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Ron Klain to Lead U.S. Ebola Response; Dallas Nurse Nina Pham Transferred to NIH; NIH Press Conference

Aired October 17, 2014 - 10:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANA CABRERA, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to our continuing breaking news on the Ebola crisis. The latest development this morning is the White House has now named an Ebola czar. That man is Ron Klain who will be at the helm of this Ebola response coordination now, nationally here. He is a man who has a lot of experience in Washington as first -- the chief of staff that is, for first, VP Al Gore and now VP Joe Biden.

Let's get back in our panel of experts on this new development. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, our Jake Tapper, our Joe Johns. Joe, I want to go to you. What do you know about Klain and what do you believe is the reason for his appointment instead of a health care expert?

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Well, let's start with what he's not. He's not among the people who've been first mentioned as a possible Ebola czar -- that would include Colin Powell, that would include as well Robert Gates, the former Defense Secretary. So he's not a secretary-level cabinet official who's left office and now they want to bring him back.

But what he is, is a guy who's very known, very well known here in Washington, as somebody who knows message, who knows politics as well working for two vice presidents. But not only that, working for administrations to try to help them shape message and handle Supreme Court nominees. So he knows a lot about the questions to ask, a lot about the things that need to be said publicly.

Ron Klain is very highly regarded among Democrats, though the question, of course, is going to be because he does not appear to have extensive experience in health care, it sounds like there would certainly be a learning curve for him. The answer from the administration, at least so far, is that he's a very good manager and that's why they would bring him on board to manage the coordination of federal, state, and local work on the Ebola issue.

Back to you.

CABRERA: There has certainly been criticism about the leadership on the Ebola front from the top down. And so this, you would believe, is going to perhaps help that and more of a coordinated message to the American public.

Sanjay, are you surprised this isn't somebody who has health care experience and expertise? DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: No, I'm not

surprised by that. I think you've had some -- I think as Jake and Joe have both said, some strong people who have been at the health forefront of this. Dr. Tom Frieden, as well as --

(CROSSTALK)

CABRERA: Sanjay, we hate to cut you off. We'll come back to that question. Right now we want to take everybody to NIH in Maryland where Nurse Nina Pham has been moved. Let's listen in to the doctors regarding this new development with Nina Pham.

JOHN BURKLOW, COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH: Morning, everyone. I'm John Burklow,

communications director at NIH. Welcome to the briefing on Ebola and our patient here at the clinical center.

We're going to hear from Dr. Anthony Fauci, and he will then introduce his colleagues, and so let's just get started.

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS

DISEASES, NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Dr. Tony Fauci. I'm the director of the

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

I have here with me this morning Dr. John Galan, director of the Clinical Center of which we're standing in front of, Dr. H. Clifford Lane, who is the clinical director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and Dr. Richard Davey, who is the director of the Special Clinical Studies Unit here.

I'm going to describe what just happened last night, and then I'm going to have Dr. Galan just take a minute to tell you a bit about this building, and then we'll take questions, and I'll direct the questions to each of the appropriate people.

So last night at 11:54, Nina Pham, the 26-year-old nurse from Dallas, Texas, who the press has referred to as Nurse Number One, was transferred by air evac, landing at Frederick, and then taken by ambulance in a special secure environment here to the National Institutes of Health to be admitted to our Special Clinical Studies Unit.

She is now here with us. As I mentioned this morning in a release, her condition is fair, she is stable, and she is resting comfortably.

In this unit, we have a group of highly skilled, well-trained and experienced physicians, technicians and nurses.

I particularly point out the extraordinary capability of the training, the experience and the dedication of our nurses and physicians who are taking care of her right now. I'd be happy to answer any questions that you have, but before we do, let me just have John Galan take one minute to describe this particular place, which some of you may not be familiar with, and then I'll field questions. If I can answer them, I will. If not -- if not, I will have my colleagues do that.

I thinks something happened with the sound.

DR. JOHN GALAN, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH CLINICAL CENTER: Good morning. I'm John Galan.

I'm the director of theClinical Center.

Welcome to this building, which is the largest hospital in the world totally dedicated to clinical research.

