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Second Death from Ebola in the U.S.; Remembering Peter Kassig; Chuck Hagel Sees Challenges to U.S. Military Superiority; New Video Evidence in Michael Brown's Case; DEA Checking Football Teams for Possible Prescription Drug Abuse

Aired November 17, 2014 - 10:00   ET

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

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now in the "NEWSROOM", American beheaded. A new ISIS video and new questions. Why investigators say this video shows hints of desperation by the terror group. Plus, silence from Cosby. A new interview, the questions about his past, nothing from the comedian, just shaking his head no. And NFL raided, random surprise visits to teams from the DEA. Hunting for pills and painkillers. Were traders giving out drugs without a license? Let's talk. Live in the CNN "NEWSROOM."

Good morning, I'm Carol Costello, thank you so much for joining me. We begin with a bit of breaking news for you on the Ebola crisis. Sad news. A second U.S. patient has died from the disease. Dr. Martin Salia died this morning at Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha. The hospital says he was extremely critical when he arrived for treatment on Saturday. Salia was a legal permanent resident of the United States who contracted Ebola in West Africa. CNN's senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen joins with us more. Good morning.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. Yes, we received this sad news this morning. I want to show you two tweets from the Nebraska Medical Center. They said Dr. Salia was extremely critical when he arrived here and unfortunately despite our best effort we weren't able to save him. On Saturday Dr. Salia received a dose of convalescent plasma and ZMapp therapy. We used every possible treatment available. That's from Dr. Phil Smith who has - biocontainment unit.

So, Carol, I want to talk about the two things that are mentioned in that tweet there. Convalescent plasma is another word for a blood transfusion from an Ebola survivor. We don't know which survivor donated his or her blood and ZMapp, that's very interesting. ZMapp is the drug, of course, that was used to great attention with the first two patients, Dr. Brantley and Nancy Writebol and we were told that none was left so it is interesting that he did manage to get some. But the bottom line here, Carol, is that no matter what treatment you give, when someone is in very late stages of Ebola, it's just -- they're just too far along to save sometimes.

COSTELLO: You know, another curious thing, Elizabeth. The "Washington Post" reported that the doctor's initial Ebola test came back negative but his symptoms continued and a second test came back positive. What happened? COHEN: Well, I mean we don't know exactly. It could be one of

several things. First of all, someone - the test might have been messed up for want of a better term, it might not have been done right. But another thing is that this test is not perfect. It is known that it can test negative early on. That when someone is just beginning to have symptoms it can be negative even though the person is actually positive. We need better tests for Ebola, we need better treatments for Ebola, we need a vaccine for Ebola. We need so many different things when it comes to Ebola.

COSTELLO: We do. Elizabeth Cohen reporting live for us this morning. Thank you.

Later today, we're expected to hear from the heartbroken parents of Peter Kassig, now the third American beheaded by ISIS in Syria. The former Army ranger worked there as a medical aid worker driven to help after witnessing so much civilian suffering in Iraq where he served there. President Obama grimly condemned Kassig's murder as "an act of pure evil." CNN's Alexandra Field has more for you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Paula and Ed Kassig asking for privacy and asking for their son Peter Kassig to be remembered for his important work and the love he shared with friends and family. Last month, the parents publicly pleaded for mercy from Kassig's captors.

PAULA KASSIG: Most of all know that we love you and our hearts ache for you to be granted your freedom.

FIELD: Their 26-year-old son telling them in a letter "I'm obviously pretty scared to die, but the hardest part is not knowing, wondering, hoping and wondering if I should even hope at all."

NICK SCHWELLENBACH, PETER KASSIG'S FRIEND: I think he wanted to return back to the Middle East and contribute in a very different way, in a more constructive way, helping people directly. He didn't want to be another guy with a gun.

