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At This Hour

First Case of Ebola Diagnosed in U.S.; Secret Service Allowed Man With Gun to Ride Elevator With Obama; Police Look for Links in Cases Similar to Hannah Graham

Aired October 01, 2014 - 11:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: In the unlikely event that someone with Ebola does reach our shores we've taken new measures so that we're prepared here at home.

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MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN CO-ANCHOR: Well, a case has reached our shores. Ebola has been diagnosed in the U.S.

Are we prepared? What you need to know about this deadly virus.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN CO-ANCHOR: Then, a new Secret Service blunder, how an armed man road the elevator with the president of the United States. That happened just three days before a man with a knife in his pocket jumped the fence at the White House and got inside.

Serious questions today. Is the team hired to protect the president putting his life at risk?

PEREIRA: And in California, a mayor shot dead by his wife. Authorities are calling it a domestic dispute, but the wife was not charged. In fact, she's been released.

BERMAN: Hello, I'm John Berman.

PEREIRA: And I'm Michaela Pereira. Good to have you with us. Those stories and much more, ahead @THISHOUR.

BERMAN: So faced with the first ever Ebola diagnosis on U.S. soil, health officials in Texas are really now scrambling, trying to track down every person who came in contact with the person of the man who brought Ebola here.

This could be days and days worth of interaction. It is a big job, and time is critical to prevent this virus from spreading.

This is what we know about the unnamed patient. He left the Ebola hot spot of Liberia on September 19th, arriving in Dallas, Texas, the next day. He did not feel sick until four days later.

A couple days after that he sought treatment, but it wasn't until the 28th that he was hospitalized and isolated in Dallas.

PEREIRA: We need to point out he was sent home, but then yesterday the CDC confirmed that this patient is, indeed, infected with Ebola, thus the urgent need for so-called contact tracing. This is when officials try to locate and monitor every single person who came into contact with that patient.

Earlier today, I spoke with CDC Director Dr. Thomas Frieden and our chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta. We started off talking about the importance of this tracking down of all the patient contacts. Take a listen.

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DR. THOMAS FRIEDEN, CDC DIRECTOR: We go from the moment he could have been infectious, the 24th, last Wednesday, and we retrace every step, every contact, where he might have had direct physical contact with somebody.

And for each one of those contacts we will monitor them for 21 days after exposure in conjunction with the local and state health department and the hospital to see if they develop symptoms.

That's how you stop an Ebola outbreak. That's what we will do in this case. There is no doubt in my mind that we can stop it in its tracks here.

PEREIRA: You feel confident of that? Because there are a lot of people waking up to this news this morning, realizing a patient has been diagnosed in the United States of America, he is on soil here in America, he is in a U.S. hospital and there's going to be concern. You can understand that?

FRIEDEN: Absolutely. But you know the plain truth is we've stopped this outbreak dozens of times in Africa in much more difficult conditions. In fact, even in Lagos where there were almost 900 contacts identified and about 19,000 home visits to monitor for fever, we were able, it appears, to contain the outbreak.

So there's no doubt we can contain it here, but really we need to continue to engage with west Africa, because the most efficient and effective way in the long term to make sure that we don't have to worry about this is to stop it at the source, and that's what we're doing.

PEREIRA: And I do want to get to you in a moment about screening and if there is a potential for ding that before people get on the plane from Liberia.

Sanjay, I want to turn to you, though, because I know one of the things you're concerned about as a medical professional is the fact that this is patient came to the U.S., felt ill, went to hospital and even voiced concerns about Ebola, yet was sent home.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, that is a concern. If you look at the timeline now, the patient arrived on the 20th, by all reports, was feeling fine at that time.

Four days later, this person became ill. Two days after that, they went to the hospital seeking medical care, but it wasn't until two days later then -- so four days total of sickness -- before the person came into the hospital.

And let me ask you, Dr. Frieden, this person goes to the hospital on the 26th, has this travel history, has symptoms at this time. Should they have been tested?

FRIEDEN: That's one of the things we'll be looking at, but we're reiterating the message for every health worker in this country to think about travel history. If someone has been in west Africa within 21 days, and they've got a fever, immediately isolate them and get them tested for Ebola.

GUPTA: I appreciate that this is an ongoing situation, but what is the guidance? Should that person have been tested?

FRIEDEN: We weren't there so I can't tell you exactly what that person said.