Our patients call this place the "House of Hope," and our nurses say there's no other hospital like it. And why is that? It's because of our mission...

FAUCI: (OFF-MIKE) for a second. I don't -- I think there's not...

(CROSSTALK)

GALAN: OK.

Our patients like to call this place the "House of Hope." Our nurses say there's no other hospital like it. Why? It's because of our mission, our special mission to combine research, excellent patient care and training.

We feel very humbled and fortunate to be in a position to work on this international disaster, Ebola, and to try to develop some of new preventive and treatment strategies.

Thank you very much.

FAUCI: So I'd be happy to take any questions.

QUESTION: Dr. Fauci, her condition is fair, you said?

FAUCI: Yes.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

FAUCI: No. She's not deteriorating.

I cannot tell you at this particular time why we have said fair, because of confidentiality, but she is quite stable now and resting comfortably.

QUESTION: Any idea how long she might be here?

FAUCI: We do not know how long. We will get here -- we will get her here until she is well and clear of virus.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) FAUCI: We don't know. We never make those kinds of prediction.

This is a serious infection, she's getting the optimum care, and it would be not appropriate to make a prediction of when she would get out. She will get out when she's well enough and free of virus.

QUESTION: What is the optimum care? You say she's getting the optimum care. Can you describe...

FAUCI: Yes, what -- well, she has the care of physicians and nurses and technicians with extensive training, experience and knowledge of infectious diseases and infectious disease control.

So there are two things that are happening. She's getting optimum intensive care, if needed, therapy, but it's also being done with the optimum protection of our health care workers.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) layperson has ever seen a video of someone in this stage of this virus, as we all did last night.

Is her presentation right now typical for this point in her virus? Can you talk about what we saw in the video last night, what she looks like...

FAUCI: Well, I'm not so sure what you saw, because I was waiting for the patient in the lobby.

So what was it that you saw that you want me to describe?

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

FAUCI: OK. All right.

So I didn't see the video, but I can tell you that she had a long trip, a trip that was quite tiring.

As you can see, we assisted her. She was in a stretcher with a tent over it. It's the kind of thing that is optimum protection for the people in the ambulance, and we had with her one of our intensive care physicians dressed in the appropriate protective equipment, which brought her out.

When she came out, she went from the plane, and she had to walk off the plane because they wouldn't get her. But when we took her from the ambulance to the room, we had her on a stretcher, and we wheeled her in and put her right in bed.

QUESTION: I guess I was asking, the video that the Texas hospital released last night (inaudible) in bed, you know, just in her environment, at this stage in her virus, how is she doing compared to other people (inaudible)?

FAUCI: It is impossible to say how she's doing compared to others. This is an individual patient that you treat each individual patient as an individual patient. And that's what we're interested, not how she's doing compared to others. We will take care of this patient.

QUESTION: Dr. Fauci, could you talk about...

QUESTION: What has she been doing since she's here? Is she interacting with -- with her care givers, the doctors, the nurses? Is she sitting up? What's she's doing?

FAUCI: She certainly is sitting up. She was examined by -- by Dr. Davey. Doctor -- we saw her this morning. Rick, would you like to just give whatever information you could give without violating any patient confidentiality?

DR. RICHARD DAVEY, DIRECTOR, SPECIAL CLINICAL STUDIES UNIT, NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH: Sure. As Dr. Fauci

said, she's resting comfortably.She's interactive with the staff. She's

eating. She is able to interact freely and really doing quite well compared to what we were told about her status at the other hospital.

QUESTION: Dr. Davey or Dr. Fauci, can you talk more about the specifics like how people are caring for her? Talk a little bit more about why this hospital (inaudible) to be treated for this kind of disease given the special facilities special training as compared (inaudible).

FAUCI: I'm not going to compare this hospital with other hospitals. But can I tell you what we have in this hospital. We have intensivists. We have infectious diseases experts who, on a daily basis, notwithstanding Ebola, take care of the sickest possible patients.