FIELD: The Army ranger turned aid worker had roots far from Syria's and Turkey's border. Back home in Indianapolis, he had graduated from North Central High School and later took classes at Butler University. In a statement, the school's president says "ISIS has accomplished nothing through this abhorrent act of violence, all it has done is taken away a good person who wanted to help the Syrian people."

MARGARET BRABANT, KASSIG'S COLLEGE ADVISOR: Peter really believed that an individual can make a difference in the world through their love and compassion and their intelligence and they're willing to give back. That is the message I think Peter would want me to convey. The world has lost a bright light and a compassionate heart. And as we mourn him, though, I would hope that we all can recognize that the violence must end.

FIELD: On campus, students held a vigil during Kassig's captivity. In his hometown, local Muslim community groups embraced his parents. NORA BASHA, SYRIAN-AMERICAN COUNCIL OF INDIANAPOLIS: There are really

no words you can put for somebody that like, you know, has so much courage that risk - was willing to risk his life, risk everything.

FIELD: Kassig took on the name Abdul Rahman, he had converted to Islam months before his captivity, his parents say. In the letter he says he's in a dogmatically complicated situation but at peace with his belief. He tells his parents "Don't worry, dad, if I go down I won't go thinking anything but what I know to be true, that you and mom love me more than the moon and the stars." Alexandra Field, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Remember President Obama's pledge to not use American ground troops in the war on ISIS? There are signs this morning that pledge is softening. Here's the president over the weekend.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: There are always circumstances in which the United States might need to deploy U.S. ground troops.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel also acknowledging the possibility. He says if the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Martin Dempsey, makes the recommendation to put combat troops on the ground in Iraq or Syria, Hagel would consider it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHUCK HAGEL, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: In order to overcome challenges to our military superiority we must change the way we innovate, operate and do business. America must continue to assure its ability to project power rapidly across oceans and continents by surging aircraft, ships, troops and supplies. If this capability is eroded or lost, we will see a world far more dangerous and unstable, far more threatening to America and our citizens here at home than we have seen since World War II.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: With me now, CNN military analyst General Mark Hertling and Lieutenant Colonel James Reese, CNN global affairs analyst. Welcome to both of you.

LT. GENERAL MARK HERTLING, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Good morning, Carol.

COSTELLO: Good morning. Let's talk a little bit about boots on the ground. Now that's being talked about perhaps openly by President Obama so general does that mean there is a good possibility that American troops will be sent back into Iraq or Syria? Boots on the ground? HERTLING: I do not believe so, Carol. This is something that we have

continued to talk about and I think the president's words said he foresaw the potential of that and if it was recommended, and I think if we carried on his words, he said "in case ISIS got their hands on a nuclear weapon we would certainly deploy forces to counter that." But I think right now the strategy is clear that national security team is continuing to look at options and the development both in Syria and Iraq and I think both Secretary Hagel and General Dempsey have said we're continuing to watch what occurs and if we need to recommend additional forces, we will do so if we think it will be helpful. So I think that's the contention and the president is stating truthfully, hey, I don't want to pull anything off the table, if we need forces for certain missions, we certainly might use them.

COSTELLO: I want to move on to another topic because Chuck Hagel said many, many interesting things at the Reagan Presidential Library. He actually brought up challenges to our military superiority. Are we really close to losing that superiority, colonel?

LT. COL. JAMES REESE, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, Carol, I don't think we're going to lose our superiority. I mean we've got the greatest force in the world. I think what Secretary Hagel's concern is, is with the budget cuts that are being looked at with the Department of Defense right now, where we know we are right now, the losses in personnel we've had and with the operations in Syria and Iraq, with what's going on in the Ukraine, what we still have going on in Afghanistan, over in Pakistan and we - then we have the Asia- Pacific, he's got some very concerns about do we become hollow, can we really look at all these places? And that could become an issue where that superiority is because we just don't have the forces to do some of these issues that are out there.

COSTELLO: And General Hertling, Hagel says China and Russia have greatly advanced their military technology while we were "Distracted in Afghanistan and Iraq." How so?

