly Tim, how do you think that she will want to be remembered? We will all have our own memories, how would she want the world to hold on to her?

TEEMAN: Well, as you said in your introduction, people would claim she was mean and vicious and she said some things that seemed not just on the edge but a feather boa wrapped around her neck. But she thought she was truth telling. She genuinely believe, I said you have been so mean and rude about people. And she said in a very serious kind of ways, no, no. I told the truth.

Now, for her, that was an extended exercise in truth telling. Now, wherever you could take that truth or whether couldn't was a matter of taste. But she carried on and she carried on fighting and working right to the very end. And she went out, most importantly, on top, which is so appropriate, I think.

HARLOW: Yes. She certainly did. Someone who has made us all laugh. So, thank you, Joan Rivers, for the laughs. Thank you for a fascinating interview.

TEEMAN: Thank you.

HARLOW: If you haven't read it, you have to go, you have to read this interview, because you should see some of the questions that Tim asked. They are very classic Joan Rivers. Thank you for coming in. We appreciate it. Good to have you on.

Coming up next here in the NEWSROOM, we are going to talk about a very serious issue in California, the drought there is so bad, experts say it could actually cause earthquakes, a devastating crisis for the golden state, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARLOW: In today's American journey, we take you to California, a very dry California right now. Entire communities with no running water, river and lake levels down hundreds of feet. And as if things could not get any worse, scientists believe the depletion of groundwater could lead to increased earthquake activity on the famed San Andreas fault. Dan Simon shows us the most dramatic images of the California drought.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A healthy and full lake in northern California. There's only one problem. This picture is three years old.

And now I'm walking on top of that very same bridge. Take a look. It is a virtual desert. This is what drought looks like in the state of California.

Here's another before and after side by side. And just when the drought couldn't seem any worse, new research indicates that the depletion of ground water in the state may actually trigger earthquakes. More on that in a moment.

First, this is lake Orville, a boater's paradise at least when it's full. More importantly, it's a reservoir storing water ultimately piped into homes and for agriculture helping to grow much of the nation's fruits and vegetables.

JOHN PREEDO (ph), LAKE ORVILLE: We have 167 miles of shoreline.

SIMON: John Preedo (ph) took us on a boat to see that shoreline and it's even more astounding up close. The lake seems more like a narrow river. The drought has created a canyon. A hillside of rock that's normally covered by water. The water level is down by more than 200 feet. It's a common sight throughout the state. Most of California's major reservoirs are less than half full. What would we be seeing?

PREEDO (ph): We would see the water halfway up that hillside at this time of the year.

SIMON: More than 80 percent of the state is either in the extreme or exceptional category, the highest levels. It has meant things like no showers or running water for several communities, an increase in wildfires, brown and neglected public parks and farmers losing their crops.

JESSIE RODRIGUEZ, GRAPES FARMER: It's dead. Our product is dead.

SIMON: Jesse Rodriguez grows table grapes and estimate he'll lose 40 percent of his crop due to the drought.

RODRIGUEZ: The water is a main thing here. Without water we cannot survive.

SIMON: With low reservoirs, farmers have to pump water out of the ground. And if all that weren't bad enough, there's new information from researchers who believe that a depletion of groundwater at California central valley could destabilize the infamous San Andrea's fault and trigger earthquakes.

This study published in the journal "Nature," concluded of removing so much weight in the form of ground water causes the earth to spring upward and the change in pressure can cause those quakes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Earthquakes are these mysterious things that happen under our feet so having a way for people to cause these earthquakes to happen is unsettling.

SIMON: Experts say the quakes would be small and unlikely to cause any damage. Still, it's yet another example of why this drought is causing so much stress to both the land and the mental well-being of nearly an entire state.

Dan Simon, CNN, Orville, California.

(END VIDEOTAPE)