We have a specific attention to infectious disease control because the unit of which she is in is a special studies unit. Rick Davey, myself, Dr. Lane, and Dr. Galan are board certified in -- in infectious diseases and in internal medicine. She also has intensive care individuals there and nurses who are highly trained, highly prepared, and highly experienced. That makes a difference.

(CROSSTALK)

FAUCI: Wait a second. Excuse me. I'll get back.

QUESTION: Can you talk about (inaudible) and talk about special equipment (inaudible)?

FAUCI: Well, there are two -- there are two shifts right now, 12-hour shifts.

Rick, why don't you give the details of the number? I believe there's four and one five. Would you?

DAVEY: Right. Currently, we have five nurses assigned on a shift. Two are in the room with her at any time when nursing need -- when there's a nursing necessity for that. On a given week, we estimate an ill patient of this type may have up to 20 nurses assigned in that week's time.

QUESTION: Why does it take this long for you guys to get the first Ebola patient (inaudible)?

FAUCI: You know, I cannot answer that. We have been prepared. We had a special studies unit, which was started in 2011 for the explicit purpose of being able to accept patients who have anything that has to do with either bio-terror or emerging infectious diseases.

We stood ready to accept the patient. When we were asked to accept the patient, we accepted the patient. I cannot answer why. I believe it's pretty obvious the man was sick in Dallas, and he went to the emergency room and then to the clinic at Texas Presbyterian.

QUESTION: Dr. Fauci...

QUESTION: Once she was diagnosed with Ebola (inaudible).

FAUCI: I -- well, I don't -- again, you've got to be careful there. There are more than one place that can act -- can well take care of people with Ebola. So I wouldn't say this is the best possible place. I can just tell you this is a very, very good place.

QUESTION: Dr. Fauci, can you speak to...

QUESTION: And right now, are you only treating the virus? Anything you may have learned, even if it's just in public perception, since this Ebola crisis unfolded.

When you're dealing with a patient who is herself a nurse, what is her own understanding of the illness that she's experiencing and if she's still currently symptomatic?

FAUCI: I said she was in fair condition, which implies that she does still have some symptoms. She is in good spirits. She's a highly intelligent, aware person who knows exactly what's going on. And she's a really terrific person.

QUESTION: And what have you learned since this whole crisis began that might be different because of what happened in Dallas?

FAUCI: Yeah, you know, I don't want to comment, so let me just make it clear on comparing Dallas to here. She's here. We are responsible for her. And that's our job.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: Doctor, there are a lot of people watching this right now in Dallas. Is this recoverable for her?

FAUCI: When you say recoverable, in the sense of recovery, absolutely. We -- we fully intend to have this patient walk out of this hospital. And we'll do everything we possibly can to make that happen. QUESTION: What is the objective to (inaudible) been changes that affect the method of transmission? (inaudible)

FAUCI: Well, it -- first of all, let me talk about this particular -- again, I'm gonna -- I'm gonna restrict my remarks to the National Institutes of Health Special Clinical Studies Unit.

Here, this is a research hospital. The primary purpose that we always put is the patient's welfare. Associated with that, we do whatever research to teach us more, to help other patients. So although she's on a research protocol, our main concern is the health and the recovery of Nina.

QUESTION: Did you learn anything about the virus (inaudible)?

FAUCI (?): Right.

QUESTION: (inaudible)

FAUCI: OK. So, I can tell you again -- I'm sorry -- she came here at 11:54. All of us have been up all night. We haven't learned a lot about the virus yet. We're taking care of the patient.

QUESTION: Dr. Fauci, do you expect that you'll be getting any experimental drugs? Will -- will there be anything like that at this point as part of her cure?

FAUCI: I think everything is on the table to be able to consider. This will always be done. And we do this at all times with all of our patients, that whenever an experimental drug is given, it's given with the expressed consent of the patients, if, in fact, it turns out that way.

QUESTION: Dr. Fauci, do you feel like there should be an Ebola Tsar?

FAUCI: That's not a question I want to answer right now. Again, I'm sorry, but I want to tell you what we do hear. We -- we don't -- this is what we do, all right? Yeah.

QUESTION: At this point, is it fair to say you're treating symptoms, and not the actual Ebola virus itself?