HERTLING: Well, China has had a 20-year plan. I first learned about this in the late 1990s and they're executing that plan to upgrade and modernize their military. The same is true within the last few years in Russia. Mr. Putin has spent significantly more money on modernizing his military and increasing the size of his force in the last several years and all that's occurred while we've been engaged in Iraq and Afghanistan and I think we're seeing some of the repercussions of that right now in terms of Mr. Putin's potential outreach into other European nations.

COSTELLO: So, Colonel Reese, Mr. Hagel wants the United States to focus on new technology like robotics, miniaturization and 3D printing. I get the robotics part, but 3D printing and miniaturization? What's he talking about?

REESE: Well, Carol, there's actually some great technology. First off with the 3D printing, there's ways now that there's software that can do modeling of every type of aspect out there in the world. We're actually using some - and some airfields that we do assessments on and that modeling can really help in the intelligence, plotting social media pieces that are preemptive to attacks. You know, with the miniaturization, I mean every -- as a guy that carried a rucksack my whole life, you're always looking for smaller is better and lighter and that continues to go with batteries, whether it's the UAV platforms, all these type of things and the technology is out there but the bottom line is we still have got to have the people that can use these assets on the ground. And that's one of his concerns.

COSTELLO: All right. General Mark Hertling and Lieutenant Colonel James Reese, thanks to both of you. I appreciate it.

REESE: Thanks, Carol.

COSTELLO: Still to come, on the "NEWSROOM", Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson in his own words in the moments leading up to the deadly encounter with the unarmed teenager Michael Brown. Hear what the officer said next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: For the first time, we're hearing the moments before and after the fatal encounter between unarmed teenager Michael Brown and Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson. Newly released tapes obtained by the "St. Louis Post-Dispatch" begin with a police request for help responding to a crime at a Ferguson market. It ends minutes later with a chaotic scene after Brown's shooting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DISPATCH: OK, we're checking on stealing in progress from 9101 West Florissant, 9101 West Florissant.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE)

DISPATCH: Subject may be leaving the business at this time. Stand by for further.

OFFICER WILSON: 21, put me on Canfield with two. And send me another car.

DISPATCH: Frank 25.

OFFICER 25: Get us several more units over here. There's gonna be a problem.

DISPATCH: Are there any available Ferguson units who can respond to Canfield and Copper Creek, advise?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Also obtained by the "Post-Dispatch," surveillance video that shows Wilson leaving the police station en route to the hospital hours after the incident. Attorneys for the Brown family say this video suggests claims Wilson was severely beaten and suffered a broken orbital eye socket were in there words, exaggerated. You can see him there.

So let's talk about this. CNN legal analyst and former federal prosecutor Sunny Hostin is here. Good morning.

SUNNY HOSTIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Good morning, Carol.

COSTELLO: So this new evidence is out and we get to see it in the public. The question is, will the grand jury see them as well?

HOSTIN: Oh, there's no question I think that the grand jury has likely seen this. The prosecutor has made it very clear that he is putting all of the evidence in front of the grand jury and if that is true, and we think it is, they would have seen this, they would have heard the radio dispatch calls and they're in the process, my sense, is putting sort of that timeline together, which is sort of striking, as you and I were discussing just a moment ago, brief, brief encounter between the two.

COSTELLO: 90 seconds, that's all it took.

HOSTIN: Yeah, yeah. And it's interesting to me because I know from my training, Carol that these encounters are very, very quick moving and a lot of officers will tell you "My goodness, it happened in a flash." We know that 90 seconds is almost no time and I think that that will cut both ways because one is, my goodness, of course, Officer Wilson had to make these quick judgments and so who are we to sort of put ourselves in that position and say we would not have shot? But then again, he is a trained police officer and they are trained not to make those sort of rash judgments. We know that Michael Brown was shot now seven times in those 90 seconds and that he was unarmed. And so I think that this video certainly cuts both ways, especially because there was that report early on or that leak that he had these severe injuries. Well, I looked at the video very, very closely as I'm sure the grand jurors will. I mean did you see this sort of severe orbital injury? Orbital socket injury? No, he's walking, it's hours after the incident, his face doesn't really appear to be swollen. You know, I wonder what that says when you are -- your position is "I had to shoot to save my life because I was in such danger."

