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Blizzard Destroys Sea Wall in Massachusetts; Hillary Clinton to Testify in Benghazi Hearing; No Traditional Dress for Michele Obama in Saudi Arabia; Baby Forced into Quarantine to Avoid Measles.
Aired January 28, 2015 - 11:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: You know yesterday when we were talking about the blizzard and how bad the storm was, we were looking at Long Island. I said I would not wish it on my worst enemy to be having to surf in Montauk in this weather. Look at these guys. This man -- I assume it's a man. He's got such a wet suit on. We probably don't know if it's a man or a woman. It's a man. They decided to take the challenge and they were surfing in Montauk in the snow.
John, was that you?
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Really, really smart people.
(LAUGHTER)
BOLDUAN: How much would I have to pay you to do that?
BERMAN: Millions.
All right. Guess what?
BOLDUAN: Stronger men than we are.
BERMAN: After all that snow, there's more coming. There is more headed toward the northeast. They don't expect this storm to be quite as big but it is going to come and there's not a lot of places to put it. The storm that just passed buried the town of Worcester, Massachusetts, in nearly three feet of snow. That's an all-time record. That's not far from where my father lives. He got that much snow. Took him 3.5 hours to dig out. The amazing thing is he did not lose power. Most people did not lose power because the snow was so light and fluffy that it did not cause the outages that some feared.
Down on the coast, it was hit especially hard. High winds eroded so much of that coast, destroying several homes and tore down part of a seawall.
Our Brian Todd joins us from Marshfield, Massachusetts, where that wall went down.
Brian, what are you seeing?
BRIAN TODD, CNN ANCHOR: John and Kate, this town just starting to recover. They were hit with three different elements from this storm. Of course the devastating snow, the wind and whiteout conditions but also the storm surge. They are just waking up to that this morning and assessing the damage recovering from it. You have utility crews down here on this main drag here in Marshfield starting to get the power up. Some lines were damaged.
The real damage was a little bit in this direction where the storm surge breached a seawall. That was some of the most devastating flooding that this town got and it was the gist of the damage here. Not so much from snow and wind but from that seawall that breached in at least two areas. A 50-foot breach in each of those areas and several homes got flooded out.
We got footage yesterday when we got here during the second high tide. That was violent action when the storm surged from the second high tide hitting that seawall and starting to compromise it a little bit.
The main breach of it occurred during the first high tide in the morning and that's when a lot of those homes got flooded out. One man had to be rescued from his home by rescue crews holding a front end loader. He was injured on the second floor by flying glass and he's OK. No significant injuries to report.
This town is just now assessing all of the flood damage and violence from that storm which really hit it when that seawall breached yesterday -- Kate and John?
BOLDUAN: Brian Todd in it for us. Thank you so much. You talk about, thankfully, no injuries despite what looked like a brutal hit to that area. Brian, thanks so much.
Ahead for us, Hillary Clinton testifying again about what happened in Benghazi when she was head of the State Department. Why is she testifying again and what does this continued controversy mean for her potential in 2016? We'll talk about that.
BERMAN: Plus, was it a fashion statement or a political statement? What the first lady wore when she was in Saudi Arabia and the controversy or non-troversy now surrounding it.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BERMAN: Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has agreed to testify before the House Select Committee that's investigating the attacks in Benghazi. Cummings said Clinton didn't hesitate for one second when she was asked to testify.
BOLDUAN: The U.S. consulate in Libya was attacked in 2012 and four Americans, including the U.S. ambassador there, including U.S. Ambassador Chris Stephens, were killed in the attack.
Let's bring in CNN political commentator, Sally Kohn, and Doug Heye, former deputy chief of staff to Eric Canter, to discuss
Hello to both of you.
Sally and Doug, same question to both of you but for different reasons. Why?
Sally, why would Secretary Clinton agree to go before this committee and testify when she herself said all of the questions have been exhausted and been answered.
And, Doug, why are Republicans still harping on this?
(LAUGHTER)
SALLY KOHN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Your second question answers the first.
(CROSSTALK)
KOHN: Why not do it? She has nothing to hide. After all, another Republican House investigation committee already cleared the administration and Secretary Clinton of any wrongdoing in Benghazi. That was the seventh investigation. They want another committee to show that nothing went wrong and nothing could have been avoided and she did nothing wrong, you know, that just shows the American people where the Republican priorities are instead of solving real problems that our country faces.
BOLDUAN: Doug, speak for all Republicans right now.
DOUG HEYE, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I can't do that. What I can tell you is not all of the questions have been answered. That's one of the reasons the secretary is speaking there. She wants to also reset the debate from where it was last time. When she testified last time and said what difference does it make whether we lied about a YouTube video or not, that didn't go well for her. She needs to reset the debate. You covered so many congressional hearings. Often members of Congress can go a bit overboard when they question people in the other party. Republicans need to be firm and tough. They also need to be fair. That's one of the reasons that Trey Gowdy is the chairman of this Select Committee. He is a former prosecutor, well liked on both sides. He'll be a tough and steady hand.