GUPTA: You're advising public health departments -- last time I was here there was a call with my primary care doctors to educate them on this exact issue. That was a couple of months ago.

Should this person have been tested?

FRIEDEN: We know that in busy emergency departments all over the country people may not ask travel histories. I don't know if that was done here, but we need to make sure that it is done going forward. That's the bottom line.

GUPTA: Because right now this could be playing out right now in other emergency rooms around the country, this exact situation where there could be somebody who has a fever, ends up having Ebola, but they're not tested as a result they have many, many more contacts.

FRIEDEN: Absolutely. It's a big country. It's a big health care system. That's why we do extensive outreach to provide information so that all over the country people are thinking about that, and if people come in, they're -- get their history taken. Have you been in west Africa in the past 21 days? And if they have a fever, immediate isolation and testing.

In fact, we've already fielded about a hundred calls about patients from around the country who may fit that description, only 14 of them actually met criteria for testing and this is the first was positive.

GUPTA: And, again, I won't belabor that point, but we've been covering this story for a long time and I imagine the fact that there's -- it sounds like somebody fell down on the job, to be perfectly frank, over there in Dallas.

This person came in with concerns about Ebola themselves, had this travel history, had symptoms and was not tested. That meant, for two extra days, this is person could have been more contacts.

And I imagine that if you look at all the priorities, that's the number-one priority. That's the number-one thing you would have hoped to have prevented.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: So we're joined by our chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, live from outside the CDC.

Sanjay, since you had that conversation with Michaela and Dr. Frieden this morning, we have actually learned that this hospital did not ask the man whether he had been to Liberia or west Africa nor did that man volunteer it.

So clearly -- I mean, do you think there is some kind of breakdown in the protocols here?

GUPTA: I think there's no question there was, and it's too bad, because in so many ways, there's been months now that they have had to prepare for this.

John, I think you and I talked about this a few months ago, even when I was in Guinea, that at some point this exact situation will happen. There's going to be a patient who arrives in the United States and is diagnosed with Ebola.

My point is that there's been plenty of time to prepare for this sort of thing, and the fact that there's a lot of difficult challenges, obviously, in taking care of patients with Ebola, but getting a simple travel history, being able to identify those patients who are high risk, that's one of the easy things.

That's lower down on the list that, you know, we -- that should have happened here, and as a result you have a patient who for at least two extra days was out and about.

How many contacts that person had, we're not sure, but it should have been zero. That's sort of the point here.

PEREIRA: But you know, it's so interesting, I was just saying to John anecdotally, Sanjay, you've given blood. One of the questions they ask you is where you've traveled or if you've given blood or what your sexual orientation is. They ask you those questions when you're giving blood. It's standard operating procedure.

You'd think since this, since this alert, travel history would be standard operating procedure.

GUPTA: This person went to the hospital, so there was enough of a concern, certainly on the patient's part, pretty sick, I'm going to go to the hospital. It is -- there's so many questionnaires. You've been to hospitals. There's so many questionnaires you fill out before you even get seen.

You know, we're sorry for all those questionnaires, but now you can see the point a little bit, that a basic question like this, where are you from? Where have you traveled from recently, the last few countries you've visited?

You've filled out those things hundreds of times, probably never thought about them. They can make a difference, and I think in this case they may have made a difference as well.

The one good thing is -- I mean, we're talking about this. Hopefully all the other primary care doctors out there who have heard this messaging for some time, it's taken on an added level of importance now, the travel history so important in terms of figuring out who these patients are.

BERMAN: And, Sanjay, just to be clear, we are in very crucial few days right now. They're doing this contact tracing where they're going through that four-day gap between when he was systematic and was ultimately isolated, trying to find every person he may have come in contact with.

PEREIRA: Family, et cetera.

GUPTA: It's a challenging, laborious process, and I will tell you, part of the reason the numbers have continued to grow in west Africa is because they're trying to do that same process in west Africa, much more challenging, people moving around a lot, not clear channels of communication or clear roads even.

Here it should be easier but still a challenge. One thing is that, you know, he was sick. There's a good chance he wasn't out and about. He may have gone back home. His family, obviously, is going to be contacted. They're going to try and figure out everyone else that he may have come in contact with.

The health care providers on the 26th of September when he went into the hospital, who are they? Have they been contacted as well? So there is a process.

PEREIRA: Certainly is a process, a meticulous one, a time consuming one, but you mentioned time is of the essence.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thank you so much. We want to tell you at home that you likely have a lot of questions and concerns about Ebola. We understand that.