COSTELLO: And you know, video sometimes doesn't tell the whole story, right?

HOSTIN: That is true.

COSTELLO: We don't know what happened, but it is true that Michael Brown reached through the window and the officer's gun went off. That's a whole different story, right?

HOSTIN: If - if that is true. Again. And so we ...

COSTELLO: But there is evidence that the gun went off inside the car.

HOSTIN: Inside the car. That's correct. And so, I think when you have all of this different evidence and all of these leaks suggesting different versions of events, it's really difficult for a grand jury to parse that out. I think that means you've got to go to trial with a case like that. I think you have to sort of have a group of people decide whether or not Officer Wilson's story is believable or whether or not all of the other witnesses, several witnesses that are saying really the exact opposite are believable.

COSTELLO: You know, most legal analysts say that Officer Wilson will not be indicted and, of course, Ferguson is preparing for that development. So we know Thanksgiving is coming, right?

HOSTIN: Yes.

COSTELLO: We know the grand jury has had this case a long time, right?

HOSTIN: Yeah.

COSTELLO: So, do you think that prosecutors are purposefully sort of like the decision has been made and they could be putting it off and releasing it at an opportune time?

HOSTIN: You know, I think there's no question, Carol that this grand jury process has been unlike any other process I've ever seen. I've spoken to so many of my former colleagues at the Department of Justice, so many current practicing prosecutors. We have all agreed. It's just simply not done this way. You don't put every single piece of evidence in front of a grand jury. You don't put this evidence in for over 90 days and then - you know so the suggestion that maybe they'll release the findings, the no indictment or an indictment on the weekends, I think it's really possible because we've just never seen anything like this before.

COSTELLO: Well, we'll see what happens. Sunny Hostin, thanks so much.

Still to come in the "NEWSROOM", the DEA dropped in on the San Francisco 49ers, but not to see the game. We'll tell you what the feds are investigating next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: It is so easy to get hacked. It can happen to anyone, right? Apparently even the White House and possibly now the State Department. Just weeks after learning hackers broke into an unclassified computer network used by President Obama's top advisors, senior officials are now telling us that they detected "Activity of concern" in portions of its email system. Could it be a hacking attempt by a foreign government? Well, officials aren't saying who's responsible at the moment, but they do believe these two digital security breaches are connected. Kevin Mitnick is a former computer hacker. Welcome, Kevin.

KEVIN MITNICK, FORMER HACKER: Hey, thank you for having me on your show.

COSTELLO: Thanks for being here, I appreciate it. So Kevin, since October alone there have been reports of hacks on the White House, the National Weather Service, even the U.S. Postal Service. Are hackers simply getting better or is the U.S. government's security failing?

MITNICK: Well, I think the U.S. government's security is pretty much failing and it has been for a long time. But it does seem like these particular adversaries are going after government entities, probably to get information, maybe information that could lead to the -- to classified networks where sometimes maybe employees make a mistake of discussing stuff in e-mail that would be sensitive. So it kind of makes sense. Now, they could be after Hillary's -- Hillary Clinton's old email that might be stored at the State Department, who knows. But it seems to be that these attackers would probably be nation state based but I really don't know without doing what we call an incident investigation. And this is where we go and analyze the intrusion to try to find out how the bad guys got in and hopefully where they're coming from. The unfortunate part is attackers can make the attacks look like it's coming from anywhere in the world. So, a hacker could be in Miami and make it look like it's coming from China. It's really easy.