BERMAN: Well, you just say, if Mr. Clinton has nothing to hide and the committee wants to be fair, this will be nice and they'll have tea and move on.
(CROSSTALK)
KOHN: Eighth hearing to find no wrongdoing.
(CROSSTALK)
BERMAN: The first lady just went to Saudi Arabia along with President Obama to mourn the death of King Abdullah and pay their respects. When she got off the plane and when she met the current king, King Salman, she was not wearing traditional Muslim head scarf. There are people on Twitter that suggested that was disrespectful. Other first ladies have done it in the past. Laura Bush did it. Angela Merkel has done it as well. Not done every time but some suggest that she should have done so here. Let me pose this question to you specifically. Do you believe it was
a political statement and if so, do you think it's worthy of making such a political statement?
KOHN: Two things. Other first ladies have not worn the veil. Other political leaders have not worn the veil to be clear. Laura Bush among them, number one. Number two, 37 percent of those tweets were coming from outside of Saudi Arabia so exactly where the criticism is coming from and how much the criticism is politically motivated we should wonder. We know that in 2010, Michelle Obama did wear a veil when she went to Malaysia. Did she not wear it as a political statement? Personally, I hope so. I think the brand of Islam that is pushed onto the world by Saudi Arabia is extremist and dangerous and it would be right of her to protest that even in a silent but powerful way.
BOLDUAN: It frustrates me when someone criticizes the protocol because there's a lot of leeway that's given when it comes to western officials that are going over there. We've seen that over and over again in the past. That's why I pose this on the fashion front, Doug. For a man that's a fan of head scarves, and you do wear a lot of headgear, outreach factor from one to 10?
(LAUGHTER)
HEYE: I'm not wearing my headgear braces today. Those are gone. It's zero for the reason that John said. When you talk about people on Twitter, that means someone is angry about something. There's an old song that says the world today is a mess. Head scarves are not why the world today is a mess. The world today is a mess because of problems that we're facing throughout the Middle East with what's going on in Yemen right now. We're better off trying to tackle those problems than having me talk about fashion for goodness sake.
BERMAN: That's a crisis right there.
KOHN: Doug and I agree on that.
(LAUGHTER)
BOLDUAN: Thank you, Sally. Thank you so much, Doug. Good to see you. Thanks so much.
(CROSSTALK)
BERMAN: I can't believe Doug's suggestion that there's outrage on Twitter.
BOLDUAN: I know. It's amazing.
BERMAN: Never witnessed such a thing.
All right, growing concern this morning over a measles outbreak that started at Disneyland. More cases, more fear of exposure and the word that some parents absolutely refuse to have their kids vaccinated. Why are they making that decision? What is the ripple effect it has on other families?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BOLDUAN: The number of measles cases linked to Disneyland is now growing. There are at least 50 cases linked to the theme park and 13 other cases linked to the outbreak in six other states. Arizona officials are especially concerned. They now warn hundreds more people in the state may have been exposed because of the Disneyland connection.
BERMAN: Measles is very contagious, one of the most contagious diseases in the world. Despite that fact, many parents refuse to get their children vaccinated because they're afraid of the vaccine.
BOLDUAN: Senior medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen, met with one family whose child has been forced to live in quarantine for a month because in their view of another family's decision.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: It's a warm day in Oakland, California. A perfect time for Dave and Jennifer Simon to take their baby out for a walk but the stroller sits idle and Olivia is stuck inside the House and has been for nearly a month.
JENNIFER SIMON, MOTHER OF OLIVIA: It's not fair.
COHEN: It all started with a voice mail the Simons received two days after she saw her pediatrician for a cold.
SIMON: They said your daughter has potentially been exposed to measles in the doctor's office. We need to talk to you about it. Call us tomorrow. They explained what had happened was that an unvaccinated child who was purposely unvaccinated by their parents had been in the office the same day we had.
COHEN: That unvaccinated child had measles and at six months old she's too young to get vaccinated making her vulnerable to the virus that can lurk for hours in the air. The Simons feared the worse. Olivia could become deaf or die. And they were angry at the other child's parents for refusing to vaccinate.
SIMON: I was upset that someone who made a personal choice for their child had endangered my child.
COHEN (on camera): For weeks, her parents have had to watch her for the first signs of measles, watery eyes, a fever, a cough and a runny nose.
(voice-over): So far, Olivia's been fine, but she could still get sick. It's OK for me to be with her because I've been vaccinated.
(on camera): If you could meet the parents of the child who put your child at risk because they chose not to vaccinate, what would you say to them?
SIMON: Well, first of all, I'd want to know if their kid was OK. I would say, you guys, what do you think about vaccines now?
COHEN: Olivia's quarantine ends in a few days.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BERMAN: Those chubby legs.