FAUCI: There is no specific treatment for the Ebola virus, so we are giving here the best possible care on a symptomatic and systemic basis.

QUESTION: (inaudible) keeping (ph) blood from the doctor who did survive Ebola could be helpful (ph) (inaudible)?

FAUCI: Yes. The question is, does taking blood from Dr. Brantly and transfusing it into this patient -- could that make a difference? The answer is, absolutely yes, it could make a difference. Because Dr. Brantly has within his plasma antibodies against the Ebola virus. It is theoretically and possibly likely, practically true that that antibody had a role. But we don't know that. And I think that's one of the things I want to emphasize about this particular institution. Not only do we have the patient's welfare first, but we need to learn things for other patients. So, we're going to try as best as we possibly can to learn something. But the theoretical answer to your question -- it certainly could have made a difference.

QUESTION: Dr. Fauci, (inaudible) no treatment for the Ebola virus itself -- you're dealing with symptoms -- what does that involve? You talked about rehydration and -- and that sort of thing. Giving back fluids -- that sort of thing?

FAUCI: Yeah. Well, as you know, and you've all heard, there are a variety of symptoms that have to do with Ebola. There's diarrhea, there's vomiting, there's fever, there's rash, and there sometimes is organ system dysfunction. Whatever of those we deal with, we take care of it, but there is no specific therapy that has been proven to be effective against Ebola. And that's why excellent medical care is critical.

QUESTION: Has she been able to give you any insight as to how she contracted the virus in terms of any practical moments she might recall?

FAUCI: We -- we are -- we are trying to work that out now, because that is part of the issue of the kinds of things we might want to learn. But there'll be more on that later. Right now, we just wanted to make her comfortable and take care of her. And then when we get further information, if appropriate, we'll make it known.

QUESTION: Dr. Fauci, (inaudible) have a role in suggesting (inaudible) security (inaudible)? Were you urging the hospital to release her?

FAUCI: The answer is no. We made ourselves available. And when we were called upon, we accepted the responsibility.

QUESTION: And one more time, if you could touch on -- explain the difference in the condition. A lot of people are wondering about that. She left Dallas in condition. Now you're saying she's in fair condition. Could you explain why the change?

FAUCI: Well, when you get a patient in, you evaluate them. Dr. Davey (ph) was primarily involved in that. There were things that we saw that we wanted to make sure we were not missing anything. We've very meticulous about that. You may start seeing a change in the status, so stay tuned. We'll give you updates as much as we possibly can.

QUESTION: Is that a precautionary move? What, you're still evaluating her? Or has she deteriorated?

FAUCI: No. Again, I want to tell you that she came in. She's stable. When we give a level, it's based on what we see, and we take care of it. It is highly likely that that will change. But she came in the middle of the night. And for us, that was ground -- starting that point, as soon as she got into the door. QUESTION: You said she's in good spirits. Can you talk about her symptoms right now? (inaudible) ago (ph)?

FAUCI: She's very fatigued. This is a virus that really wreaks havoc on you. I mean, you could come in and be getting better and you could have decrease in diarrhea, you could have decrease in vomiting, but you're still very, very tired. This virus knocks you out.

QUESTION: Would you say at this point, Dr. Fauci, that she's sort of at the other end of the virus in an improvement stage or?

FAUCI: We cannot predict that. This is a very unpredictable situation. We never make predictions until we have the patient walking out and talking to you and you could all ask her that question. I don't -- we don't do that.

QUESTION: Doctor, can I ask you -- I know you said you want to stick with the (OFF-MIKE). So let me ask you this. (OFF-MIKE) and what do you think about potentially having (inaudible)?

FAUCI: Right. You know, I don't know exactly what is meant by a czar, but we will certainly follow the lead of the president and follow the lead of Secretary Burwell.

QUESTION: You don't mind having someone else to report to?

FAUCI: I take care of patients and I do my job. Other people do their job.

QUESTION: Speculation in the medical community that this could become airborne. Some of your precautions taken here, do they include that possibility?