So what we want you to do is send us your questions. Send us a tweet at #EbolaQ&A. We'll get some answers to some of those questions, later this hour.

BERMAN: On the subject of a lot of questions, some of them so far unanswered, another Secret Service mistake revealed, a new one, an armed man allowed to ride an elevator with the president of the United States.

Serious, real questions now about whether the Secret Service can keep this president safe. PEREIRA: Hannah Graham, sadly, is not the first young woman to go

missing in a Virginia college town. Police are looking at other disappearances and murder cases in the area and wondering if they could be connected.

There are questions if this is the work of a serial killer.

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PEREIRA: Yet another gaffe being revealed about the Secret Service, another embarrassment for the agency, it's now getting blasted because of another incident, one where the president, Obama -- remember he took a trip to the CDC in Atlanta last month?

A security contractor who operated an elevator the president took had a gun. The officers might not have even known if they hadn't gotten upset with the man for taking pictures.

BERMAN: So this was three days before, which you're looking at right now, the shocking video of a White House intruder jumping the fence, getting through the White House doors before being tackled by an off- duty Secret Service officer inside the East Room. The suspect, we should say, is being arraigned this afternoon. Now, the elevator news didn't break until after a House committee raked the Secret Service Director over the coals for other lapses.

Dan Emmett is a retired Secret Service Agent and author of "Within Arms Length." So Dan, I was talking to a White House insider, someone who worked closely with a past president, who said that an elevator is one of the most protected of all places with the President of the United States. There is a serious protocol, manifest, just to get into an elevator with the president, is supposed to be incredibly difficult, yet this man with a gun waltzes in, a guy who had been taking pictures. That's a huge breakdown.

DAN EMMETT, RETIRED SECRET SERVICE AGENT: Your source is absolutely correct. Manifests are done for anyone going on board an elevator with the POTUS. Also, anyone, regardless of where they're going to be, in terms of elevators or any place else, if they're going to be in close proximity, they're supposed to be name checked through NCIC. If it comes back with a hit, in other words, if that person has a criminal history, they are not allowed anywhere near the president during the visit. In terms of weapons, the only people allowed to have a weapon around the president, other than Secret Service, would be sworn Law Enforcement Officers who are working that movement in conjunction with the Secret Service.

PEREIRA: What I think is really interesting to so many of us, we know that the light is starkly focused right now on the Secret Service. The director is in front of this House committee answering tough questioning and yet, this information was not revealed until after. It makes you wonder, then, did she know? So maybe Dan, you can help us understand, what is the protocol? Would the director have known about a lapse, an egregious lapse, arguably, that put the president in potential harm's way. Would she have been told about this? And if so, why did she come forward with this yesterday on the Hill? EMMETT: Well, Director Pierson certainly should have been briefed on

an incident regarding a non-clear person with a firearm standing next to the president. That would have been the job of The Special Agent In Charge of the Presidential Protective Division or the SAIC of Intelligence Division. At any rate, she should have been briefed and then she should have, in turn, briefed the president.

BERMAN: Dan, there are a lot of people now asking, in light of all of these incidents, are we doing this the right way? Is the Secret Service even the right agency to be protecting the president? You've written a provocative piece saying you think the military should be involved.

EMMETT: That didn't go over well with a lot of people. What I'm advocating is that the military, as they did during World War II, simply augment the existing security at the White House, not that they take it over. So there's precedent there. And also, if you look at Camp David, Camp David, where the president goes almost every weekend, is protected and guarded by the U.S. Marine Corps. So this is not like a really crazy idea, but during a time of war, such as we now find ourselves in, the Secret Service is simply not equipped or trained to handle an organized military-style attack on the White House. So I think that asking for the help of the Military would be the prudent thing to do right about now.

PEREIRA: It's an interesting article. We should let people read it for themselves. You can get it online. I wanted to actually ask you, just before we go, we only have a short amount of time left. Do you think that Director Pierson will survive this? Do you think she should step down?

EMMETT: Well, when you have an organization like the Secret Service that's had this many blunders or failures, the top leadership needs to go. It absolutely needs to go. For no other reason than morale. Because right now, within the Secret Service, that is at an all time low. But if you have a commander who is not leading the troops well and they're failing in their mission, then you have to look at replacing them.

BERMAN: It's clearly trouble in the ranks. I mean, someone is leaking like a sieve.