(LAUGHTER)
Elizabeth Cohen joins us now.
I understand there are nine kids in quarantine in that county alone for a similar situation? What's going on?
COHEN: That's right, Olivia is one of night babies in Alameda County who are in quarantine because they came in contact with someone who had measles. That's a lot, nine babies for one county. And you can imagine the expense, the inconvenience. The Simons had to fly grandma in from Houston to take care of Olivia because they have to go to work. They'd tapped out all their time off. It's not a small thing.
BOLDUAN: I have to say that mother is very calm. As a new mother myself, I cannot express how terrifying the situation is to me having a 4-month-old and the fact that this is a similar situation. And she just went into an office and her daughter was exposed to this.
COHEN: Your baby is too young to get vaccinated. So babies under the age of one are completely vulnerable to measles. It's not enough just to stay away from people who might have measles. People are contagious before they show signs. So for several days, people infected with measles are walking around feeling totally fine and they have measles and they're contagious. And measles is so contagious, if someone with measles walked into a room and walked out of that room and two hours later you walked into that room, you could get measles. It lingers in the air for hours.
BERMAN: There are people opposed to taking the vaccine or giving the vaccine to children.
COHEN: There are. And so when I've talked to these people and when I've read what they have to say online, it's usually about autism. They're afraid vaccinating their child --
(CROSSTALK)
BOLDUAN: That science has been debunked, Elizabeth.
COHEN: Completely debunked over and over and over again. So every respected medical authority says, look, it doesn't cause autism. The science that said it did was basically fake science. And you need to vaccinate your child to protect your child and to protect other children who can't be vaccinated. For example, children who have cancer can't be vaccinated. And they're completely vulnerable to any measles that might be lurking.
BERMAN: Tough subject for a lot of parents on both sides of that debate.
Elizabeth, thanks so much. Appreciate it.
COHEN: Thanks.
BOLDUAN: Adorable little girl.
Coming up next for us, losing your identical twin in a time of war and madness. 70 years after the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp, a victim of the horrors there goes back to the scene of the crime for remembrance and to try to find closure. That's coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BERMAN: This week is the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, the Nazi concentration camp and the death camp. Six million Jews were murdered by the Nazis during the holocaust.
BOLDUAN: And one of the children who survived the horrors of Auschwitz was separated from his identical twin brother in all of it and he is still searching for him.
Our Atika Shubert has his story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MANAKA (ph), FORMER AUSCHWITZ PRISONER: This is it.
ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This man knows this place, this building. He once peeked into a room and saw an elderly man covered in blood. At first he thought they were nightmares. Now he knows they are fragments of his memories of Auschwitz. He struggles with the emotion.
(on camera): His heart is beating.
MANAKA (ph): It will be OK.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have a son.
MANAKA (ph): These are children who survived at Auschwitz.
SHUBERT: 70 years ago, he was one of the children liberated from Auschwitz. Then he was 4 years old. Within days of liberation, he was adopted by a man searching for his own wife and children in the chaos and taken to live in Israel. But this was also unwittingly a separation. The I.D. numbers tattooed on his arm showed he had an identical twin brother, numbers 87733 and 87734. Auschwitz records show both boys were genetically identical twins subjected to the experiments of Nazis. Medical documents after liberation show that both survived.
He had dreams of a boy sleeping beside him. But it took 60 years and the help of his genealogist, Ayana KimRon, for him to prove his instinct was real. AYANA KIMRON, GENEALOGIST: Without memory, it's much easier to re-
establish a reasonable life. Even with that, he had nightmares. Imagine what would happened if he remembered.
SHUBERT (on camera): Do you think you will find his brother?
KIMRON: I really don't know. I've been doing everything I can. The rest of it depends on the brother himself.
SHUBERT (voice-over): They have since found first cousins in the United States and this, his only photo of his birth parents.
"Now I know my mother's face," he says. "Before I had remembered only her blonde hair and now I can see her."
But he still searches for his brother and he comes here in the hope that he remembers some clue, another survivor might recognize him, maybe even his own brother. He says he has a new dream now, walking in a forest with his brother wearing identical clothes.
(on camera): Do you think that dream will become real?
MANAKA (ph): My hope.
SHUBERT: Do you think you're closer to making that dream real?
MANAKA (ph): I don't know.
SHUBERT: In this, this place of his nightmares, Manaka finds hope to dream.
Atika Shubert, CNN, Auschwitz.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BERMAN: Remarkable, remarkable story.
Atika Shubert, thank you so much.
Tonight, please join our Wolf Blitzer for "Stories of Hope from Survivors, Voices of Auschwitz." That's night at 9:00 p.m. eastern here on CNN.
BOLDUAN: You can only imagine what he feels in returning to that place.
Thanks for joining us. Thanks all for us today.
BERMAN: "Legal View" with Ashleigh Banfield starts right now.