FAUCI: There is no evidence, whatsoever, that this virus is airborne transmitted. Everything we know about this virus is that is direct contact with bodily fluids. You know them, we've mentioned them many times -- vomit, diarrhea, blood, other body fluids, direct contact.

QUESTION: While there is no evidence, do some of your precautions include that possibility?

FAUCI: If you look at the protection that we have with pathers (ph) and everything, it would include that. But we're not doing it for that reason that we think it's respiratory. We don't. We're doing that for complete covering, so that there is no part of our doctors, nurses, or technicians' body that is exposed when they go in and see the patient.

We have a very strict system of getting dressed with someone watching you, going in, coming out, getting undressed with someone watching you. We have a limited amount of time when the person can be in the room so that they don't get fatigued. That's what keeps our health care workers safe.

MODERATOR: Two more questions. QUESTION: Dr. Davey, can you be more specific about why, without violating confidentiality, why she's labeled in fair condition at this point?

DAVEY: What you have to remembers, as Dr. Fauci said, she's been under our care for less than 12 hours. So we are just taking a very conservative assessment at this point. As Dr. Fauci said, if the situation changes or if we have more time to evaluate her, that situation may be upgraded. We'll see.

QUESTION: Doctor (OFF-MIKE).

FAUCI: Oh, absolutely.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) She's in isolation. (OFF-MIKE) in isolation, and now we hear about this third health care worker on a cruise ship. (OFF-MIKE) believe has now been isolated. (OFF-MIKE) health care workers that are in isolation (OFF-MIKE) what would you say. Would you allow that to happen?

FAUCI: Well, I'm going to tell you something about Ebola and I'm not going to specifically answer your question about who went where on what transportation. If a person is asymptomatic and doesn't have body fluids that someone could come into contact with, that person is not infected. Our person is in isolation because she has a confirmed diagnosis of Ebola. She's not only in isolation. You don't want to equate isolation of an Ebola person and putting someone who has not get Ebola, that you're observing. Those are two different concepts.

She is where she is because she is sick and she needs care.

QUESTION: (inaudible) how much she's got of a day to take care of her and who is (inaudible), what it's like, taking, like, care of (inaudible)?

FAUCI: OK. This is a research hospital. And I've been at the microphone. I'm gonna give Dr. Galan the chance -- everything is free in this hospital.

John, why don't you explain this?

GALAN: So, when I said there's no other hospital like it, we've never billed a patient for anything. We will travel them here, if they need money. We will house them or their family when they're here for free. And we never send a bill.

So this patient will never be charged for anything.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: What about the public?

GALAN: The public pays $402 million a year to run this hospital through the generosity of the taxes. And we manage that budget.

OK.

FAUCI: Yes?

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

FAUCI: OK. First of all, let's be correct. She is in isolation. But she has almost continual person-to-person contact. We have nurses going in, doctors going in. A screen in the nurses where we can speak to her. She has her iPad, her -- all of the things. She has got person-to-person contact.

When we say isolation, let it be clear, this isn't a torture chamber. This is an individual who is constantly being cared for, cheered up, with our -- our nurses are spectacular, and they do that all the time.

QUESTION: Has she expressed any fear about her own condition? We know that is has been a deadly virus. Has she voiced any worry about her own diagnosis?

FAUCI: She's a trooper. She's very brave. I think it would be unrealistic to think that someone would not be worried if they had Ebola.

(CROSSTALK)

FAUCI: One more question then I have to run upstairs.

QUESTION: (inaudible) in this area for her?

FAUCI: John?

GALAN: Well, yeah, her mother and her sister are in the area.

FAUCI: I'm sorry, but we have to go upstairs for another print meeting. Thank you all for being here we appreciate it. Thank you.

CABRERA: We were listening in to Dr. Anthony Fauci. He's the director of the Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health there in Bethesda, Maryland, where they are now taking care of Ebola patient Nina Pham, one of the two nurses from the Dallas hospital that contracted Ebola while treating Thomas Duncan who, of course, died of Ebola. There's some fresh video of Nina Pham in her new hospital setting there and you can see she's smiles in this video.