PEREIRA: And some expect more stories to come out, too.

BERMAN: I think that, in and of itself, tells you where morale is. Dan Emmett, great to have you with us.

EMMETT: Quickly at the fact, she was appointed by President Obama, so I doubt seriously if he is going to ask her to step aside. If she does so, it would be of her own volition.

BERMAN: We'll have to wait and see as far as that goes. But they can't survive this much drip, drip, drip for that anymore. Dan, thanks so much.

Ahead @THISHOUR, police have a suspect in the case of missing student, Hannah Graham. But what about some cases that seem awfully similar now? Emptying these case files, authorities looking at potential connections. A lot of people wondering if this could be some kind of serial killer at work.

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GIL HARRINGTON, MORGAN HARRINGTON'S MOTHER: We'll be very relieved to know that he will be prevented from ever hurting another girl again. I don't have any desire or need to tear him limb from limb or hurt him. I just want to prevent him from hurting anybody else.

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PEREIRA: Heartbreaking.

BERMAN: Four young women. Four disappearances. All in close proximity to each other in Virginia. Two them found, much later, dead. Two are still missing, including Hannah Graham, who vanished last month.

PEREIRA: We just heard Morgan Harrington's mother, there, in heartbreaking fashion, say she just wants to make sure no other young woman is hurt. The question is, is there a connection between these cases?

We want to turn to Jack Levin, he is a criminologist at Northeastern University. Good morning to you, sir. Thank you so much for joining us.

JACK LEVIN, CRIMINOLOGIST, NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY: Good morning.

PEREIRA: We know that the Sheriff's Office says it's looking at this possible DNA link between Hannah Graham, suspect Jesse Matthew, and the Morgan Harrington case. I want you to give us an ideal, as a criminologist, what jumps out to you, what characteristics, what facts, what things jump out to you?

LEVIN: Well, first of all, I'm hoping they have DNA to connect these cases. We want to reduce linkage blindness. This case, of Hannah Graham's disappearance, may actually prove to give us some idea that there was one person responsible for the death and the abduction of many of these women and one man possibly, at Virginia Tech, since 2005. However, there's more to it than that. DNA is important. It's the most definitive evidence we have.

But at the same time, when the investigators search the home of this suspect, they may be looking for trophies, mementos, souvenirs. You know, we see these crimes as hideous offenses, and they are, but to the killer, this -- these crimes are his greatest accomplishments, and like a major league baseball player who wants to collect the home run baseballs, this killer, if he indeed is responsible for these crimes, may collect mementos and souvenirs to remind him of the good times he had creating suffering and pain with his victims. He reminisces with jewelry and clothing and even body parts of his victims that he keeps in his home. That may be the evidence that becomes the forensic link in this case.

BERMAN: You brought up a big if there, because right now all that we are being told by law enforcement is they have found a forensic link, which we think is DNA, between the Hannah Graham case, and perhaps the Morgan Harrington case. Then they tell us they're also looking at possible links between, honestly a handful, of other missing persons or murder cases in Virginia over the last several years. So my question to you here, is this just due diligence? Is this what you do anytime you start pulling on this thread? When you have a suspect in one, or maybe two cases, do you start looking at all the open case there? Or do you think they have reason to believe, actual evidentiary reason to believe, there's some kind of serial killer at play here?

LEVIN: You know, I think just the opposite is true. There's a lot of pressure on police investigators to solve the cases that are happening right now. So they're going to look for the person responsible for the abduction of Hannah Graham. But, they're cold cases, and what happens over time is that the pressure is reduced. People forget about those cases. So I'm really happy that the police are looking at the possible links, connections, for all of these cases.

PEREIRA: I think we just lost Jack, but he makes a really good point. It is -- the attention on this case is allowing attention on those other cases that have been cold for some time, and it is really concerning that that area along Route 29 there in Virginia, that so many people, so many women, young women, are unaccounted for. They're missing. It's a devastating thing for those families, for the community, thinking that somebody could potentially still be out there. We don't know.

BERMAN: I hope we get answers there. And we can't forget, we hope this all leads ultimately, maybe, to finding Hannah Graham.

PEREIRA: Let us hope. We have got to keep hope alive.

Alright, we turn to this now. Back to Ebola. The first Ebola patient diagnosed in the U.S. is in isolation in Dallas. Some people are a little concerned, maybe some people are even panicking. Lots of questions, though. We'll try to answer some of those ahead @THISHOUR.

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