COSTELLO: I was going to ask you this, because U.S. officials with firsthand knowledge say Russian hackers are the prime suspects in the White House hack. And they say that that's connected to the State Department hack. So is there any way to know for sure? I guess there is a way, it just might not be an easy way to know for sure who's responsible.

MITNICK: Unless they have some other source of intelligence, the way that, you know, we do it in our company is we do an intrusion investigation where we go out, really look at the logs, do what we call a forensic investigation to try to get to the bottom of what was done, how they did it, and who they are. But that process takes a long time and that maybe explains why the State Department's computers were down for a while, is so they could probably make image copies of certain computers that might have been attacked so those could be analyzed by federal officials to try to get to the bottom of who's behind this intrusion.

COSTELLO: So, how concerned should we be?

MITNICK: Well, if your information is stored with the federal government, which it probably is, I really don't know. I mean, what would the attackers get in the case of the State Department? Maybe your passport information? I know with the U.S. Postal Service they were able to obtain postal employees' Social Security Numbers, which are concerning because once a bad guy has the Social Security Number, they could use that to commit identity theft. And that is definitely a problem and that's why all the postal employees should be signed up for some sort of identity theft monitoring program.

COSTELLO: Yes, they should. Kevin Mitnick, thanks for your insight, I appreciate it.

MITNICK: It's a pleasure being on your show again.

COSTELLO: Thank you.

MITNICK: OK.

COSTELLO: And good morning, I'm Carol Costello, thank you so much for joining me. Quite the surprise on the sidelines. The DEA dropped in on the NFL and it wasn't to watch the games. The feds are investigating allegations the NFL handed out pills without prescriptions. Federal agents questioned the San Francisco 49ers medical and training staffs at Met Life stadium after yesterday's game with the giants. The DEA also checked in with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at the airport following their game with Washington. The Buccs tweeted that the team got on to the plane without incident. The "Washington Post" is reporting the DEA also questioned the Seattle Seahawks after their game with Kansas City. A law enforcement official tells the "Post" the DEA had reason to look at those three teams in particular, curious, right? Rachel Nichols, host of CNN's "Unguarded" joins us now with more.

Why these three teams?

RACHEL NICHOLS, CNN HOST, UNGUARDED: Well, you know, they said they had reason to look into them, but really it's an investigation that stems from a lawsuit that was filed earlier this year, more than a thousand former players headlined by big names like Richard Dent, Jim McMahon said that they were given in some cases thousands of illegal prescription doses over their careers, that they were hooked on these pain pills, that they weren't told the side effects or the possible addictive qualities which is against the law if you're a doctor prescribing these drugs. That these drugs were cocktailed, which can also be illegal, mixed together in ways that they shouldn't be mixed without concerns for the player, because they just were trying to push these guys back on the field. They described scenes of pills being left on seats on team planes, kind of like pillows and blankets for rest of us, right, but washed down with beer which is the other thing that you're not supposed to do.

COSTELLO: Hence the airport visit, right?

NICHOLS: Exactly. And there's also the concern of - think about the way these teams operate. Physicians are not allowed to prescribe very strong medication outside of the state in which they are licensed, but you noticed these were all visiting teams, right? And so basically teams go to different cities, they have to give out these drugs right after a game when their players are hurting so that they can get these players going to get back on the field the next week and in theory they're supposed to ask the home team to help them out with prescribing drugs, but a lot of times the home team doesn't want to help out the visiting team ...

(LAUGHTER)

NICHOLS: Saying no, or that relationship won't be there. And so, there's a theory, too, NBC reported this morning that - and that may have been part of what they were checking on was were physicians prescribing drugs in states they were not allowed which is sort of a technicality that they can get them on as well.

COSTELLO: It seems to me like the DEA is putting the cart after the horse because the lawsuit has already been filed so you would think that the NFL would clean up its act if it had anything to feel guilty about at all. NICHOLS: First of all, we have seen many times over this past year

the NFL does not necessarily clean up its act after being called out on something, correct? They are not quick to move just because the public ...