What we heard from Dr. Fauci is she is in fair condition right now. He said she is quite stable, which is a good sign, resting comfortably he said, she is eating, she's sitting up, she's able to interact with the staff. So all very positive signs, but he also warned that this virus is very unpredictable.

He could not give any kind of timetable as to how long she will be treated there. He says "We will treat her until she is free of the virus." He says what makes this hospital unique is it has one of those special bio-containment units so that means that she's being treated with very, very expert types of doctors who work with infectious disease cases on a daily basis.

Let's bring in our team of experts here to talk a little bit more about this and put it all into context. We have Dr. Sanjay Gupta; also with me Dr. Celine Gounder, a public health specialist; as well as psychologist Dr. Jeff Gardere.

Celine I want to start with you Dr. Gounder and talk a little bit about how she's been transferred now to this special hospital. She had five days of treatment in Dallas. What would her care be like here compared to the care that she received in Dallas because of this special expertise they have here?

DR. CELINE GOUNDER, PUBLIC HEALTH SPECIALIST: Well, there are many things that would be similar. So managing her fluid status, in other words making sure she doesn't get dehydrated from nausea or vomiting. Making sure her electrolytes are not too low, potassium is a big issue. And then monitoring her for infections -- one of the reasons Ebola is so deadly is that it attacks the immune system and so you're at risk for other infections.

CABRERA: Sanjay, when we heard -- you know, we don't know how long she'll be here, what is it about Ebola that makes it unpredictable in terms of the duration? We don't really know what the recovery process might look like.

GUPTA: Right. We have a pretty good idea of what this incubation period is like. Generally, you know, up to what point of time someone might become sick after they've been exposed but people recover in all sorts of different ways. You know, your age, your immune system, how strong that is before you get infected -- all of that is going to play a role.

Also how quickly someone starts to get treatment. If someone gets treatment later, their disease course can be longer, their prognosis not as good. If they get treatment more quickly it's the opposite. It's a much better thing.

So we understand that she got treatment early. Again, Ana, you've been showing that video of her from last night before she took that flight from Dallas to Maryland and, you know, she obviously looks pretty good there. She walked off the plane, as Dr. Fauci mentioned, on to the ambulance. Those are all obviously good signs.

CABRERA: Definitely, Sanjay, we appreciate that. Dr. Gardere, I want to ask you about this fear that the American public has regarding Ebola. Obviously there are cases in the U.S. now --

DR. JEFFREY GARDERE, CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST: Sure.

CABRERA: -- we had one person die in the U.S., two people currently being treated who contracted Ebola in the U.S. When it comes to the concern, are people's fears elevated where they should be or beyond where they should be? GARDERE: Well, I think we have to look at the balance. Certainly I

think it's very healthy and adaptable as the President's response has been to allow people to express their fears. And I think it brings things into focus as to how serious this really is.

Now, we don't want people overreacting to the point of making themselves sick or discriminating against other people or engaging in destructive behaviors. So as we find the balance, what we know is people need to be vigilant about this but they also need to be empowered and not so fearful.

I think people are concerned in part because there's a lot of unknowns when it comes to Ebola. And Dr. Gounder perhaps that's in part because we've seen a lot of information changing when we're hearing from the CDC. And now we know that there's going to be a person who's in charge of Ebola here in handling the crisis in the U.S., an Ebola czar to be named. Do you think that will help?

GOUNDER: I think the key word here is "coordination" -- coordination both nationally and internationally, across federal agencies, local and state health departments and the private sector. Most of our hospitals and clinics are in the private sector. Ron Klain is a well- known political operative in Washington, D.C., he's well positioned to coordinate among the federal agencies, also has experience in the private sector. So he's really in a good position to manage the response.

CABRERA: All right. Dr. Celine Gounder, Dr. Jeff Gardere and our Dr. Sanjay Gupta -- thanks to all of you for your insight.

That's going to do it for us this hour. I'm going to hand it over to my colleagues John Berman and Michaela Pereira.

Thank you so much for joining me. And happy Friday to you. I hope it's a great weekend.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN HOST: Hello everyone. I'm John Berman.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN HOST: And I'm Michaela Pereira.